Introduction

This chapter introduces Sanskrit Hymns Across Traditions: Studying Stotras , which brings together the work of 11 scholars. This chapter has three sections, corresponding to elements in the book's title. The first section gives an overview of the stotra genre. It describes and defines what a stotra is, while also addressing conceptual and categorial gray areas. The second section reviews the state of scholarship on Sanskrit hymns and thus establishes the foundation for this and future work studying stotra s. It provides an overview of various approaches scholars have taken in their research on these compositions, and it highlights recent progress as well as notable lacunae in the field. The third section argues for the value in analyzing and comparing stotra s across traditions, regions, and time periods. It then gives an overview of the 11 chapters that follow and their organization into three parts focused on the stotra genre itself; recitation, liturgy, and preaching; and polemics and publics ( stotra s between and across traditions).