Indian Religions

Abstract

Since the advent in 1974 of the academic study of religion in Australian higher education institutions, the division of resources allocated to research and teaching on religion has been spread roughly over what one might call Western (= Semitic) religions and Eastern (encompassing primarily Indian and Chinese) religions, with a sprinkling of resources being offered on the margin to the study of Melanesian and Aboriginal religions. Under this kind of tacit arrangement the financial and personnel resources devoted to the study of Indian religions have certainly been of a greater quantity than those which have been assigned to other areas of the East. Each department of Religious Studies in Australia has felt compelled to appoint a specialist in Hinduism and/or Buddhism with the brief of teaching in both areas and the conducting of research in one of them.