North India is geographically vast and culturally very diverse. Although Nepal is politically not part of India, culturally it shares abundantly with the north Indian milieu. We therefore chose to include Nepal as part of our north Indian illustration of Hinduism. Nepal, Rajasthan, Sindh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, central India and Orissa – all represent very different aspects of Hinduism. Popular festivals of Indra in Nepal, devotional asceticism in Rajasthan, Hindu–Sikh syncretism in Sindh, and devotional expressions that are intrinsically tied to ethnicity and caste from the west to the east of India – the Hindu expressions are as vibrant and colourful as they offer deeper insight into the daily lives of Hindus in these regions.

In Chapter 6, on Hinduism in Nepal, Michael Baltutis develops the narrative around the Indrajatra festival and as he takes us through the celebration, along the way he introduces us to the popular religion in Nepal, the political connections with the festival and the central role it played in the perpetuation of royalty in Nepal. In Chapter 7, Antoinette E. DeNapoli takes us through Rajasthan, where she immerses us in a unique female ascetic tradition that is so different from the conventionally familiar male dominant ascetic tradition of Brāhmanical Hinduism. In the following chapter Steven W. Ramey introduces us to Sindhi Hindus. In his depiction of Sindhi Hinduism, he shows how the expression of their form of Hinduism is intrinsically connected to Sikhism and Sufism, and their unique affinity to Jhule Lal, who remains the central focus of their devotion.