Method and heory in the Study of Religion 19 (2007) 58-71 © Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2007 DOI: 10.1163/157006807X222604 www.brill.nl/mtsr METHOD THEORY in the STUDY OF RELIGION & he Final Sacrifice: A Dead “Hindu,” A Missing Body, and a $10 Million Dollar Life-Insurance Policy Deepak Sarma Department of Religious Studies, 111 Mather House, 11201 Euclid Avenue, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH 44106-7112 deepak.sarma@case.edu Abstract Sarma explores the legal and religious challenges that face both Diaspora “Hindus” as well as the judiciary system in the United States. He does so by examining issues that he encountered while working as an expert consultant in 2005. Linking the complexities of the case of the “Final Sac- rifice” with current methodological controversies in “Hindu” studies, Sarma shows that there may be much more than merely a body that is missing. Keywords Hindu, Hindus, Hinduism, Hindu Diaspora, religion and law Introduction When asked if I could be an expert witness for a case involving “Hinduism,” my first concern was that I was to represent an imaginary religious tradition that has no set doctrines, beliefs, or practices. How was I to claim epistemic authority when there is no such generic or monolithic form of Hinduism about which I could generalize? What principles would I have to jettison if I were to be an expert witness? Rather than being an upholder of dharma (justice) would I be a mere perjurer, falsely claiming authority in what is only a chimera? What was already turning out to be a financial windfall was also becoming a methodological gold mine! Little did I know that the entire case itself revolved around the ambiguity in the range of practices that are classified under the contrived term “Hinduism” and that the complexities of the case would raise methodological issues that are relevant in the discipline of “Hindu” studies and Indology.