From the thirteenth up to the nineteenth century European travellers encountered a foreign religion, Hinduism, and recorded their impressions in travel reports. In The European Encounter with Hinduism Jan Peter Schouten leads us through the fascinating history of this experience.

 Acknowledgements IX  List of Illustrations XI  Introduction  1A Functioning Temple  2A Long History of Encounter  3The Prehistory of Dialogue  4Terminological Relativisation  1The First Visitors: Marco Polo and the Franciscan Friars  1Beyond Byzantium  2The Mongol Advance  3Marco Polo  4People with Dog’s Heads  5A Strange Culture  6A Separate Caste  7The Friars Speak  8Odoric  9Another Civilisation in View  2Knowledge is Power: Nicolò de’ Conti and Jan Huygen van Linschoten  1Traders Make their Way to India  2A Penitent Apostate  3A Corporate Spy in Action  4A Humanistic Work  5Feasts  6Shocking Religious Phenomena  7A Dutchman in a Portuguese City  8Caste Hierarchy  9Religious Customs and Religious Faith  10Monotheism  11An Unknown World  3A Foreign Culture Baptised: The Jesuits Roberto de Nobili and Thomas Stephens  1Travels to Asia  2Jesuits in Mission  3A Promising Young Man  4In the Capital  5A Christian Sannyāsī  6De Nobili’s Appeal for Brahmins  7Opposition from the Church  8Local Customs  9Conversion and Accomodatio  10Affinity with Hinduism?  11Caste as a Stumbling Block  12De Nobili as an Example?  13Thomas Stephens in Goa  14The Purāṇa  4Dutch Ministers in the VOC: Rogerius and Baldaeus  1The Oldest Manual  2Pastor and Missionary  3Rogerius’ Career in the East  4Study on Hinduism  5Sources  6An Honest Report  7The Structure of the Book  8An Appealing Book  9Baldaeus and Mythology  10Sources  11Refutation  12Other Ministers  5A Pietistic Preacher in Danish Territory: Bartholomäus Ziegenbalg  1A Danish Undertaking  2Pietistic Germans  3Preaching in Tamil  4Sources of Language and Religion  5The “Malabar Correspondence”  6On the Path to Salvation?  7Systematic Work  6A Disappointed Missionary: Abbé Dubois  1Reading for the Curious  2A Costly Manuscript  3Missionaries in Turbulent Times  4A Hindu among the Hindus  5Mission Impossible?  6A Manual  7Inclusion of the Lower Castes  8Contamination  9Reincarnation  7British Government Officials: John Muir and Nascent Indology  1The East Indian Company  2An Influential Translation  3A Learned Society  4The Serampore Trio  5‘Little Britain’ in a Foreign Society  6The Christian Faith Disseminated  7Writing in Sanskrit  8Divine Properties  9Hindus Respond to the Challenge  10Other Research into Hinduism  8The Image of the East in the West: Nineteenth- century British India in Fiction and Travel Reports  1Romantic Orientalism  2The First Detective Novel  3Emily Eden: A Lady Travelling in a Strange Land  4Mary Carpenter: A Visitor in Search of Renewal  5D.C. Steyn Parvé: Fear of Rebellion in the Colonies  6Willam Urwick: A Reflective Tour  7A Princely Picture of India: Prince Bojidar  9Missionaries from Switzerland: The Basel Mission in South India  1A Minister Honoured  2On the Road in a Mission Field  3A New Beginning  4Church in India—An Indian Church?  5Mapping a Language  6Examining the Liṅgāyats  7In Search of a Point of Contact  8An Exceptional French Swiss  9Back in Europe  10To America  11The Brahmanical Culture  12Pantheism and the Vedas  10Reflections  1A Fascinating Country  2Wondrous Phenomena  3A Major Stumbling Block  4Minor Stumbling Blocks  5Languages  6A Broad Interest  7Another Religious Structure and Culture  8Idols and Monotheism  9Plurality and Colourfulness  10Nascent Dialogue  Bibliography  Glossary  Index of Names