The Anthropology of Buddhism & Hinduism

by David N. Gellner

This collection of essays both engages with Max Weber's work, and attempts to use his general approach, combined with detailed ethnography from Nepal and Japan, to attack critical questions in the anthropology and sociology of Buddhism and Hinduism. Gellner's emphasis is on Weber's general historical, materialist, and conflict-oriented approach, rather than on a detailed exegesis of Weber's work. This book will appeal to specialists in religious studies, South Asia, Max Weber, and to anthropologists and sociologists more generally.

About the Author:

DAVID N. GELLNER is Reader in Social Anthropology in the Department of Human Sciences, Brunel University, UK. His previous books include Monk, Householder, and Tantric Priest: Newar Buddhism and its Hierarchy of Ritual, Contested Hierarchies: A Collaborative Ethnography of Caste among the Newars of the Kathmandu Valley, Nepal and Nationalism and Ethnicity in a Hindu Kingdom.