Introduction

Abstract The mere fact that historians of religion have dedicated little intensive study to the phenomenon of eclecticism would seem in itself a sufficiently good reason to devote some attention to it. However, I would be less than honest if I were to say that’s why I began this project. As it turns out, I started looking at the problem of eclecticism for somewhat different reasons; only subsequently did I come to the realization that this was territory that had not been heavily reconnoitered by my scholarly forebears and contemporary colleagues in the study of religion. Let me begin, then, by simply outlining the genesis of my interest in the phenomenon of eclecticism, especially in its modem Hindu manifestations. Two sets of remarks should serve to suggest how this book came to be written as it did.