Hinduism and the Internet: A Sociological Study
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- Catalogue identifier
- klm000045
- Alternate titles and import identifiers
- KLM000045
- Author or attribution
- Heinz Scheifinger
- Record type
- Dissertation
- Language
- English
- Date / edition
- 2006-09
- Source / repository
- University of Warwick, Department of Sociology; Warwick Research Archive Portal (WRAP)
- Access
- Open access
- Subjects
- KLM Research Sources — Batch 11; Theses and Dissertations; Contemporary Worship and Living Traditions
Description and curator notes
This dissertation investigates how early internet use reshaped Hindu worship, religious authority and relationships between devotees and sacred places. Combining website analysis with interviews at Indian temples and with online puja-service operators, Scheifinger examines whether digitally mediated religion changes the importance of bodily presence, divine images and local ritual settings. Its substantial Kali-related material concerns Kalighat and Dakshineswar, where commercial intermediaries arrange offerings for distant clients. The study documents disagreements about how these pujas should be performed, whether clients must pray simultaneously, who may use the services and whether animal sacrifice should be arranged. These cases reveal how website operators can make consequential ritual decisions without holding traditional religious office. Broader discussions address globalization, religious markets, online representation and the standardization or diversification of worship. Particularly useful for understanding the early history of digital Kali devotion, the dissertation also shows why internet access need not diminish a temple’s local significance. Its descriptions of services and websites reflect the early 2000s rather than current practice.
Research source KLM000045, Batch 11 export dated 5 November 2026.
The access, completeness, rights and reading assessments below come from the curator export, not a new independent verification by this library.
Hinduism and the Internet: A Sociological Study
English title: Hinduism and the Internet: A Sociological Study
Author or attribution: Heinz Scheifinger
Publication date: 2006-09
Publisher or repository: University of Warwick, Department of Sociology; Warwick Research Archive Portal (WRAP)
Edition details: PhD thesis in Sociology, September 2006; xi + 305 leaves; complete 318-page repository PDF including cover and preliminary matter.
Language: English
Type: Doctoral dissertation; complete institutional repository PDF
Subjects: Theses and Dissertations; Contemporary Worship and Living Traditions
This dissertation investigates how early internet use reshaped Hindu worship, religious authority and relationships between devotees and sacred places. Combining website analysis with interviews at Indian temples and with online puja-service operators, Scheifinger examines whether digitally mediated religion changes the importance of bodily presence, divine images and local ritual settings. Its substantial Kali-related material concerns Kalighat and Dakshineswar, where commercial intermediaries arrange offerings for distant clients. The study documents disagreements about how these pujas should be performed, whether clients must pray simultaneously, who may use the services and whether animal sacrifice should be arranged. These cases reveal how website operators can make consequential ritual decisions without holding traditional religious office. Broader discussions address globalization, religious markets, online representation and the standardization or diversification of worship. Particularly useful for understanding the early history of digital Kali devotion, the dissertation also shows why internet access need not diminish a temple’s local significance. Its descriptions of services and websites reflect the early 2000s rather than current practice.
Kali relevance: Substantial Kali-temple case material: Kalighat and Dakshineswar context at pp153–154 and sustained analysis of online puja providers and disagreements about ritual authority at pp214–217, with related temple findings elsewhere. A contextual source about actual Kali worship, not a Kali-titled monograph.
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Source or repository record
Rights: Repository PDF states that the work is protected by original copyright. No Creative Commons or public-domain license identified. Link to the lawful institutional copy; permission to reproduce or rehost is not established.
Evidence class: University of Warwick doctoral thesis in Sociology, supervised by Jim Beckford and Stella Spanou; institutional metadata identifies the submitted version. Scholarly doctoral research, not a peer-reviewed journal article.
Reading limits: Title and preliminary matter, representative substantive Kali-related sections, conclusion and final bibliography inspected directly. Beginning, substantive interior and last printed page also rendered and visually inspected. Completeness verified; not a line-by-line critical review or independent verification of ethnographic claims.
Composition date: Contemporary doctoral research; see publication date
Witness date: Complete institutional repository PDF verified on 2026-11-05
Access verification: Complete 318-page PDF freely downloadable and readable without signup or payment from the University of Warwick repository.
Related sources:
Source and repository links:
https://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/id/eprint/59423/1/WRAP_THESIS_Scheifinger_2006.pdf
https://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/id/eprint/59423/
Source access
Rights and reading conditions
Repository PDF states that the work is protected by original copyright. No Creative Commons or public-domain license identified. Link to the lawful institutional copy; permission to reproduce or rehost is not established.
Citation
Heinz Scheifinger. Hinduism and the Internet: A Sociological Study. University of Warwick, Department of Sociology; Warwick Research Archive Portal (WRAP). 2006-09. PhD thesis in Sociology, September 2006; xi + 305 leaves; complete 318-page repository PDF including cover and preliminary matter.
This page supplies catalogue metadata and links. It does not reproduce the underlying source text. Historical, religious, healing and interpretive claims belong to the cited sources, not to an independent verification by this catalogue.