Routledge Material Culture and Asian Religions - Routledge Research

Traditionally, research on the history of Asian religions has been marked by a bias for literary evidence, privileging canonical texts penned in classical languages. This book, part of the Routledge Research in Religion, Media and Culture series, challenges this approach by examining how a focus on literary sources has shaped dominant narratives about Asian religious histories in both scholarship and popular culture. The work argues that this textual emphasis has contributed to the tendency to study different religious traditions in relative isolation from one another. Today, historical work often relies on modern textual editions and electronic databases, but this methodology may overlook important dimensions of religious experience and practice. Material Culture and Asian Religions redirects scholarly attention toward physical artefacts, images, and objects as vital sources for understanding Asian religions, offering a more comprehensive and integrated approach to religious history that moves beyond traditional text-based analysis.