This book studies Hindu religious traditions, sects and histories which came to comprise the Hinduism of the nineteenth century. The essays take up Max Muller's study of the Vedas; the building blocks of colonial knowledge formations, law-making and pedagogy, and the significance of the Banaras Sanskrit College in this; components of the Vaishnava Bhakti tradition; early vernacular novels that contributed to development of the modern Hindi novel and the history of modern Hindi literature. They focus on the interplay of women's role and perception of women with religious traditions and emergence of narratives and histories. Referring to pre-modern and early modern chronicles, religious literature such as the hagiography termed varta by the Vallabhite (Vaishnavite) preachers, as well as folklore, they view the place of the guru in forging community; links between women, duty and sanctified space; and pilgrimage, fairs and secularisation of space as represented in modern Hindi narrative discourses.