The God Market. How Globalization is Making India More Hindu

Description

As India's economy has liberalized, so too has it become Hinduized.Middle-class Indians are becoming actively religious as they are becoming prosperous. The last decade has seen the proliferation of powerful new god-men, a massive rise in temple rituals, the creation of new gods, and the increased demand for priests. Hinduism has entered public life as well with politicians regularly using pujas and yajnas in their campaigning.The state is enabling this Hinduization with the help of the private sector. From actively promoting religious tourism, to handing over higher education to private sector institutions, some of whom use religious trusts to run these institutions and impart 'value-based' education, to giving away land at highly subsidized rates to gurus and god-men, many of the privatization measures of the government are linked with the promotion of Hinduism.Why has this happened? What does it mean? And does this spell the death of Indian secularism?...