ABSTRACT
This chapter begins by bringing to light the fact that religious worlds as open ecosystems has been normative for India's religious history; the undoing of the open system approach in the modern era; the consequences of schismatic changes to the world of Indian religion in general and Hinduism in particular, and the need for an approach that transcends trauma. A history of mimesis, dialogue, and cross-fertilization between the religious traditions of ancient and classical India created a culture of osmosis, of porous boundaries. One clear example of the attempt to integrate multiple religious cultures is found in the Chinese concept of sanjiao heyi. The conflation of Hinduism and the Indian nation state also displays a lack of remembrance of Hindu history: the Hindu ethos, over different periods of time, existed across a vast span of territory and culture from what is now Afghanistan to Indonesia and Malaysia.
