Includes bibliographical references and index.

Introduction / John R. Hinnells and Richard King -- Classical approaches to violence in South Asian traditions -- Telling stories about harm : an overview of Asia in early Indian narratives / Laurie I. Patton -- The non-violence of violence : Jain perspectives on warfare, asceticism and worship / Paul Dundas -- Buddhist monks, Buddhist kings, Buddhist violence : on the early Buddhist attitudes to violence / Rupert Gethin -- Crimes against God and violent punishment in al-Fatāwā al-ʻĀlamgīriyya / Robert Gleave -- Text as sword : Sikh religious violence taken for wonder / Balbinder Singh Bhogal -- Religion and violence in contemporary South Asia -- Operationalizing Buddhism for political ends in a martial context in Lanka : the case of Siṃhalatva / Peter Schalk -- Religion and violence : the historical context for conflict in Pakistan / Ian Talbot -- The 2002 pogrom in Gujarat : the post-9/11 face of Hindu nationalist anti-Muslim violence / Christophe Jaffrelot -- Theory : framing the 'religion and violence' debate -- A categorical difference : communal identity in British epistemologies / Peter Gottschalk -- The global fiduciary : mediating the violence of 'religion' / Arvind Mandair -- The association of 'religion' with violence : reflections on a modern trope / Richard King.