Undergraduate Course: Religions of South Asia (REST08013)
Course Outline
| School | School of Divinity |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 8 (Year 1 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | Religions of South Asia explores the religious history of the Indian subcontinent, including Vedic, Brahmanical and Classical Hinduism, and the origins and development of Buddhist and Jain traditions. |
| Course description |
Academic Description:
This course aims to give students a strong foundational knowledge of early Indian religion, including Vedic ritual traditions, developments in Brahmanical and early classical Hinduism, and the emergence and development of Jainism and Buddhism, up to around the end of the first millenium CE. The focus is on connections between the different religious systems, and on the shared themes they address, such as ritual, deities, good and evil, duty, karma, renunciation, and liberation. The course involves reading a range of ancient Indian religious scriptures and narratives in English translation, equipping students with skills in analysing and evaluating primary sources.
Syllabus/Outline Content:
The course has a broadly chronological frame, beginning with Vedic religion and working through some Brahmanical ideas before exploring Jainism and Buddhism, then returning to later developments in what becomes known as Hinduism. However, throughout the course key themes and concerns that are shared across traditions are highlighted and discussed. Themes include the role of ritual, the tension between worldly duty and personal religious quests, the function of deities, the opportunities for and capabilities of women, monasticism as an individual path and an institution, scripture and sacred knowledge, karma and rebirth, liberation and the competing ideas about how to achieve it.
Student Learning Experience Information:
The course has three one-hour lectures plus a one-hour tutorial per week. Lectures include interactive content as well as presentations from the lecturer, and background readings are set for each week¿s topics. Tutorials are student-led discussions of set readings, which are all taken from primary sources (ie ancient Indian religious texts in translation) and provided in a course reader. Each student will give a short tutorial presentation as well as uploading notes to the course blog for one tutorial during the semester. Other students are expected to comment on the blog and enter into tutorial discussion. Through these activities, as well as the preparation of an essay and the completion of an exam, students will demonstrate their completion of the intended learning outcomes. In particular, the essay will involve assessing points of intersection between two or more traditions, as will one half of the examination. The other half of the examination will ask students to provide responses to primary source extracts taken from the course reader.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
| Not being delivered |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Outline the history and main features of religions of South Asian origin
- Identify and assess points of intersection, influence and dialogue between the different traditions
- Confidently analyse textual and historical sources for the study of early South Asian religions
- Identify key terms and their meanings
- Judge the relative importance of items on course
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Not entered |
| Keywords | RSAsia |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Naomi Appleton
Tel: (0131 6)50 8976
Email: |
Course secretary | Ms Katrina Munro
Tel: (0131 6)50 8900
Email: |
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