Introduction: The Problem of Defining Hinduism; PART 1. DEFINITIONS OF HINDUISM; Orientation; 1 Wilhelm Halbfass, The Idea of the Veda and the Identity of Hinduism; 2 Julius J. Lipner, Ancient Banyan: An Inquiry into the Meaning of "Hinduness"; PART II. HINDUISM IN PRECOLONIAL PERIOD; Orientation; 3 David N. Lorenzen, Who Invented Hinduism?; 4 Will Sweetman, Unity and Plurality: Hinduism and the Religions of India in Early European Scholarship; PART III. HINDUISM IN THE COLONIAL PERIOD; AND IN INDEPENDENT INDIA; Orientation; 5 Brian K. Smith, Questioning Authority: Constructions and Deconstructions of Hinduism; 6 Robert Eric Frykenberg, Constructions of Hinduism at the Nexus of History and Religion; PART IV. HINDUISM AND CASTE; Orientation; 7 Mary Searle-Chatterjee, "World Religions" and "Ethnic Groups": Do These Paradigms Lend Themselves to the Cause of Hindu Nationalism?"; 8 Gail Omvedt, Introduction to Dalit Visions; 9 Timothy Fitzgerald, Problems with "Religion" as a Category for Understanding Hinduism