This is the first comprehensive resource on the subject of love in the teachings of the world's major religions, cultures, and philosophies. Encyclopedia of Love in World Religions is the first reference work to offer a comprehensive portrait of love in the context of the classic and contemporary literature of Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, and Hinduism, as well as other cultures and philosophies. Like no volume published to date, it reveals the full richness of religious teachings on love in all its many forms, exploring an extensive range of topics that offer philosophical, psychological, and religious perspectives to guide the quest for the meaning of love. Encyclopedia of Love in World Religions features approximately 300 subject entries, as well as insightful biographic sketches of preeminent thinkers, all written by a multidisciplinary team of some of the foremost scholars on the subject. Entries examine both general and culture-specific interpretations of love: not just the dichotomy of spiritual and physical love, but the full emotional spectrum of love in relationships and practices. Collectively, they encompass love's integral—and sometimes conflicting—role in shaping beliefs and behavior in a vastly diverse world.

The Encyclopedia of Hinduism contains over 900 entries reflecting recent advances in scholarship which have raised new theoretical and methodological issues as well as identifying new areas of study which have not been addressed previously. The debate over the term 'Hinduism' in the light of post-Orientalist critiques is just one example of how once standard academic frameworks have been called into question. Entries range from 150-word definitions of terms and concepts to 5,000-word in-depth investigations of major topics. The Encyclopedia covers all aspects of Hinduism but departs from other works in including more ethnographic and contemporary material in contrast to an exclusively textual and historical approach. It includes a broad range of subject matter such as: historical developments (among them nineteenth and twentieth century reform and revival); geographical distribution (especially the diaspora); major and minor movements; philosophies and theologies; scriptures; deities; temples and sacred sites; pilgrimages; festivals; rites of passage; worship; religious arts (sculpture, architecture, music, dance, etc.); religious sciences (e.g. astrology); biographies of leading figures; local and regional traditions; caste and untouchability; feminism and women's religion; nationalism and the Hindu radical right; and new religious movements. The history of study and the role of important scholars past and present are also discussed. Accessibility to all levels of reader has been a priority and no previous knowledge is assumed. However, the in-depth larger entries and the design of the work in line with the latest scholarly advances means that the volume will be of considerable interest to specialists. The whole is cross-referenced and bibliographies attach to the larger entries. There is a full index.

For years, this edition of the Bhagavad Gītā has allowed all those with a lively interest in this spiritual classic to come into direct contact with the richness and resonance of the original text. Winthrop Sargeant's interlinear edition provides a word-for-word English translation along with the devanagari characters and the transliterated Sanskrit. Detailed grammatical commentary and page-by-page vocabularies are included, and a complete translation of each section is printed at the bottom of each page, allowing readers to turn the pages and appreciate the work in Sargeant's translation as well. Discussions of the language and setting of the Gītā are provided and, in this new edition, editor Christopher Key Chapple offers guidance on how to get the most out of this interlinear edition. Long a favorite of spiritual seekers and scholars, teachers and students, and lovers of world literature, Sargeant's edition endures as a great resource for twenty-first-century readers.

