Empiricism and belief in contemporary Hinduism. When gods drink milk

Empirical demonstrations of the presence and powers of gods have always been a core feature of Hinduism. Nevertheless, such phenomena seem to be acquiring new visibility and centrality, as shown by the recent case of the ''milk miracle'' which attracted world wide publicity in 1995. This paper raises the question of whether such manifestations should be characterised only in terms of the specificities of social and cultural beliefs and practices or whether, rather they should be interpreted in a more general framework which examines the implications and uses of ''empirical evidence'' in today's context.