Spanning 2000 BCE to 200 CE, the age of antiquity saw the development of Brahmanism and the early emergence of Hinduism. Key topics explored in this volume on antiquity include the creation of Vedic authority; ideologies that imbue the body with social, political, and cosmic meanings; priestly and domestic ritual developments; differing dialogues on the nature and goal of humanity; patronage; relationships between priests and kings; the visuality of coronation rituals; competing accounts of cosmological and historical pasts across Brahmanic and non-Brahmanic traditions; and enduring issues of Brahman identity.

A Cultural History of Hinduism in Antiquity is part of a six-volume set providing an authoritative survey of one of the world's oldest religious traditions in its social and cultural contexts, from ancient times to the present. Each volume includes essays on sources of authority; body and mind; social organization and everyday norms; identity, difference, and dialogue; power and politics; visual culture; lineages and emerging exemplars and movements; and global context.

Titles in the Cultural History series are available as hardcover sets for libraries needing just one subject or preferring a tangible reference for their shelves or as part of a fully-searchable digital library. The digital product is available to institutions by annual subscription or on perpetual access via www.bloomsburyculturalhistory.com . Individual volumes for academics and researchers interested in specific historical periods are also available in print or digitally via www.bloomsburycollections.com .