Religious Cultures of Early India, up to 650 CE

FAIN: FEL-273017-21

Richard H. Davis
Bard College (Annandale-on-Hudson, NY 12504-9800)

Research and writing leading to publication of a book describing the development of religious cultures in India, from the earliest evidence to 700 CE, including the interrelated traditions that became Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism.

My book project is a narrative history of religious cultures in early India, from their first traceable beginnings through the middle of the seventh century CE. Unlike most histories of early Indian religions that focus on a single religious formation, this history will explore religious developments across the multiple traditions which we now designate as Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain, as well as others that did not survive as named religions. Adopting a broad understanding of religion, it will center around varied and contending visions of the “good life,” both individual and societal, and the transformative practices aimed at achieving such lives. It develops its narrative around select works of importance, verbal ones and also archeological and art historical sources, located in the historical setting of their time of composition. It aims to present this complex and dynamic history in an accessible manner for specialists, students, non-specialists, and the broader reading public.