Provincialising Pluralism

Brian Black is Senior Lecturer in Philosophy and Religion at Lancaster University. He is author of The Character of the Self in Ancient India: Priests, Kings, and Women in the Early Upanisads (2007) and In Dialogue with the Mahabharata (2021) James Madaio is Head of the Department of South Asia at the Oriental Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences in Prague and a Research Fellow at the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies

• Table of ContentsIntroduction: Brian Black and James Madaio. Part 1: Pluralisms in Ancient South AsiaChapter 1: Claire Maes: ‘“I heard it through the grapevine.” Gossip and Rumour in the Pali Canon as Strategies to Deal with Religious Others’ Chapter 2: Sonam Kachru: 'Asoka’s Principled Pluralism'Chapter 3: Mark McClish: ‘Pluralism and Religious Policy in the Arthasastra'Chapter 4: Brian Black: ‘The Mahabharata’s Dharmic Pluralism’Chapter 5: Vrinda Dalmiya: ‘In Defence of Double-Think: Stances, Standpoints, and Justice in the Mahabharata and Feminist Epistemology’Chapter 6: Jessica Frazier: ‘Collaboration, Inference, and Virtue in the Caraka Samhita’Chapter 7: Anil Mundra: ‘Pluralistic Selves: Jain Engagements with Doctrinal Difference and Identity'Chapter 8: Patrick Lambelet: ‘Weaving Many into One: Plurality and Unity in the Buddhist Mantrayana’Part 2: Pluralisms in Pre-Modern South AsiaChapter 9: Nancy M. Martin: ‘Forging Self and Sampraday: Inclusion, Equality, and Religious Diversity in Pre-Modern Bhakti’Chapter 10: Pashaura Singh: 'Religious Pluralism and the Bhagat Bani in the Guru Granth Sahib'Chapter 11: Jaroslav Strnad: ‘Plurality of Spiritual Paths in the Dadupanthi Community of 17th Century Rajasthan’Chapter 12: Rembert Lutjeharms: ‘Encounters with the Inconceivable: Experience and Inclusivism in Early Gaudiya Vaisnava Theology’Chapter 13: Rosie Edgley and Jacqueline Suthren Hirst: ‘Addressing Plurality in Madhusudana Sarasvati’s Bhagavadgita commentary’Chapter 14: Supriya Gandhi: 'Reconciling Difference Through Tatbiq: Pluralism and Comparative Religion at the Mughal CourtPart 3: Pluralisms in Modern South AsiaChapter 15: Scott R. Stroud: ‘Ambedkar, Pragmatic Buddhism, and Democratic Pluralism’Chapter 16: Elise Coquereau-Saouma: ‘Witnessing and Realising Plurality in 20th Century Indian Philosophy’Chapter 17: Arindam Chakrabarti: ‘Seesaw Worlds, Interrogative Reality, and Alternative Theories of Error: From Kalidas Bhattacharya back to Abhinavagupta’Chapter 18: James Madaio: ‘Plurality and the Other in Ramchandra Gandhi’s Hermeneutics of Being’Chapter 19: Humeira Iqtidar: ‘Is Tolerance Liberal? Javed Ahmed Ghamidi and the Non-Muslim Minority'Chapter 20: Brian Black and James Madaio: ‘Concluding Reflections: Thinking Pluralistically about Pluralism’

Attempts to mine the past of India or China for philosophical purpose are often met with accusations of anachronism. Through detailed and sophisticated case studies, the authors of Provincialising Pluralism have demonstrated how the past can and does speak to the present. This is a master work of historical interpretation answering some urgent issues relating to pluralism in a globalised world.