| Summary: | Today, there is a broad consensus in the field of religious studies that a closer examination reveals ›Hinduism‹ to be a conglomerate of different religious traditions, which were first assigned to this term in the 19th century. Authors such as Richard King (1999a) argue that this standardisation can be traced back to Western stakeholders, who, on the basis of their exclusivist Judeo-Christian viewpoint, did not recognise the diversity of the South-Asian religions. There has been an increase of this voice in academic discourse in recent years, which dismisses further use of alleged Western concepts, such as ›religion‹ or ›Hinduism‹, in the description of this faith community, in order to avoid further »westernisation« (King 1999a, 67) of the South-Asian traditions. In this article, an alternative perception of this issue shall be presented. Based on the theory of ›cultural appropriation‹ from Hans Peter Hahn (2005), it is argued that the use of Western concepts does not necessarily lead to a ›westernisation‹ of a tradition, as the appropriating parties themselves invariably have creative leeway with regard to the adoption of new cultural elements, even in hegemonic conditions.
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