From Library Journal
A specialist in Hinduism, Buddhism, and other Asian religions and philosophical traditions, Lochtefeld (religion, Carthage Coll.) offers a two-volume reference on every aspect of Hinduism and related areas of Indian culture and history. Written in a clear, straightforward style, the more than 2500 alphabetically arranged entries address readers not wholly familiar with Hindu belief and practice. The entries cover a wide range of subject areas, including beliefs, rituals, art, celebrations, sacred places, history, religious organizations, biographies (of holy persons, theoreticians, and religious leaders), and much more. They are typically about 200 words long, though some are as long as 1000 words. In a valuable cross-referencing system, boldface terms in the text of every entry refer readers to related entries. There are convenient subject-category listings in the introductory material, an exhaustive index in the back, and black-and-white pictures throughout. Also included are charts of relationships among deities, maps of sacred sites, tabulations, a pronunciation key for Hindi and Sanskrit terms, and useful diagrams to help systematize information. Finally, Lochtefeld also provides a select bibliography, comprising about 200 important works, almost all of which were published after 1950. Some scholarly multivolume encyclopedias are available on this topic, but most are not very recent. Lochtefeld's is both accessible and substantial enough to serve the needs of students, scholars, and casual readers alike. A major achievement of scholarly research, organization, and analysis, this book is recommended for both public and academic reference collections. James F. DeRoche, Alexandria, VA
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.
This encyclopedia covers festivals, texts, doctrine, rituals, practices, biographies, deities and heroes, architecture, mythology, sects, and institutions of the religious tradition covered. Examples of the more than 2,500 entries include
Bhagavad Gita, Brahma, Cow slaughter, and
Stages of life. Entries are generaly short though some some (for example,
Asceticism; Bhagavad Gita; Dance; Gandhi, Mohandas K.; Sita) extend for more than a page. The illustrations are all black and white, occur on approximately one-quarter of the pages, and usually cover less than half a page. The entries include extensive cross-references, and the "Contents by Subject" at the beginning of the encyclopedia aids the reader in locating thematically related entries. The coverage of the subject areas is good.
The encyclopedia could have been greatly improved with the inclusion of glossaries giving the terms in the various languages involved. Sanskrit and English would be the obvious minimum. Although the volume is adequate for the general reader, this conspicuous omission limits its usefulness for the more serious researcher.
Libraries that already have common religion reference sources, such as Eliade's The Encyclopedia of Religion (Macmillan, 1987), will probably find no reason to add this new encyclopedia to their collections. However, academic libraries supporting large religious studies departments may want to buy this for the added coverage. Public libraries that have no other resources on Hinduism might also consider it. RBB
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