Noted cultural anthropologist, photographer and art historian Stephen P. Huyler exposes us to the breadth and vitality of the reverential experience in India. Through beautiful full-color photographs (there are 160 in this 272-page book) and an evocative commentary, Dr. Huyler reveals household and community rituals and festivals that are at the heart of Hindu life. It is a unique pictorial tour of an India rarely seen by outsiders.

Hinduism is the world’s third largest religion after Christianity and Islam. One in every six human beings is a Hindu and in the US alone there are 1. 2 million Hindus, yet Westerners either know little about Hinduism or misunderstand its basic beliefs and rituals.

Dr. Huyler has spent much of the last twenty-eight years traveling throughout India documenting craftsmanship and contemporary traditions. During the past decade, his focus on pooja, the Hindu practice of daily devotions, led him to witness many ceremonies and rituals and to share in both private and public devotions.

On one extraordinary visit, he became the first outsider in more than 1,200 years, other than an immediate royal family member, allowed to witness a maharaja’s personal devotion. He looks at worship within the home, the community, the temple, during festivals and at sacred processions. Virtually all Hindus, regardless of age, sex, race, subculture, creed, caste, social standing or occupation are diligent in their practice of daily devotion.

His descriptions of the wide scope of Hindu beliefs and practices include women whose “painted prayers” decorate the walls of their homes with intricate sacred patterns and designs; a community worshipping at an ancient peepul tree, whose roots wind around a large upright stone that represents the village’s protective goddess; and the famous festival at the sacred city of Puri, an awesome spectacle viewed by a million people each year, where the Lord Jaganath (from whose name we get the word “juggernaut”) is paraded through the streets on an immense 16-wheeled wooden chariot 45-ft high and pulled by 4, 000 men.

Huyler writes of poojas in village huts, urban homes and a royal palace. In other chapters he looks at the tenets of Hindu belief, household shrines, temple rituals and architecture, festivals and holy days and the gods and goddesses associated with them.

In his preface, he writes: “From the beginning, I have been in awe of the innumerable household rituals I have been privileged to observe. I have been fascinated by Hindu spirituality, by the ways in which conscious awareness of the Divine permeates every aspect of daily and seasonal life. In writing this book, I have attempted to convey the transformative intensity of worship in India as it evokes the heart as well as the mind, and as it involves the active use of all the senses . . . Hinduism is a religion of strength, vitality, innovation, and balance. By opening our hearts and minds to its messages, we can enrich our own lives.”

In a final chapter, he explores the roles of ascetics, pilgrims and others who have renounced worldly life. Also included are accessible notes from each chapter, an extensive bibliography, a glossary and an index..

NOTEBOOK: Meeting God: Elements of Hindu Devotion by Stephen P. Huyler is published by Yale University Press, New Haven, CT. Dr. Huyler co-curated an exhibition about sacred rituals in India that opened at the Sackler Gallery in Washington D. C. in 1996. He has now assembled a new traveling exhibition of photographs and interactive wooden shrines that complement his book. This new exhibition will travel throughout North America and abroad over the next several years.