Aspects of Hindu Morality

The present work seeks to critically study Hindu ethics from an entirely new perspective. It makes two significant observations at the outsets: First that Hindu 'religio-culture' being  a comprehensive whole, it is impossible to properly understand and evaluate its morality without a prior understanding of its religio-philosophical beliefs and value, and second that Hinduism being a highly complex and multifaceted phenomenon, comprising several heterogeneous religio-philosophical beliefs and valuational approaches, the usual historical method needs to be supplemented by a fresh analytical and to a certain extent phenomenological approach. The author seeks to understand Hindu morality in the context of the entire Hindu 'religio-culture'. At the same time, in order to better understanding the complexity and richness of Hindu thought and practice, she analytically divides Hinduism into several religio-moral traditions. This realistic recognition of the diversity of Hinduism is compatible with an equal recognition of the underlying unity of its ethos. The author further emphasizes the immense adaptability of Hinduism and puts forth a strong case for a reformulation of Hindu philosophy of morals which would synthesize various elements of Hindu thought and practice, so as to make its ethics more self-consistent and relevant for modern times.

About the Author:

Saral Jhingran received her Ph. D. degree from Rajasthan University in 1972 for her work on Advaita Vedanta. Since then she has received U.G.C. Senior Fellowship twice. She has been regularly writing for various journals of philosophy and participating in philosophical seminars and congresses. She is a serious scholar of Vedanta and Comparative Religion. Her book - The Roots of World Religions - has been unanimously welcomed by the critics, both in India and abroad as a valuable contribution to the Philosophy of Religion. In all her works, Saral Jhingran aims at presenting a well-documented and comprehensive account of her subject matter which expresses a delightful combination of sympathetic understanding and objective evaluation. At present she is working on her next book.