This book looks at the sociology of India from two perspectives: first, understanding the cultural traditions of India with special reference to religious and ethical values; and second, exploring the growth of the sociological traditions of India. Divided in two parts, the book goes beyond mere description of the main religious traditions and looks at the ethical values that are embedded in the religio-secular traditions of India. It also projects the sociological traditions of India as a historical process, a process of growth of sociological knowledge. The basic premise of the discussion is not one dominant cultural tradition but the plurality that characterizes the cultural, religious, and value traditions of India, and pluralism that characterizes the sociology of India. The title of this artfully written book is a subtle play on words: it is about the sociology of traditions and the traditions of sociology. The author is one of India`s premier sociologists, and to read his interpretations is to see a master at work. Sociological Traditions may well become the most influential of T.N. Madan`s many excellent books. -- Mark Juergensmeyer This marvellous book records T.N. Madan`s journey through the sociology of Indian sociology. Over the years, he has redrawn the contemporary landscape of the discipline. It is only appropriate that he now looks back at it with a mix of intimacy and professional detachment. And he does so with unfailing sensitivity to the ways in which cultures of knowledge and individual lifecycles interact. -- Ashis Nandy An internationally acclaimed scholar, T.N. Madan has been contributing to studies in social anthropology and sociology for half a century and more. This collection deals with India’s Religious traditions. It also speaks of the "traditional builders" of Indian sociology, their salient contributions and approaches. -- The Hindu One of India’s most distinguished sociologists, T.N. Madan is Honorary Professor of Sociology at the Institute of Economic Growth, Delhi University, and Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies in India. He is a Fellow of the Royal Anthropological Institute (London) and Docteur Honoris Causa of the University of Paris X. He received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Indian Sociological Society in 2008.