Harold CowardM is Professor Emeritus of History and Founding Director of the Centre for Studies in Religion and Society at the University of Victoria in Canada. He is the author of numerous books, including Yoga and Psychology and The Perfectibility of Human Nature in Eastern and Western Thought, both also published by SUNY Press; The Philosophy of the Grammarians (volume five of The Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies, with K. Kunjunni Raja); Mantra (with David J. Goa); and Pluralism in the World Religions.

An accessible introduction to the centrality of word, chant, and song in the Hindu, Buddhist, Islamic, and Sikh traditions.