Shows / New Books in Indian Religions
New Books in Indian Religions
This podcast is a channel on the New Books Network. The New Books Network is an academic audio library dedicated to public education. In each episode you will hear scholars discuss their recently published research with another expert in their field. Discover our 150+ channels and browse our 28,000+ episodes on our website: newbooksnetwork.com Subscribe to our free weekly Substack newsletter to get informative, engaging content straight to your inbox: https://newbooksnetwork.substack.com/…
Episodes
- New Books in Indian Religions
The International Association of Sanskrit Studies
The newly-elected first female president of the The International Association of Sanskrit Studies, Dr. Dipti Tripathi discusses Association’s genesis, mandate…
- New Books in Indian Religions
Francis Xavier Clooney, "Saint Joseph in South India: Poetry, Mission and Theology in Costanzo Gioseffo Beschi's Tēmpāvaṇi" (Brill, 2022)
Costanzo Gioseffo Beschi was an Italian Jesuit who worked in South India from 1710 to 1747. A brilliant scholar of Tamil, his works include hymns, instructions…
- New Books in Indian Religions
Chandra Mallampalli, "South Asia's Christians: Between Hindu and Muslim" (Oxford UP, 2023)
South Asia is home to more than a billion Hindus and half a billion Muslims. But the region is also home to substantial Christian communities, some dating…
- New Books in Indian Religions
David Shulman and Heike Oberlin, "Two Masterpieces of Kūṭiyāṭṭam: Mantrankam and Anguliyankam" (Oxford UP, 2019)
Kūṭiyāṭṭam, India’s only living traditional Sanskrit theatre, has been continually performed in Kerala for at least a thousand years. David Shulman and Heike…
- New Books in Indian Religions
Ângela Barreto Xavier, "Religion and Empire in Portuguese India: Conversion, Resistance, and the Making of Goa" (SUNY Press, 2022)
How did the colonization of Goa in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries take place? How was it related to projects for the conversion of Goan colonial…
- New Books in Indian Religions
Learning Hindi with Rajiv Ranjan
Rajiv Ranjan discusses his second language acquisition journey, open educational resources, and teaching philosophy. You can study with him at Yogic Studies…
- New Books in Indian Religions
Aleksandar Uskokov, "The Philosophy of the Brahma-sutra: An Introduction" (Bloomsbury, 2022)
The Brahma-sutra, attributed to Badaraya (ca. 400 CE), is the canonical book of Vedanta, the philosophical tradition which became the doctrinal backbone of…
- New Books in Indian Religions
A Chat with Sanskrit Scholar John Brockington
Senior scholar John Brockington discusses his scholarship, his role in establishing key conferences, and his work on an online research archive on the spread…
- New Books in Indian Religions
Nishant Kumar, "Religious Offense and Censorship of Publications: An Enquiry Through the Prism of Indian Laws and the Judiciary" (Routledge, 2022)
Nishant Kumar's Religious Offense and Censorship of Publications: An Enquiry Through the Prism of Indian Laws and the Judiciary (Routledge, 2022) analyzes the…
- New Books in Indian Religions
Tony K. Stewart, "Witness to Marvels: Sufism and Literary Imagination" (U California Press, 2019)
There is a vast body of imaginal literature in Bengali that introduces fictional Sufi saints into the complex mythological world of Hindu gods and goddesses…
- New Books in Indian Religions
Laurah E. Klepinger, "Transnational Yoga at Work: Spiritual Tourism and Its Blind Spots" (Lexington Books, 2022)
Transnational Yoga at Work: Spiritual Tourism and Its Blind Spots (Lexington Books, 2022) is an ethnography about local wageworkers in the Indian branches of a…
- New Books in Indian Religions
Ching Keng, "Toward a New Image of Paramartha: Yogacara and Tathagatagarbha Buddhism Revisited" (Bloomsbury, 2022)
Today I talked to Ching Keng about his book Toward a New Image of Paramartha: Yogacara and Tathagatagarbha Buddhism Revisited (Bloomsbury, 2022). Yogacara and…
- New Books in Indian Religions
Divya Cherian, "Merchants of Virtue: Hindus, Muslims, and Untouchables in Eighteenth-Century South Asia" (U California Press, 2022)
Merchants of Virtue: Hindus, Muslims, and Untouchables in Eighteenth-Century South Asia (U California Press, 2022) explores the question of what it meant to be…
- New Books in Indian Religions
