Examination of Cemil Meriç's views on Indian religions

Cemil Meriç (1916-1987) holds an important place in the history of Turkish thought. Meriç, whose intellectual world was quite rich, placed great importance on Indian thought, particularly in his works between 1960 and 1964. Meriç compiled his views from this period in his book Bir Dünyanın Eşiğinde one of the topics he addressed was Indian religions. Meriç's views, which he discussed under various headings such as Hinduism's Sacred Texts, Trimurti, Buddhism, Jainism, India, and Islam, contain noteworthy information that warrants examination in the field of the History of Religions. Although there are various studies based on Meriç's diverse views, the absence of any study examining his views on Indian religions formed the starting point of this research. In this study, all of Cemil Meriç's works were first carefully examined to identify his views on Indian religions. Then, this information was analyzed comparatively in light of existing data in the field of History of Religions and evaluated objectively. This comparison, which was made by taking into account the fact that Meriç was not a Historian of Religions and the conditions of the period in which he wrote his work, aims to contribute to his recognition in the field of History of Religions and better understanding. The research findings reveal that the accumulation of knowledge about Indian religions in Turkey from the 1960s to the present day is considered valuable in terms of demonstrating the progress made in the field of History of Religions.