Digital Religion does not simply refer to religion as it is carried out online, but more broadly studies how digital media interrelate with religious practice and belief. This collection explores Digital Hinduism and consequentially studies how Hinduism is expressed in the digital sphere and how Hindus utilise digital media.
Highlighting digital Hinduism and including case studies with foci on India, Asia and the global Hindu diaspora, this book features contributions from an interdisciplinary and international panel of academics. The chapters focus on specific case studies, which in summary exemplify the wide variety and diversity of what constitutes Digital Hinduism today.
Applying methods and research questions from various disciplinary backgrounds appropriate to the study of religion and digital culture, such as Religious Studies, South Asian Studies, Anthropology and Media and Communication Studies, this book is vital reading for any scholar interested in the relationship between religion and the digital world.
Contents
List of figures
List of tables
List of contributors
Introduction: Digital Hinduism: Studying Hinduism at the intersections of digital media and culture
XENIA ZEILER
PART 1
Who belongs? Identity and finding one’s place
1 Whats(up) with Hinduism? Digital culture and religion among Bengali Hindus
APARAJITA DE AND RAJIB NANDI
2 Hindu religious identification in India’s online matrimonial market
FRITZI-MARIE TITZMANN
3 Automatic rituals and inadvertent audiences: ISKCON, Krishna and the ritual mechanics of Facebook
NICOLE KARAPANAGIOTIS
4 Cultural regrouping in the diaspora: Mediating Hindu identity online
JULI L. GITTINGER
PART 2
Who defines? Authority and appropriation
5 Authors, self-fashioning and online cultural production in the age of Hindu celevision
PRAMOD K. NAYAR
6 Instagram your Durga Puja! Social media, hashtags and state-sponsored cultural marketing
DHEEPA SUNDARAM
7 Sa¿khyayoga and the Internet: The website of a contemporary Hindu monastic institution
KNUT A. JACOBSEN
8 Mediatized gurus: Hindu religious and artistic authority and digital culture
HANNA MANNILA AND XENIA ZEILER
PART 3
Who debates? Contest and negotiation
9 The Internet: A new marketplace for transacting puja items
VINEETA SINHA
10 Taming Hindu Sakta Tantra on the Internet: Online pujas
for the goddess Tripurasundari
SRAVANA BORKATAKY-VARMA
11 New media and spiritualism in India: Understanding online spiritualism in convergence cultures
JESNA JAYACHANDRAN
12 Streaming the divine: Hindu temples’ digital journeys
YAEL LAZAR
PART 4
Critical reflection
13 Reflections on digital Hinduism: Sacred images, dominant
Hindu narratives and the generational digital divide
HEINZ SCHEIFINGER
Index
Biography
Xenia Zeiler is Associate Professor of South Asian Studies at the University of Helsinki, Finland. Her research is situated at the intersection of digital media, religion and culture in India and the worldwide Indian community. Other foci are Digital Humanities (with a focus on video games) and Tantric traditions. She is author of numerous articles and book chapters on digital and mediatized Hinduism and co-edited several volumes and special journal issues, including Mediatized Religion in Asia (Routledge 2019) and Methods for Researching Video Games and Religion (Routledge 2018).
