Religion in India

Understanding religion in India.

We often hear the statement that India is a religious country. What does this mean? Does it mean India is a land of many religions? Does it mean Indians participate in many rites and ceremonies? Or does it mean that the Indian state and constitution is shaped by religion? India today is a diverse place with a range of religious practices, communities and personal beliefs and is a secular nation as per our Constitution. But it is also a country that was born out of horrendous communal violence and has seen several such episodes in its seventy-year history. Our environment is full of religious images, media, holidays, landmarks, gurus and sects. In this course, we engage with public debates that surround religious themes in present-day India. We learn about secularism as per the constitution and look at pre-modern ways of religious dialogue, diversity and expressions of the sacred.