Religion in India
Religion in India is characterised by a diversity of religious beliefs and practices. India is a secular state with no state religion. The Indian subcontinent is the birthplace of four of the world's major religions; namely Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism. Throughout India's history, religion has been an important part of the country's culture. Religious diversity and religious tolerance are both established in the country by the law and custom; the Constitution of India has declared the right to freedom of religion to be a fundamental right.
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.