There is no paucity of literature from the fields of religious studies, philosophy, political science, and sociology on the subject of religion in India. Indeed, all four fields have made significant contributions to this topic. However, few, if any, economists have devoted much attention to this matter. Consequently, Sriya Iyer's The Economics of Religion in India must be considered to be a pioneering work in this area.
This carefully researched, deftly argued, and superbly sourced book brings an unusual degree of rigor to the study of the subject of religion in India. At the outset, it is important to underscore that Iyer has a capacious grasp of literature from diverse fields on the issue. To that end, she carefully summarizes the insights that can be gleaned from them. She also demonstrates a keen familiarity with a range of controversies that have arisen in India, especially in the recent past, about some Western scholarship on the subject.
Having discussed prior contributions, Iyer bases much of her analysis on the extensive survey research conducted in India. At the outset, she discusses the sheer significance of religion in Indian life, making clear why Hinduism, the dominant faith, plays such a critical role. She chooses to focus on the principal faith in the land because much work has already been done on two minority faiths, Christianity and Islam.
There is clearly much to commend in this chapter. Among other matters, Iyer demonstrates a supple grasp of the contributions of major modern exemplars of the faith, ranging from the work of the nineteenth-century reformer Swami Vivekananda to that of the Oxford philosopher (and the second president of India) Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan. However, she devotes a significant portion of the chapter to establishing that a form of Hindu fundamentalism emerged mostly in the twentieth century. She discusses in some detail the attempts of some Hindu zealots to forge a set of fundaments for the faith. However, from an anthropological standpoint, as the noted American scholar Milton Singer argued, Hinduism is composed of a range of “little traditions” composed of unique rituals, practices, and deities that give meaning to devotees across the land. Consequently, while a political effort has no doubt been under way for several decades to transform Hinduism along the lines of Abrahamic faiths, the vast majority of its adherents remain quite plural in their beliefs and practices.
Another substantial section of the book is devoted to a survey of religious organizations in India. Here, Iyer shows that religious organizations are often in competition with entities from other faiths. They are dedicated to the propagation of the faith and are now increasingly reliant on modern technology, including the use of mobile phones.
Drawing on the results of the same survey, Iyer demonstrates that a range of religious organizations also provide nonreligious services, mostly focusing on the provision of health care and education. She also notes that, curiously, these organizations have started to provide more services in the wake of India's fitful embrace of economic liberalization since 1991. At least two possible explanations can be proffered for this. First, liberalization, while generating far more wealth, has also created significant inequality. Religious organizations, accordingly, may be addressing emerging needs. Second, these organizations may also be the beneficiaries of increased societal wealth.
In a subsequent chapter, Iyer addresses issues of inequality, demography, and socioeconomic status. The key findings that she reports are intriguing and worth a brief discussion. Much of her evidence is derived from the 2011 census. Among other matters, it showed that population growth rates in India have dramatically declined in both the majority Hindu community and among Muslims, the largest minority.
Iyer also shows in this chapter that there are sweeping differences in school attendance rates between Hindu and Muslim children. For example, based on the 2001 census, she reports that 63 percent of Muslim children as opposed to 76 percent of Hindu children attended primary schools. The results are even more stark when it comes to higher education. What factors explain these sharp differences in educational enrollments? Iyer attributes these gaps to religious norms that had their genesis during the colonial period and their evolution in the post-independence era. Other factors also include poverty-induced parental choices; access to nonformal schooling alternatives, such as madrasas; and discrimination in the labor market.
One of the concluding chapters of the book is devoted to the study of the modern madrasa in India. Much of the evidence marshaled in this chapter is drawn from a survey of 197 madrasas. It is beyond the scope of this review to discuss all of Iyer's findings. However, she finds that madrasa education is attractive to community members because of the paucity of formal alternatives, because students prefer to be taught in the language they speak at home, and because the madrasas provide religious education.
Minor quibbles aside, Iyer's book, with its examination of multiple facets of the economics of religion in India, is an invaluable contribution to a subject that has not received sufficient attention. Social scientists and humanistic scholars alike will benefit from a careful perusal of this work.
