Hinduism & India

Ganesh Chaturthi, Mumbai

IC Library Print & Media Resources
IC Library Databases (Articles)
Web Resources
Citation Help

IC Library Print & Media Resources

IC Library Databases (Articles)

Recommended Databases

   ATLA religion database with ATLASerials : Our discipline-specific database for religion research. Setting search limits on the home page is a good idea if you are looking specifically for journal articles (under "publication type" select "article" to eliminate books and essays in books, which will not be available full text) or if you read only English (under Language select "English" to eliminate retrievals in other languages).
   Subject searching is available--just open the "Select a Field" drop-down menu to the right of the search slots. And you can preview the Subject Headings available here by clicking on "Indexes" above the search slots and selecting "Subjects All." Not only will this allow you to confirm Subject Headings, but for each one you will be given a "count" of how many records have been assigned it, so you can see in advance where the greatest number of resources are available for your topic. Among those available here are Hindu Law, Hindu Literature, Hindu Saints, Hindu Sects, Hindu Theology, Hinduism, Hinduism--History, Hinduism--Ritual, Hinduism--Sacred Books, and Hindus--United States.

   General OneFile : is the most user-friendly of our comprehensive databases, covering almost any topic from a wide range of disciplinary angles and offering lots of full text. Use the default Subject search to find the best subject heading for your topic (and when you find a good one be sure to look at the "Related Subjects" to see if there's something even better).
   After finding the best Subject term--and these include Hinduism, Hindus, Diwali, and Hindu-Muslim Relations--use the “Subdivisions” link below it for focus. These allow you to target articles on a particular aspect of the topic, including "Beliefs," “Ethical Aspects,”"History," “Political Aspects,” and “Social Aspects.”
   If the best available subdivision is still too broad, open it and add your own Keywords in the "Search within these results" slot at the upper left.      User Advisory: When first viewing your retrievals in General OneFile, note that you are seeing onlythe "Magazines" (popular articles) and must click on the tabs for "Academic Journals" (scholarly articles) or "News" (newspaper articles) to see those results.

ProQuest Research Library : is another comprehensive database with substantial full text. Use the "Thesaurus" (above the search slots) to preview what Subject Headings are available. Subect searching can be a more efficient way to search than with only Keywords, since it guarantees that the articles retrieved actually be about the Subject--not just use a particular word. Among the Subjects available here are Hinduism, Hindus, and Hindu Life & Ethics.
Note that to the right of your search results you can limit your retrieval by "Source Type" (including Magazines, Newspapers, Scholarly Journals), "Document Type," (including Cover Story, Editorial, or Interview), "Document Feature" (including Photographs, Illustrations), and "Location."
Above each set of articles you retrieve ProQuest will display related Subject searches to help either broaden or narrow your focus.
User Advisory: ProQuest is fussy about entering Subject searches in the designated search slot. If your subject is a person, enter the name--last name first--in the "Person" slot, for example Gandhi, Mohandas Karamchand; if a place enter it in "Location," for example, India.

   Academic Search Premier Comprehensive subject coverage with considerable full text. Note that there is a “Subject Terms” link just above the search boxes, allowing you to search the index of Subject Headings--often a good first stop for more efficient Subject searching whereby you are guaranteed that your topic is indeed a main subject of the articles retrieved.    A good initial strategy in this database is to search a likely topic in the Subject Terms and when you find it “explode” the term by double clicking it--this brings up a list of related Subject terms. You can check as many terms as you like before "adding" them to your search by AND-ing or OR-ing them together. Among those available here are Hinduism, Hinduism & Politics, Hinduism & State, Hinduism--Doctrines, Hinduism--Rituals, Hindu Diaspora, Hindu Law, Hindu Mythology, Hindu Philosophy, Hindu Sects, and Hindu Women.
     User Advisory: For any retrieved set of articles, there will be a box displayed on the left that will limit the articles to “Scholarly” journals—just check the box and click the “Update Results” button below.

   JSTOR : covers a wide range of scholarly journals in most disciplines, always beginning with the first issue of each one. This provides 100% full text access to articles from not only the first half of the 20th century but even the second half of the 19th. (This is our only database where you can retrieve scholarly articles on Hinduism across a wide range of disciplines published in the 1900-1970 period.)  Be aware, however, that at the other end of the date range articles don't appear full text in JSTOR until at least 2-3 years after publication.
   JSTOR offers only a Keyword search of its complete full text, so retrievals are large, but the relevancy ranking does a good job of putting the strongest matches on the first few pages. This relevancy ranking does not weigh date, however, and will display a mix of articles written decades apart. So if your topic is time sensitive, be alert to publication dates.
     User Advisory: The academic journals covered here feature numerous book reviews, so it's a good idea to tick the "Article" limit below the search slots so you won't be overwhelmed by book reviews on your topic.
   Also note the "Date Range" limit, which in a database with an archive this deep can be very useful.

Project Muse , although a smaller database, it complements JSTOR. LIke JSTOR it provides 100% full text of mostly scholarly journals, but its coverage is entirely current--mainly spanning the last 10-15 years. Muse uses a "black box" search approach--you enter your search terms in one slot with no designated field options--but in addition to slapping in keywords, you can use the same Library of Congress Subject Headings that work in the Library catalog (see above under "Subject Searches"). This broad approach to searching tends to generate large retrievals, so it's best to be as specific as possible. And note--once you have a retrieval set, you can add more search terms by clicking "Modify Search" at the top.

      Philosopher's Index : No full text, but the “ArticleLinker” arrows at the end of each citation will connect to scholarly full text in our other databases--making this an efficient one-stop search for ethics, political philosophy, metaphysics, and logic. Try Hinduism as a Descriptor and then add keywords for focus.