This is a sequel to a volume published in 2011 by OUP under the title The Ubiquitous 'Siva: Som=ananda's 'Sivad.r.s.ti and his Tantric Interlocutors. The first volume offered an introduction, critical edition, and annotated translation of the first three chapters of the 'Sivad.r.s.ti of Som=ananda, along with its principal commentary, the 'Sivad.r.s.tiv.rtti, written by Utpaladeva. It dealt primarily with 'Saiva theology and the religious views of competing esoteric traditions. The present volume presents the fourth chapter of the 'Sivad.r.s.ti and 'Sivad.r.s.tiv.rtti and addresses a fresh set of issues that engage a distinct family of opposing schools and authors of mainstream Indian philosophical traditions. In this fourth chapter, Som=ananda and Utpaladeva engage logical and philosophical works that exerted tremendous influence in the Indian subcontinent in its premodernity. Among the authors and schools addressed by Som=ananda in this chapter are the Buddhist Epistemologists, and Dharmak=irti in particular; the Hindu school of hermeneutics, i.e., the M=im=a.ms=a; the Hindu realist schools of the logic- and debate-oriented Ny=aya and their ontologically-oriented partners, the Vaiśe.sika; and the Hindu, dualist S=a.mkhya and Yoga schools. Throughout this chapter, Som=ananda endeavors to explain his brand of 'Saivism philosophically. Som=ananda challenges his philosophical interlocutors with a single over-arching argument: he suggests that their views cannot coherethey cannot be explained logicallyunless their authors accept the 'Saiva non-duality for which he advocates. The argument he offers, despite its historical influence, remains virtually unstudied. The Ubiquitous 'Siva Volume II offers the first English translation of Chapter Four of the 'Sivad.r.s.ti and 'Sivad.r.s.tiv.rtti along with an introduction and critical edition.

This book is a compilation of economic views on the purpose of life. It follows a unique approach, starting with propositions from diverse fields that act as governing laws of the purpose of life in economics, then guiding the reader through the physical, philosophical, and psychological views of the purpose of life, as economics and economic theories can find their roots in all these areas. The book concludes with the purpose of life presented through economic doctrines (from the pre-classical, to classical, to neo-classical schools of economic thought), through the lens of economic development, and from the perspective of several religious doctrines.

""The Essence of Self-Recognition"" presents a systematic and practical analysis of the ancient philosophical system Pratyabhijnahrdayam, a part of Trika system of Kashmir Shaivism. Drawing from a variety of Sanskrit scriptural sources, including ""Yoga Sutra,"" ""Shiva Sutra,"" and ""Tantraloka,"" the book emphasizes practices belonging to the true reasoning'' path to enlightenment. Written specifically for people of analytic mind who are in pursuit of inner freedom, the book defines all underlying concepts relevant to effective practice in a precise and insightful manner, and explains ideas within this ancient philosophical system using concepts from modern cognitive psychology and Western philosophy.

Ranging from cuneiform to shorthand, from archaic Greek to modern Chinese, from Old Persian to modern Cherokee, this is the only available work in English to cover all of the world's writing systems from ancient times to the present. Describing scores of scripts in use now or in the past around the world, this unusually comprehensive reference offers a detailed exploration of the history and typology of writing systems. More than eighty articles by scholars from over a dozen countries explain and document how a vast array of writing systems work--how alphabets, ideograms, pictographs, and hieroglyphics convey meaning in graphic form. The work is organized in thirteen parts, each dealing with a particular group of writing systems defined historically, geographically, or conceptually. Arranged according to the chronological development of writing systems and their historical relationships within geographical areas, the scripts are divided into the following sections: the ancient Near East, East Asia, Europe, South Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East. Additional parts address the ongoing process of decipherment of ancient writing systems; the adaptation of traditional scripts to new languages; new scripts invented in modern times; and graphic symbols for numerical, music, and movement notation. Each part begins with an introductory article providing the social and cultural context in which the group of writing systems was developed. Articles on individual scripts detail the historical origin of the writing system, its structure (with tables showing the forms of the written symbols), and its relationship to the phonology of the corresponding spoken language. Each writing system is illustrated by a passage of text, and accompanied by a romanized version, a phonetic transcription, and a modern English translation. A bibliography suggesting further reading concludes each entry. Matched by no other work in English, The World's Writing Systems is the only comprehensive resource covering every major writing system. Unparalleled in its scope and unique in its coverage of the way scripts relate to the languages they represent, this is a resource that anyone with an interest in language will want to own, and one that should be a part of every library's reference collection.

This is an introductory text providing a balanced view of the rich religious tradition of Hinduism, acknowledging the full range of its many competing and even contradictory aspects.