ABSTRACT
India and Hinduism have long held a special place in the Western imagination.
Ancient Greek and Roman historians related tales of India’s splendor with
its exotic peoples and larger-than-life fl ora and fauna. In the Middle Ages,
India was a source of myth and legend, sometimes associated with the king
Prester John or with tales of the Christian hermit Barlaam and his successful
efforts to convert the Indian royals Prince Josaphat and the cruel King
Avineer. In the age of imperialism, India became fertile ground for economic
and missionary endeavors. If India were to be governed by colonial powers,
Hinduism needed to be understood. Hindus were different and “other,” of
course, but their religion appeared strangely familiar when seen against the
background of the Western past. Although now India may seem closer to the
West, its exotic appeal remains. In Greenwich Village, or in any other “hip”
section of a large American city, one might very well see a few pedestrians
and window shoppers wearing tee-shirts with Devanagri letters, sporting
tattoos of such Hindu religious symbols as “Oṃ,” and displaying fashionable
applications of mehndī on their hands, possibly with a pierced nose and a well placed bindī on the forehead. Such Indian-inspired fashion sensibilities, along with the continuing popularity of yoga and āyurveda, testify to how India and Hinduism continue to be constructed and appropriated by and
within a variety of Western imaginations.
