The idea of a comprehensive guide to Hinduism was born simply enough: A few scholars at a conference in Pittsburgh realized one didn’t exist.
Now, after 25 years, more than 1,000 scholars and a few periods of doubt, The Encyclopedia of Hinduism has been heralded as a key achievement in the religion’s study. It spans 11 volumes, 7,000 articles and 1,000 illustrations and photographs.
Over the last quarter century, its depth wasn’t always so certain. Editors thought about printing fewer volumes or condensing the work into a dictionary.
Hal French, who has been the encyclopedia’s associate editor since its inception, remembered a meeting to decide what entries the text would cover. Before editors had gotten through the A’s, he began to doubt the project’s feasibility.
“But we sort of held to the idea that the whole story needed to be told,” French said, distinguished professor emeritus of religious studies. “It took a lot of patience and work to make it happen.”
It’s a resource French wishes he’d had earlier in his career, which includes 41 years at USC. But he was happy, he said, to see it come to fruition at the start of what he expects will be his last year at the university.
The project was based at USC for more than a decade before it was finalized for print in India. Former university President John Palms first welcomed it to campus, offering up office space and graduate assistants. It returned Monday, two administrations later, when current President Harris Pastides praised its completion.
Its publication comes at an important time for Hinduism, said Sadhvi Bhagawati Saraswati, the managing editor. As the religion grows in the U.S., she said, its complexity and American culture’s openness to questioning converge, creating a need for a comprehensive guide.
But, she said at a news conference this week, the encyclopedia wasn’t just written for Hindus.
“Rather, it is a compilation — an encapsulation — of wisdom and teachings and insights that benefit everyone,” she said.
For the scholars who have worked with the text, though, its insights have also been individual.
French said it had given him an appreciation for Hinduism’s complexity and “kaleidoscopic vision.” Mardi McCabe said her time copy editing articles augmented the broad religious world-view she gained before joining the staff in 1998 as a graduate student.
“It was an education in itself,” McCabe said.