New Horizons of Faith

In contemporary India, new Hindu religious movements are reshaping spiritual landscapes and challenging traditional boundaries of faith, identity, and social practice. This groundbreaking ethnographic study examines two influential movements—Brahma Kumaris and Ramakrishna Movement—each offering distinct cosmologies and visions of human transformation that attract millions of followers across diverse social backgrounds. Through rich, comparative analysis, this book explores the socio-cultural forces driving the rise of these movements and their profound impact on devotees’ lives. Who joins these communities and why? How do charismatic founding leaders’ legacies evolve across generations? The study reveals how new religious identities form through intensive socialisation processes that transform everything from daily routines to fundamental worldviews. Employing a phenomenological perspective, the author demonstrates how bodies become sites of cultural inscription and potential social change. They uncover striking differences between the movements regarding food practices, clothing choices, celibacy, and marriage—revealing how religious imagination translates into lived experience. From the Brahma Kumaris’ emphasis on spiritual purity and gender equality to the Ramakrishna Movement's synthesis of traditional and modern values, each movement creates distinct pathways to transcendence. The book offers crucial insights into how contemporary Hindu movements navigate modernity while preserving spiritual authenticity, creating new forms of religious belonging that challenge conventional social boundaries. Essential reading for scholars and students of the sociology of religion, cultural studies, religious studies, anthropology, and South Asian studies, this work provides an unprecedented understanding of religious innovation in modern India.