Brill's Encyclopedia of Hinduism.Volume Ⅳ: Historical Perspectives, Poets,Teachers and Saints, Relation to other Religions and Traditions, Hinduism and Contemporary Issues

摘要

I reviewed volume one of this monumental work at length for Reference Reviews (RR 2010/201) - the sheer scale of the enterprise seemed to warrant extensive notice. When the second volume came out, the editor once more allowed me a couple of pages to expatiate on it (RR 2011/150). In the interests of saving paper, and of saving the time and patience of Reference Reviews readers, I said then that I would write a brief comment on each of the next two volumes as they appeared, but, if the editor allowed me, would sum up the entire work on receiving the final volume. In spite of this I stretched out more than I intended on volume three (RR 2012/153) and am sorely tempted to go into inordinate detail on volume four as well, because I have found it the most interesting volume so far. I am not sure whether this is because I am gradually becoming more familiar with the peculiar structure of the book or because I find the subject matter more accessible and relevant.