General Entry - Emerging Talent Awards

Living Hinduism — Hinduism is one of the world’s major religions, and possibly the oldest organized religion. The first Hindu scriptures, Ramayana, were written by the poet/sage Valmiki around 500 BCE. In modern Hinduism, the stories told in the Ramayana have not only influenced life and culture, but they have been fused into the very fabric of a Hindu’s daily experience. Hinduism for its more than a billion devotees is a way of living — an integral part of a followers’ life, permeating daily schedules from birth and childhood, through maturity, and onto old age and death. Living Hinduism is a personal project that emerged from research I have been conducting over the past six years on trans-ecological exchange and cultural identity along the ancient Silk Roads. I have been documenting the living histories of the people who live along these trade routes as they unfold in their natural environment. This work, Living Hinduism, focuses mostly on the unexotic — on the ordinary majority of Hindus and their daily life as they live their religion.