Read a 2012 Institute for the Study of American Evangelicals article about the politically active evangelical community, their influence in the polls and the transformation of their political ideologies throughout history.

The Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies in Oxford, England, is one of the largest and most comprehensive centers for the study of Hinduism in the West.

The Hindu University of America in Orlando, Fla., is the only university in the West entirely dedicated to the study of all things Hindu.

The Center for the Study of Hindu Traditions is at the University of Florida in Gainesville. It is the nation’s first Center for the Study of Hindu Traditions, and it works to encourage the teaching, understanding and research of Hindu culture.

The American Institute of Indian Studies is a consortium of universities and colleges in the United States at which scholars actively engage in teaching and research about India. It is at the University of Chicago.

Rebecca J. Manring is an associate professor of India studies and religious studies at Indiana University. She contributed a chapter on Sita Devi to The Graceful Guru: Hindu Female Gurus in India and the United States.

Mandakranta Bose is a professor emerita at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. She is an expert on the Ramayana.

Laurie L. Patton is the dean of arts & sciences and a professor of religion at Duke University. She is an expert in Hindu mythology.

Rachel Fell McDermott is an associate professor in Asian and Middle Eastern cultures at Columbia University in New York, N.Y. She is an expert in the Hindu female deity worship traditions.