Hindu World is the first general encyclopaedia of the vast world of Hinduism in two volumes. It suceeds in achieving the impossible task of covering almost every facet of Hindu life and thought embodying the result of recent scholorship as well as the traditional point of view. It contains over 700 lucidly written articles on a wide range of subjects like dress, diet, alchemy magic, tantrism, medicine, magic, erotics, science, dance festivals and handicrafts, to more frequently discussed topics like religion, philosophy, yoga, art, music, architecture, history and mythology

Benjamin Walker, an Indian, was educated in Calcutta. Poet, historian, and traveller, he was formerly a joint editor of the quarterly Asia, published in Saigon, and was for ten years a diplomat in the Indian Foreign Service. He is the author of "Persian Pageant" and "Angkor Empire", and also of a two volume encyclopedia, the first of its kind, entitled Hindu World. He is an authority on occultism and a contributor to Man, Myth & Magic, and is now completing a comprehensive survey of the whole field of the occult, East and West. He lives in Teddington, Middlesex with his English wife.