About the Book

The language of politics in the world in general and India, in particular, has been heavily dominated by the identity aspects of religion. Globally, terrorism has been linked to a religion and in India, the identity issues revolving around Ram Temple, Lord Ram and Holy Cow have dominated the political chessboard. 

This book takes a broad look at the multifaceted ensemble called Religion and political phenomenon constructed around religion's identity. It begins with the elaboration of religion as value and a human institution and then goes on to understand the life and teachings of some Prophets. How religion has been seen and understood in the social arena has been elaborated in different periods of Indian society. 

From early twentieth century, the word Hindutva has been coined for a particular type of politics. A regular confusion does take place around different terminologies— Hindu, Hinduism, Hindutva and Hindu Rashtra. Lately, the 'men of God' have come to be prominently noticed in the social field, mostly not for right reasons. There are types and types of them specializing in accumulating wealth, being involved in sex scandals and other criminal acts including the one's related to terrorist violence. This book does look at few aspects of some of them. Many a debate have also been generated around the versions of Lord Ram's story and the place of Cow in Hindu belief system.

The book also attempts to outline the possible role of religions in contemporary times and finally points out that it is the alliance of attainments of human society; values of religions; civilizations, which is at the root of human progress.

About the Auhor

Former Professor IIT Mumbai, Ram Puniyani is a well-known writer-activist. His books include Communal Politics, Contours of Hindu Rashtra, Second Assassination of Gandhi, Terrorism: Facts versus Myth. He is recipient of Indira Gandhi National Integration Award (2006) and National Communal Harmony Award (2007)