As is the case with other great traditions, the study of and interest in Indian religions cannot be described in terms of academic research alone; nor is it confined to the accumulation of factual information. It also involves questions of motivation, hermeneutic conditions, religious commitment, philosophical reflection, and interaction and dialogue between India and the West. It reflects the work and attitudes of missionaries and philologists, travelers and philosophers, anthropologists and theologians. It has roots and repercussions in the general trends and developments of Western science, religion, and philosophy. Its impact upon Indian as well as Western self-understanding is undeniable and still growing. More than other religions, Indian religions and specifically Hinduism are integrated into the totality of forms of culture and life, and to that extent, Indian studies in general have a direct or indirect bearing upon the religion of Hinduism. In such...