   AnthroSource : Open "Advanced" search and put Hindu Hinduism in the "at least one of the words" slot. This database is particularly strong on Hinduism's cultural traditions and mores.

   delivers full text of the policy briefs, case studies, and working papers issued by government groups, research institutes, and think tanks. These are not available from IC's other databases and often provide very substantial analysis of issues. For this topic it is especially good on Hindu nationalism and relations between India and Pakistan.
   Do not settle for the single search slot on the home page--open the "Advanced Search" just below.
   User Advisory: Even the" Advanced" search recommended above is a blunt instrument: only Keyword searching is available. Begin by entering Hindu Hinduism in the "At Least One of these Words" slot.

LexisNexis Academic News: Offering a keyword search of 100% full text from a vast number of national and international newspapers, this is an easy database to use poorly and a bit tricky to use well. In order not to be overwhelmed with articles in which your search terms are mentioned anywhere—first or last paragraph—or any number of times—once or ten times—use commands to target articles in which your topic words are mentioned early or mentioned often.
     Use the hlead command (headline and lead paragraphs) to target articles in which your topic words occur in the prime news-story position of headline or first paragraphs. For example: hlead(fracking and pollution) will retrieve just the articles in which the words “fracking” and “pollution” are used in the headline or first paragraphs. Note: the term or terms to which you want this command to apply must be put in parentheses after hlead, with no space between.
     Use the altleast command to target articles in which your topic words occur a set number of times. For example: atleast5(“gay marriage”) will retrieve only the articles where this phrase is used at least 5 times—indicating that it must be a main topic. You can plug in any number after atleast—atleast3 or atleast7. Note: the term or terms to which you want this command to apply must be put in parentheses with no space between the number you choose and the first parenthesis.
     Use the date range offered under Advanced Options. Because this is a large database of 100% full text, one of the most effective ways to retrieve fewer than 1000 hits is to set up a time frame. Note: if you use the calendar icons to set beginning and end dates, you need to choose a year, a month, and a day for each. Without the day, the date won’t register.

Contact Us

Dr. Brian Saunders

Humanities Librarian

(607) 274-1198

Dr. Brian's research guides

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A Related Guide

Full-Text Online Books (ebrary)

Note: Log-in required

Introducing Hinduism
Hinduism
Religion in Culture: Rethinking Hindu Identity
Eclecticism and Modern Hindu Discourse
Philosophy of the Upanisads
Rethinking India's Oral and Classical Epics
Goddesses and Women in the Indic Religious Tradition
Ethics in Ancient India
Hindu Psychology
Hindu Nationalism
Saffron Wave: Democracy & Hindu Nationalism in Modern India

Reference Resources

Online Reference

Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Hindu Philosophy

From the Encyclopedia of Philosophy:
Hinduism
Hindu Perspectives
Knowledge in Indian Philosophy

Print Reference

Note: The print reference collection is located in the back right-hand corner of the Library's main floor as you enter.

Encyclopedia of India
Introduction to the world's major religions: Hinduism
Human rights and the world's major religions: The Hindu Tradition
Routledge encyclopedia of philosophy: "Hindu Philosophy"
Encyclopedia of religion: "Hinduism"

Web Resources

Selected Web Sites

Internet Sacred Text Archive: Hinduism: Full text of the Vedas, Puranas, Laws, Epics, etc.

Virtual Religion Index: Hindu Studies: See especially the General Resources and Theology & Devotion.

Virtual Religion Library: Hinduism: Good gateway.

Hinduism: Paul Flesher of the University of Wyoming wrote and collected the content here as an introduction to the basics of Hindu belief.

Hinduism: A monograph published by the Indian government in 1965. It provides a good, comprehensive overview.

Intute: Hinduism: Intute is an outstanding UK Web Directory and offers an interesting set of links to online resources.

Hinduism Today: A magazine site, but with lots of free content under News and Education tabs at the top. See especially the free PDF version of their book What is Hinduism?

Kauai's Hindu Monastery: Publishers of Hinduism Today (see above), this site offers additional content, especially under Publications, Study, and Hindu Basics.

Oxford Center for Hindu Studies: Lectures: The OCHS makes its lectures freely available as podcasts and downloads. Open "Previous Lectures."

Religious Tolerance: Hinduism: A liberal, multi-faith group especially interested in comparative religion.

India: Internet Resources: useful Web links from the University of Wisconsin.

Center for the Advanced Study of India: Resources: Categorized links from the University of Pennsylvania.

Brookings Institute: India: Research reports from a leading think tank. Note the "More on India" link at the bottom of the page.

World Values Survey: Political, social, and cultural data on the values and beliefs of over 80 societies worldwide--including the United States--since 1981. A great site, but it can be a challenge to navigate. To get started try my World Values Survey: User Guide.

CIA World Factbook: India

World Bank: India

World Health Organization: India

India.gov.in: National Portal of India

Web Directories

Web Directories differ from search engines like Google in that all the online resources have been selected and annotated by editors, thereby promising a much higher degree of quality control.

Open Directory Project: Hinduism: Click on the subheadings here for an even more detailed breakdown of issues. Also see India: Government.
IPL2: India

Web Search Engines

Google Advanced Search: When doing research on the Web, always use the Adanced Search version of Google. This not only provides more flexibility in entering search terms, but more importantly it allows you to target the Web domains that are likely to provide the most authoritative information.
Under "Need More Tools?" you will find the "Search within a site or domain" slot. You may enter only one domain at a time, but it's worth targeting each of the three domains likely to supply the best information: colleges and universities (enter the "edu" tag), nonprofit organizations (enter the "org" tag), and the United States government (enter the "gov" tag).

Citation Help

MLA

MLA is the citation style used by most disciplines in the Humanities. The guides below use the most recent 2008/9 standards.