Modern Myths, Locked Minds: Secularism and Fundamentalism in India

This book reflects contemporary concerns about the inadequacies of secularism in the context of religious assertiveness in recent decades. It examines the ideologies of secularism and fundamentalism in the setting of the Hindu, Muslim, and Sikh religious traditions. In a new preface and two appendices, the author recapitulates earlier formulations on the subject and revisits the current debates. The book has been described as `an invitation to an enticing intellectual journey that reveals new landscapes' (Louis Dumont), acclaimed as a `tour de force' (Rajni Kothari), `a landmark intervention from the social sciences in public affairs' (Satish Saberwal), and a `major contribution to scholarship and the delineation of the interrelationship of religion and politics' (Harold Gould).

It will interest students and scholars of sociology, political science, history, religious studies and philosophy, and informed general readers.

T.N. Madan is Honorary Professor (Sociology) at the Institute of Economic Growth, Delhi, and Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, Delhi. A recipient of an honorary doctorate from the University of Paris (Nanterre), he was given the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Indian Sociological Society in 2008.

`Madan is a formidable sociologist who eschews the beaten track of the secularism debate.'---The Statesman

`The book should be required reading for every thinking person who seeks to understand the interplay of religious, cultural and socio-political factors that have made us Indians...'---The Hindu