Religions of India in the understanding of Max Weber and contemporary postcolonial criticism

Religions of India in the understanding of Max Weber and contemporary postcolonial criticism. The aim of this paper is to demonstrate historically conditioned context of Weber's analysis of "religion of India". Weber and his work is part of orientalistic discourse - Weber assumes then Western image of India, and reproduces and incorporates this image into sociological thinking. This text focuses on some elements of this image: caste system as the most important element of Hinduism, confidence to sacred texts and secret sexualism as opposite of noble official religion of intellectual elite. These stereotypes have helped the defence of notion of European exceptionalism, by which other cultures may not develop modern capitalism as the base of modernity. Sociologia 2012, Vol. 44 (No. 5: 602-620)