Bhoot (ghost)
The belief in ghosts is deeply ingrained in the minds of the people of India across generations. The various concepts of ghosts trace their roots in the vast bodies of Hindu mythology, its religious texts, literature and folktales. There are many allegedly haunted places in India, such as cremation grounds, dilapidated buildings, royal mansions, forts, forest bungalows, burning ghats, etc... Ghosts also occupy a significant place in the Bengali culture. Ghosts and various supernatural entities form an integral part of the socio-cultural beliefs of the both Hindu and Muslim communities of rural Bengal. Fairy tales often use the concept of ghost and references to paranormal activities are found amply in modern-day Bengali literature, cinema, radio and TV programmes.
Rethinking Religion in India
During the first conference year the central questions that were explored are the following: Are there religions in India? Is it possible to say that the descriptions of Indian culture and its religions are the products of the Western experience of India? These questions will be explored in different formats in the three modules: (1) In the Platform sessions the different theoretical approaches to the study of religion in India will be discussed. (2) The Roundtable sessions will take up the debate about the construction of Hinduism and investigate the impact of colonialism on our understanding of India. (3) The Parallel Paper sessions will prepare the ground for Platform and Roundtable sessions of the following years. They take up the following themes: Evolutionary explanations of religion; Indians are Aryans, so what?; The caste system and Indian religion.