Introduction

This book introduces several religious traditions that for many centuries have deeply influenced the patterns by which people have been living in the region of the world currently known as South Asia, a region that has its geographical and cultural center in the subcontinent of India. It is called a subcontinent because India and its near neighbors are separated from the larger land mass of Asia by the highest mountains in the world as well as by deserts, rivers, marshes, bays, and seas. The religious traditions that are introduced in this book have been (and continue to be) integral to the formation of the cultural identity of people in India and South Asia.