Home to a fifth of the world's population and the largest democracy in the world, India holds a prominent place in current events yet remains misunderstood in many ways by students, professionals and others who seek a single, authoritative source for information on this important region. The Encyclopedia of India meets this need, encompassing the history, cultures, geography and religions of India from ancient times to the present day. Across the four volumes of the Encyclopedia, readers are invited to explore India in a comprehensive reference work of more than 600 alphabetically arranged, illustrated articles. As India's role in global politics and economics continues to grow, readers will find the historical and cultural information contained within this work an indispensable tool to gaining a greater appreciation of India and its place in our modern world.

Wendy Doniger and Martha Nussbaum bring together leading scholars from a wide array of disciplines to address a crucial question: How does the world's most populous democracy survive repeated assaults on its pluralistic values? India's stunning linguistic, cultural, and religious diversity has been supported since Independence by a political structure that emphasizes equal rights for all, and protects liberties of religion and speech. But a decent Constitution does not implement itself, and challenges to these core values repeatedly arise-most recently in the form of the Hindu Right movements of the twenty-first century that threatened to destabilize the nation and upend its core values, in the wake of a notorious pogrom in the state of Gujarat in which approximately 2000 Muslim civilians were killed. Focusing on this time of tension and threat, the essays in this volume consider how a pluralistic democracy managed to survive. They examine the role of political parties and movements, including the women's movement, as well as the role of the arts, the press, the media, and a historical legacy of pluralistic thought and critical argument. Featuring essays from eminent scholars in history, religious studies, political science, economics, women's studies, and media studies, Pluralism and Democracy in India offers an urgently needed case study in democratic survival. As Nehru said of India on the eve of Independence: ''These dreams are for India, but they are also for the world.'' The analysis this volume offers illuminates not only the past and future of one nation, but the prospects of democracy for all.