Hinduism: A very short introduction by Kim Knott ****

Reading dates: Sometime around 2019 – 16 October 2022

I read this book in 6 minute spans, twice a week or so, as I was making my journey to my yoga studio. I had previously read the very short introduction on the Russian Revolution and found it interesting and deep enough to be introductory rather than simplistic. Knott’s Hinduism was the same in flavour.

I often get asked, when I introduce the opening mantra of Ashtanga Yoga, whether yoga is a religion. I know the answer to that: No. It is a spiritual practice, but not religion. What I was less clear about was its relation to Hinduism. I cannot say that Knott’s book has exactly answered that question. In fact, in the task to question Hinduism as a religion it has made me less certain on the answer to whether yoga is a religion. She sets many of the contradictions of Hinduism’t history and practices (caste, the role of women, colonialism, philosophical enquiries, ritual) out on the open and does not attempt to close down thought.

Yes, the book is introductory, very short and aims to cover a concept that is so vast, I would have to think twice was I to engage with the task. The main criticisms i have read about it are: ‘there was not enough of this or that’ and while that is fair enough, these critics would do well in reading the second part of the title, after the colon.

Knott’s references are interesting, even though there are some evident ones on caste, Goddesses and Yoga scriptures – the two areas I know more about of all the ones covered in the book – that are missing. Still, it is faithful, interesting, wide-ranging and has made me discovered areas for thought and writers I did not know before. Just on this, I would say this book is well worth it.