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<p>The Arya Samaj was an important movement in the development of contemporary India. Arya Samajists have been prominent not only in the history of the religions of South Asia but also in education politics social reform journalism and even business. Though they have often been seen as progressives these men and women have understood themselves to be participating in the revival of the ancient religion of the Vedas. Based in part on fieldwork conducted in India from 1985 through 1987 this book offers a new perspective on the Arya Samaj comparing it with fundamentalist groups in other religious traditions. In the introduction Llewellyn proposes a definition of fundamentalism which he then applies to Christian and Islamic groups in the first chapter. The Arya Samaj is analyzed in terms of this same definition in chapter two. The third chapter is a study of scripture in the works of Swami Dayanand Sarasvati the founder of the Arya Samaj. The context of the Arya Samaj’s interpretation of the Vedas is examined in the fourth chapter. The book concludes with a brief discussion of the politics of fundamentalist movements and the politics of studying fundamentalism. In recent years historians of religions political scientists anthropologists sociologists historians and others have turned their attention to the study of fundamentalist movements across cultures. A detailed study of one movement in a broader comparative framework The Arya Samaj as a Fundamentalist Movement is a substantial contribution to this new field. About the Author J.E. Llewellyn studied at Duke University and the University of Chicago and got his PhD from the University of Chicago. In the 1985-1986 academic year he was a doctoral fellow of the American Institute of Indian Studies living in Hardwar and doing the research for this book. While a graduate student in Chicago he worked for the Fundamentalism Project of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences as a consultant on non-Western religious traditions. He taught in the Department of Religious Studies at Southwest Missouri State University.</p>
