SOME QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER

"While the West often likes to imagine the religions of the East as deep wells of ancient, unchanging wisdom, in reality much of India's religious identity is closely tied to specific social groups, caste practices, and father-to-son lineages, all of which are changing very rapidly as Indian society transforms itself at speed."

-- William Dalrymple

• Provide capsule analytical overviews of two or more characters featured in Dalrymple's book, combining descriptive detail with your own commentary.  Who is this individual and how does his or her religious beliefs and life intersect?  What do you find to be interesting about this particular person, and why?

• How would you begin to make connections between the different individuals interviewed?  What common themes emerge?  What holds the book together?

• What strikes you as most distinctive about the sacred in modern India?  How would you compare and contrast Indian religions with those of the Abrahamic tradition?

• How would you make sense of Dalrymple as editor and author?  Why do you think he wrote this book?  To whom does he seem to be drawn, and why?  To what extent are we introduced to "sacred India" through his particular lens?  What are the strengths and weaknesses of his book?

• Do you think that Dalrymple is chronicling a disappearing world?  Analyze the collision between the traditional and the modern as portrayed in Nine Lives.

SOME EXTRA SOURCES