The European Encounter with Hinduism in India

Later on, although officials of the colonial adminis­tra-tion also studied the languages and culture of India, it was – contrary to what is usually assumed – particularly the many missionaries who made the greatest contribution to the mapping of Hinduism.

The European Encounter with Hinduism in India is a masterful reflection on Western visitors to India from Marco Polo on, and then too on the colonial era missionary encounters with Hindu texts, practices, and believers.’ – Francis X. Clooney, SJ, Professor of Comparative Theology, Harvard University ‘As an expert in Hinduism and Christian theology, Jan Peter Schouten is the perfect author to write about the confrontation between Europe and India.’ – Dr Marcel Poorthuis, Professor of Interreligious Dialogue, Tilburg University In The European Encounter with Hinduism in India Jan Peter Schouten offers an account of European travellers coming into contact with the Hindu religion in India. From the thirteenth century on, both traders and missionaries visited India and encountered the exotic world of Hindus and Hinduism. Their travel reports reveal how Europeans gradually increased their knowledge of Hinduism and how they evaluated this foreign religion.