Numbers in Nirvana: How the 1872e1921 Indian censuses helped operationalise ‘Hinduism’ Michael Haan * Department of Sociology, University of Toronto, 725 Spadina Avenue, Toronto, ON M5S 2J4, Canada Abstract A debate has recently re-emerged about whether Hinduism in India is a colonial invention or antedates European colonialism. Drawing on the Indian censuses of 1872e1921, I argue that Hinduism is both. It has complex linkages both to European colonialism and to indigenous Indian culture. Traditions like Hinduism are better conceived of as a negotiated territory between factions instead of solely being the creation of one dominant group. Ó 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Introduction Over the past decade there has been an upsurge of scholarly interest in the panoply of Indian practices and traditions that together constitute Hinduism. Scholars are once again sifting through ancient Indian texts, bodies of vernacular literature and colonial correspondences in an attempt to pinpoint the origin of the concept of ‘Hinduism’. This recent rekindling of interest in Hinduism is part of a larger project currently underway in the social sciences: reckoning with the increasing political salience of religion in everyday life. That salience has forced many to abandon the secularisation thesis (see Harper and LeBeau, 2002; Riesebrodt, 2001). * Statistics Canada, Business and Labour, Market Analysis, 120 Parkdale Avenue, Ottawa, ON, Canada K1A 0T6. E-mail address: mdhaan@chass.utoronto.ca 0048-721X/$ - see front matter Ó 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.religion.2005.02.003 Religion 35 (2005) 13e30 www.elsevier.com/locate/religion