198 Part III: South Asia
the short list of “world religions.” We will use it, but the preceding caution
should be kept in mind.
Buddhism (note the –ism) is a different situation. Buddhism does not sug-
gest the religion of a place but the followers of its founder, a historic person
known as Gautama who lived in the fifth century B.C.E. Most of those follow-
ers are not now in South Asia at all (except for Sri Lanka and the Himalayan
nations) but in East and Southeast Asia. The various strands of Buddhism are
easier to untangle and describe; their histories are well documented, their texts
rich and distinct. We speak confidently of Mahayana, Theravada, and Vajray-
ana Buddhism, predominant in East Asia, Southeast Asia, and Tibet respec-
tively. These are differences that can be compared to Roman Catholicism,
Protestantism, and Eastern Orthodoxy, all branches of Christianity that broke
apart and evolved in different cultural contexts.
The following sections look at several themes in Hinduism, as it unfolded
over time, which have been practiced into the present. These are samples only,
as the topic is far too huge for a work of this limited size. We look at the issue
of clean and unclean as it operates to maintain boundaries and borders within
the caste system; at the life stages that allow a person to live within society and
yet choose a form of asceticism toward the end; and at bhakti, a form of pas-
sionate devotion that began to spread during the medieval period when temple
building made possible intense relations with a particular deity.Life in Society: Clean and Unclean in Caste Society
An example of the unclear border between custom and religion is the
whole matter of clean and unclean in Hindu practice. It is a controversial topic
because it is so intrinsic to the caste hierarchy and because these ideas have
been responsible for centuries of oppression of people at the bottom, and many
would like to avoid the topic completely. Yet, it has long been, and still is, a per-
vasive issue. Recall that we discussed caste as a political-economic social struc-
ture in chapter 5, leaving the topic of clean/unclean for this chapter on religion.
The issue begins with a simple bodily fact: bodies get dirty. Filth from the
streets and the fields cling to feet and skin on other body parts. The body oozes
from all its openings, including pores. We have to wash our body regularly to
keep it clean. And who knows what comes into the body from the food we eat
and water we drink, often making us sick! This simple reality—the vulnerabil-
ity of the body to filth—has since ancient times evolved into a complex meta-
phor with enormous social consequences.
In the Indian view, clean and unclean are not just temporary conditions of
one’s body; persons and indeed groups—castes—are clean or unclean. Perma-
nently, intrinsically, hereditarily. There are clean castes and unclean castes, and the
hierarchy is based on this conception of greater or lesser purity and pollution. The
“clean castes” are those of the top three varnas: the Brahmans are the purest of all;
most Shudra groups are more or less unclean; and those outside the varna system
are in a condition of permanent impurity and thus a danger to those above them.