Chapters in this book

1. Frontmatter i
2. Contents v
3. List of Illustrations vii
4. List of Maps xi
5. Abbreviations xiii
6. Preface and Acknowledgments xv
7. Introduction 1
8. 1 The Living Landscape of India 14
9. 2 Indo-Aryans and the Vision of the Rig Veda Poets (1300–1000 BCE) 40
10. 3 The World of Sacrifice (1000–600 BCE) 88
11. 4 A New Urban Culture and Renunciatory Religion (600–300 BCE) 114
12. 5 The Mauryan Era: Religious Cultures of Empire (321–187 BCE) 149
13. 6 Disciplinary Communities and Religious Quests 188
14. 7 Popular Religious Cultures during the Shunga Era (200 BCE–0 CE) 220
15. 8 The Sanskrit Epics: Imagined Empires of the Hindus 262
16. 9 The Kushana Era and Pan-Asian Buddhism (0 CE–300 CE) 302
17. 10 Visual Religion: Icons, Worship, and Devotion 340
18. 11 The Four Human Aims: Guides for the Good Life 383
19. 12 The Gupta Era: Religious Cultures of Court and Beyond (300–500 CE) 416
20. 13 The Puranas: Varieties of Hindu Theism 453
21. 14 Homes for Gods (460 CE–700 CE) 477
22. Epilogue Varieties of Religious Cultures in Early India 514
23. Notes 521
24. Bibliography 541
25. Index 569