Andrea Acri and Paolo E. Rosati, "Tantra, Magic, and Vernacular Religions in Monsoon Asia: Texts, Practices, and Practitioners from the Margins" (Routledge, 2022)
Tantra, Magic, and Vernacular Religions in Monsoon Asia: Texts, Practices, and Practitioners from the Margins (Routledge, 2022) explores the cross- and…
- New Books in Indian Religions
Rethinking Community in Myanmar: Practices of We-Formation Among Muslims and Hindus in Urban Yangon
Where does the concept of “community” come from? How does it shape the lives of Hindus and Muslims in metropolitan Yangon? And how do these people navigate…
- New Books in Indian Religions
Ezra Rashkow, "The Nature of Endangerment in India: Tigers, 'Tribes', Extermination and Conservation, 1818-2020" (Oxford UP, 2023)
Perhaps no category of people on earth has been perceived as more endangered, nor subjected to more preservation efforts, than indigenous peoples. And in…
New Books in Indian ReligionsIlluminations Episode 3: Divine Technology
It’s common to feel that technology removes the magic of the world, but Hindu worshippers in Bangalore have shown that it's all in the approach. Guest Tulasi…
- New Books in Indian Religions
Audrey Truschke, "The Language of History: Sanskrit Narratives of Indo-Muslim Rule" (Columbia UP, 2021)
In her layered and theoretically astute new book The Language of History: Sanskrit Narratives of Indo-Muslim Rule (Columbia UP, 2021), Audrey Truschke…
- New Books in Indian Religions
Greg Bailey, "The Vinayaka Mahatmya" (Dev Publishers, 2023)
The Vinayaka Mahatmya is a late Puranic text which contains myths of eight of Gaṇeśa’s avatāras. It presents Gaṇeśa as the supreme deity who empowers Brahmā…
- New Books in Indian Religions
Veena R. Howard et al., "The Bloomsbury Research Handbook of Indian Philosophy and Gender" (Bloomsbury, 2019)
'How do gender constructions transform religious experiences?' 'What is the role of bodily materiality in ethics and epistemology?' 'How does rethinking gender…
- New Books in Indian Religions
Rick Repetti, "Routledge Handbook on the Philosophy of Meditation" (Routledge, 2022)
Rick Repetti's Routledge Handbook on the Philosophy of Meditation (Routledge, 2022) provides a comprehensive overview and analysis of the state of the field of…
- New Books in Indian Religions
The UW-Madison Center for South Asia
Anthony Cerulli and Sarah Beckham share the history, mandate and vision for the UW-Madison Center for South Asia, especially its vibrant annual conference…
- New Books in Indian Religions
Monima Chadha, "Selfless Minds: A Contemporary Perspective on Vasubandhu's Metaphysics" (Oxford UP, 2022)
Buddhists are famous for their thesis that selves do not exist. But if they are right, what would that thesis mean for our apparent sense of self and for…
- New Books in Indian Religions
Stephanie Corigliano on TARKA
Stephanie Corigliano discusses TARKA, a quarterly journal published by Embodied Philosophy that explores yoga philosophy, contemplative studies, and the…
- New Books in Indian Religions
Justin W. Henry, "Ravana's Kingdom: The Ramayana and Sri Lankan History from Below" (Oxford UP, 2022)
Ravana, the demon-king antagonist from the Ramayana, the ancient Hindu epic poem, has become an unlikely cultural hero among Sinhala Buddhists over the past…
- New Books in Indian Religions
Andrea Acri and Peter Sharrock, "The Creative South: Buddhist and Hindu Art in Mediaeval Maritime Asia" (Iseas-Yusof Ishak Institute, 2022)
Andrea Acri and Peter Sharrock's The Creative South: Buddhist and Hindu Art in Mediaeval Maritime Asia (2 volumes; Iseas-Yusof Ishak Institute, 2022) examines…
- New Books in Indian Religions
Ute Hüsken, "Laughter, Creativity, and Perseverance: Female Agency in Buddhism and Hinduism" (Oxford UP, 2022)
In most mainstream traditions of Hinduism and Buddhism, women have for centuries largely been excluded from positions of religious and ritual leadership…
- New Books in Indian Religions
Mikel Burley, "A Radical Pluralist Philosophy of Religion: Cross-Cultural, Multireligious, Interdisciplinary" (Bloomsbury, 2020)
A Radical Pluralist Philosophy of Religion: Cross-Cultural, Multireligious, Interdisciplinary (Bloomsbury, 2020) is a unique introduction to studying the…
- New Books in Indian Religions
Padma Kaimal, "Opening Kailasanatha: The Temple in Kanchipuram Revealed in Time and Space" (U Washington Press, 2020)
