Author Description

Present volume is the outcome of two daysnational seminar on SYNCRETISM IN INDIA:CULTURAL AND RELIGIOUS DIMENSIONS heldat Guwahati in 2015 in which large number ofsocial scientists across the disciplinary framespresented their papers linking with the issuesand ideas concerning ‘syncretism’, a conceptwhich has often been perceived in variegatedways by scholars of different disciplines. Anumber of articles could be found in thisvolume by anthropologists relating tosyncretism that interprets the term asborrowing of cultural traits among two ormore groups; more specifically, betweenHindus and Muslims, or Hindus and Christian, or even between tribals and non-tribals, etc., based on empirical standpoints. However, onemay like to ask, why this so happened in spiteof the ever expanding knowledge base of theacademic fraternity regarding this culturalphenomena. We can envisage that this volume brings in to focus multiple and contested realities of our time and also opens up space for further critical discourse revolved around the notion of ‘syncretism’ in a multicultural state like India.