This book explores the developmental significance of Hindu infancy and childhood, and its influence on Indian identity formation. Drawing upon anthropological evidence, life-historical and clinical data, mythology and folklore, the investigation encompasses collective fantasy as well as the daily worlds of Hindu social organization in search of the psycho-social foundations of the Hindu inner world. The emphasis throughout is on the mutual reinforcement of psyche and culture, in the sense that within a given cultural and social order, particular psychological themes become internalized in the individual psyche and then are projected back onto the culture's institutions and social forms, thereby being perpetuated from generation to generation. Chapter I outlines the author's aims and methods and discusses the relationship between culture and personality. Chapter II focuses on dimensions of the Hindu world image. The theme of fusion, the notion of life task, and ideas of time and destiny are explored. Chapter III describes feminine identity in India, images of the good and the bad mother, and the origins of identity in a patriarchal culture. Chapter IV delineates the psycho-social matrix of childhood. The inner world in culture and history is traced in Chapter V. Chapter VI, the conclusion, presents reflections on childhood and social change. (Author/RH)