Critics described it as a groundbreaking study and praised its use of a variety of different forms of evidence, but some argued that it neglected to properly discuss the relationship between Hindu rituals and the religious practices of Buddhist and Jainist communities in Gupta India.

At the time of the book's publication, Willis was the curator of the early South Asian and Himalayan collections at the British Museum in central London.

Rather, it represents my own effort to inject a measure of dynamism into the static, desk-bound forms of analysis that have so far governed the study of Indian inscriptions, sculpture, built environment, and landscape."

The book begins with a discussion of the early Hindu ritual site at the Udayagiri Caves, a place that had ancient origins but which was reworked under the administration of the Gupta Emperor Candragupta II.

Willis closes the introduction by reiterating his belief that in Indian history, it was religion that drove economic and political relationships rather than the other way round.

The Archaeology of Hindu Ritual was positively reviewed by Leslie C. Orr of Concordia University, Montreal in the journal South Asian Studies.

In particular, she argues that Willis has painted an incorrect picture with regards to the relationship between Hinduism and the heterodox Jain and Buddhist faiths, neglecting to refer to the many similarities between them.

She also takes issue with Willis' trend to pick fights with "straw men", opining that these criticisms of his "seem out of place in a book of such grand scope and reach.

Describing the "densely argued" book, Cort noted that in ignoring Jain and Buddhist iconography and temples, Willis had failed to encompass the same scope which he professes.