In Opening Kailasanatha: The Temple in Kanchipuram Revealed in Time and Space (U Washington Press, 2020), Padma Kaimal deciphers the intentions of the…
- New Books in Indian Religions
Malini Ambach et al., "Temples, Texts, and Networks: South Indian Perspectives" (HASP, 2022)
For many centuries, Hindu temples and shrines have been of great importance to South Indian religious, social and political life. Aside from being places of…
- New Books in Indian Religions
Simon Brodbeck, "Divine Descent and the Four World-Ages in the Mahābhārata" (Cardiff UP, 2022)
Divine Descent and the Four World-Ages in the Mahābhārata reflects on the theology of time in this early Hindu text and poses the key question: why does the…
- New Books in Indian Religions
Patrick Olivelle, "Reading Texts and Narrating History: Collected Essays III" (Primus Books, 2022)
"The close attention required for editing and translating gives Olivelle an unparalleled understanding of the texts and inspires numerous articles and essays…
- New Books in Indian Religions
Robert M. Geraci, "Futures of Artificial Intelligence: Perspectives from India and the U.S." (Oxford UP, 2021)
Twenty-first century life is increasingly governed by artificial intelligence (AI) technologies such as machine learning, big data analysis, facial…
- New Books in Indian Religions
Hindu Nationalism and the Politics of Lord Parshuram
In this episode, we focus the use of religious myths, icons and deities in Hindu nationalist politics in India. More specifically, we discuss the political…
- New Books in Indian Religions
Mani Rao, "Saundarya Lahari: Wave of Beauty" (HarperCollins, 2022)
Today I talked to Mani Rao about her translation Saundarya Lahari: Wave of Beauty" (HarperCollins, 2022) Saundarya Lahari is a popular Sanskrit hymn…
- New Books in Indian Religions
Holly Walters, "Shaligram Pilgrimage in the Nepal Himalayas" (Amsterdam UP, 2020)
Today I talked to Holly Walters about her new book Shaligram Pilgrimage in the Nepal Himalayas (Amsterdam UP, 2020). For roughly two thousand years, the…
- New Books in Indian Religions
Rumya Sree Putcha, "The Dancer's Voice: Performance and Womanhood in Transnational India" (Duke UP, 2022)
In The Dancer's Voice: Performance and Womanhood in Transnational India (Duke UP, 2022) Rumya Sree Putcha theorizes how the Indian classical dancer performs…
- New Books in Indian Religions
John Stratton Hawley, "A Storm of Songs: India and the Idea of the Bhakti Movement" (Harvard UP, 2015)
India celebrates itself as a nation of unity in diversity, but where does that sense of unity come from? One important source is a widely-accepted narrative…
- New Books in Indian Religions
The World Sanskrit Conference: A Discussion with McComas Taylor
McComas Taylor discusses the upcoming 18th World Sanskrit Conference January 9-13, 2023. The conference is held online. All are welcome to register here. Raj…
- New Books in Indian Religions
The Past and Future of the Dharma Academy of North America
The mission of The Dharma Academy of North America (DANAM) "is to identify strategies for, and undertake, the recovery, reclamation and reconstitution of…
- New Books in Indian Religions
Mrinal Pande, "Popular Hinduism, Stories and Mobile Performances: The Voice of Morari Bapu in Multiple Media" (Routledge, 2022)
This book addresses the recent transformations of popular Hinduism by focusing upon the religious cum artistic practice of Ramkatha, staged narratives of the…
- New Books in Indian Religions
Stuart Earle Strange, "Suspect Others: Spirit Mediums, Self-Knowledge, and Race in Multiethnic Suriname" (U Toronto Press, 2021)
Suspect Others: Spirit Mediums, Self-Knowledge, and Race in Multiethnic Suriname (U Toronto Press, 2021) explores how ideas of self-knowledge and identity…
- New Books in Indian Religions
Maria Heim, "Words for the Heart: A Treasury of Emotions from Classical India" (Princeton UP, 2022)
Words for the Heart: A Treasury of Emotions from Classical India (Princeton UP, 2022) is a captivating treasury of emotion terms drawn from some of India’s…
- New Books in Indian Religions
Chakravarthi Ram-Prasad, "Human Being, Bodily Being: Phenomenology from Classical India" (Oxford UP, 2021)
In Human Being, Bodily Being: Phenomenology from Classical India (Oxford UP, 2021), Chakravarthi Ram-Prasad offers illuminating new perspectives on…
- New Books in Indian Religions
The Future of Religious Studies: A Conversation with Russell McCutcheon
