Here is a masterful work on the Hindu worldview and on the structures and institutions that have given it its unique dynamism and attraction.

Considered by the most acclaimed Indianists as one of the best introductions to Hindu spirituality, Madeleine Biardeau's classic is an essential text for both scholars of the religious phenomenon and for those who wish to be introduced to the teachings of India.

Biardeau studies in depth the role of the Brahmans in Indian society and religiosity. She explores the four goals of the human being: sensual pleasure (kāma), profit (artha), religious duty (dharma) and liberation (moksa). With unusual ease, Biardeau reveals how Brahmanism was transformed into the intricate game of cosmogonies and symbologies of the religion of devotion. The work is also an investigation into the main teachings of the great Indian epics, the Mahabharata and the Ramayana. Finally, it questions the future of Hinduism.