The Religions of India: Identifying Dimensions in the World's Largest Country

• In Event: Religion and Politics beyond the Nation-State

Abstract

Although the field of religion and politics has grown tremendously in recent decades, the study of nonwestern religious traditions remains underdeveloped. This study analyzes survey data from Pew’s 2019-2020 India survey. This survey sought to move past many of the limitations of prior national-level surveys seeking to measure religion in India by developing an array of novel religion measures relevant to India’s social context and religious communities. This paper leverages the strengths of the Pew India survey to examine relations among diverse religious practices and beliefs pertinent to the Indian context. In doing so, it aims to yield composite scales of religious practice and belief among religious adherents or subgroups of adherents in India. The analysis moves beyond conventional measures in the scientific study of religion and extends efforts to measure religiosity in its cultural multiplicity by devoting greater attention to the Indian case.

Author

• Ajay Verghese, Middlebury College