eprintid: 6936 rev_number: 29 eprint_status: archive userid: 1 dir: disk0/00/00/69/36 datestamp: 2006-11-06 14:53:31 lastmod: 2016-01-09 05:57:43 status_changed: 2012-08-14 15:19:59 type: workingPaper metadata_visibility: show creators_name: Sen, Ronojoy title: Defining Religion: The Indian Supreme Court and Hinduism ispublished: pub subjects: ddc-320 divisions: i-702000 keywords: Indien , Religion , Hinduismus , GerichtIndia , Religion , Hinduism , Supreme , Court abstract: This paper examines how the Supreme Court in independent India has defined Hinduism and the consequences that flow from attempts to define Hinduism. The Court’s proclivity to define religion, especially Hinduism, can be seen as flowing partly from Articles 25 and 26 — often referred to as the freedom of religion clauses — of the Indian Constitution. Article 25 guarantees the right to “profess, practice and propagate religion”, but also permits the state to regulate “economic, financial, political or other secular activity associated with religious practice” as well as provide for “social welfare and reform” of Hindu religious institutions. Article 26 guarantees religious denominations, among other things, freedom to manage their religious affairs. Since the “wording of Articles 25 and 26 establishes the primacy of public interests over religious claims and provides a wide scope for governmentally sponsored reforms,” the Supreme Court has often had to adjudicate on which religious denomination or institution legally qualifies as Hindu. abstract_translated_lang: eng date: 2006 date_type: published id_scheme: DOI id_number: 10.11588/heidok.00006936 portal_cluster_id: p-hdpaper portal_order: 29 ppn_swb: 1644593394 own_urn: urn:nbn:de:bsz:16-opus-69366 language: eng bibsort: SENRONOJOYDEFININGRE2006 full_text_status: public series: Heidelberg Papers in South Asian and Comparative Politics volume: 29 number: Febura issn: 1617-5069 citation: Sen, Ronojoy (2006) Defining Religion: The Indian Supreme Court and Hinduism. [Working paper] document_url: https://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/volltextserver/6936/1/Ronojoy_Sen_Defining_Religion_final_version.pdf