Russell McCutcheon shares his views on the academic study of religion, and the path ahead for religion graduates and the field itself. McCutcheon is a…
- New Books in Indian Religions
Travis Zadeh, "Wonders and Rarities: The Marvelous Book That Traveled the World and Mapped the Cosmos" (Harvard UP, 2023)
During the thirteenth century, the Persian naturalist and judge Zakariyyāʾ Qazwīnī authored what became one of the most influential works of natural history in…
- New Books in Indian Religions
Sushmita Nath, "The Secular Imaginary: Gandhi, Nehru and the Idea(s) of India" (Cambridge UP, 2022)
Given the popularity and success of the Hindu-Right in India’s electoral politics today, how may one study ostensibly ‘Western’ concepts and ideas, such as the…
- New Books in Indian Religions
Charles Goodman, "The Tattvasaṃgraha Of Śāntarakṣita: Selected Metaphysical Chapters" (Oxford UP, 2022)
The Tattvasaṃgraha of Śāntarakṣita: Selected Metaphysical Chapters (Oxford University Press, 2022) collects excerpts from a massive encyclopedic work of the…
- New Books in Indian Religions
Yigal Bronner et al., "Sensitive Reading: The Pleasures of South Asian Literature in Translation" (U California Press, 2022)
What are the pleasures of reading translations of South Asian literature, and what does it take to enjoy a translated text? Sensitive Reading: The Pleasures of…
- New Books in Indian Religions
Ruth Vanita, "The Dharma of Justice in the Sanskrit Epics" (Oxford UP, 2021)
Ruth Vanita's book The Dharma of Justice in the Sanskrit Epics (Oxford UP, 2021) shows that many characters in the Sanskrit epics - men and women of all varnas…
- New Books in Indian Religions
James Mallinson and Péter-Dániel Szántó, "The Amṛtasiddhi and Amṛtasiddhimūla: The Earliest Texts of the Haṭhayoga Tradition" (Institut français de Pondichéry, 2021)
Today I talked to Jame Malinson about The Amṛtasiddhi and Amṛtasiddhimūla: The Earliest Texts of the Haṭhayoga Tradition (Institut français de Pondichéry…
- New Books in Indian Religions
Lavanya Vemsani, "Hinduism in Middle India: Narasimha, The Lord of the Middle" (Bloomsbury, 2022)
Narasimha is one of the least studied major deities of Hinduism. Furthermore, there are limited studies of the history, thought, and literature of middle…
- New Books in Indian Religions
Aisha Khan, "The Deepest Dye: Obeah, Hosay, and Race in the Atlantic World" (Harvard UP, 2021)
In The Deepest Dye: Obeah, Hosay, and Race in the Atlantic World (Harvard University Press, 2021), Aisha Khan explores how colonial categories of race and…
- New Books in Indian Religions
Geetanjali Srikantan, "Identifying and Regulating Religion in India: Law, History and the Place of Worship" (Cambridge UP, 2020)
Judicial debates on the regulation of religion in post-colonial India have been characterised by the inability of courts to identify religion as a governable…
- New Books in Indian Religions
Online Sanskrit Study Resources
A conversation with Michael Fiden about University of Texas at Austin’s new open access online resource for second-year Sanskrit students, either for…
- New Books in Indian Religions
Political Deification in South Asia
How can we understand the processes through which political leaders, god-men, stars of all kinds, and big or small deities mingle together in the public…
- New Books in Indian Religions
Ayurveda and Alchemy: A Conversation with Dagmar Wujastyk
A candid conversation with Dr. Dagmar Wujastyk about her fascinating work at the intersection of yoga, Ayurveda, and alchemy. Dr. Wujastyk’s online course…
New Books in Indian ReligionsOn Social Media and Hinduism
Dheepa Sundaram (she/her/hers) is scholar of performance, ritual, yoga, and digital culture in South Asia at the University of Denver which sits on the unceded…
- New Books in Indian Religions
Martin Fárek, "India in the Eyes of Europeans: Conceptualization of Religion in Theology and Oriental Studies" (Karolinum Press, Charles University, 2021)
Martin Fárek's India in the Eyes of Europeans: Conceptualization of Religion in Theology and Oriental Studies (Karolinum Press, Charles University, 2021) is…
- New Books in Indian Religions
Ruth Harris, "Guru to the World: The Life and Legacy of Vivekananda" (Harvard UP, 2022)
Guru to the World: The Life and Legacy of Vivekananda (Harvard UP, 2022) tells the story of Swami Vivekananda, the nineteenth-century Hindu ascetic who…