Indian Religions

Indian Religions

episodes

Interviews with scholars of Indian religions about their new books.

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SherAli Tareen, "Perilous Intimacies: Debating Hindu-Muslim Friendship After Empire" (Columbia UP, 2023)

March 15, 2024

Perilous Intimacies

SherAli Tareen

Friendship—particularly interreligious friendship—offers both promise and peril. After the end of Muslim political sovereignty in South Asia, how did …

Pankaj Jain and Jeffery D. Long, "Indian and Western Philosophical Concepts in Religion" (Rowman and Littlefield, 2023)

March 14, 2024

Indian and Western Philosophical Concepts in Religion

Pankaj Jain and Jeffery D. Long
Hosted by Raj Balkaran

Philosophical concepts are influential in the theories and methods to study the world religions. Even though the disciplines of anthropology and relig…

Religious Minorities Online

March 13, 2024

Religious Minorities Online

Erica Baffelli, Alexander van der Haven, and Michael Stausberg
Hosted by Raj Balkaran

Religious Minorities Online (RMO) is the premier academic resource on religious minorities worldwide, reflecting the state of the art in scholarship. …

Laurie L. Patton, "Who Owns Religion?: Scholars and Their Publics in the Late Twentieth Century" (U Chicago Press, 2019)

March 7, 2024

Who Owns Religion?

Laurie L. Patton
Hosted by Raj Balkaran

In Who Owns Religion?: Scholars and Their Publics in the Late Twentieth Century (U Chicago Press, 2019), scholar and noted university administrator La…

Open Access at Heidelberg Asian Studies Publishing (HASP)

March 6, 2024

Open Access at Heidelberg Asian Studies Publishing (HASP)

Hosted by Raj Balkaran

Learn about the fascinating Ethno-Indology series now published at Heidelberg Asian Studies Publishing which offers inexpensive peer-reviewed Open Acc…

Ina Marie Lunde Ilkama, "The Play of the Feminine" (HASP, 2023)

February 29, 2024

The Play of the Feminine

Ina Marie Lunde Ilkama
Hosted by Raj Balkaran

In Tamil Nadu, the nine-night autumnal Navarātri festival can be viewed as a celebration of feminine powers in association with the goddess. Ina Marie…

Jeffery D. Long, "Perspectives on Reincarnation: Hindu, Christian, Scientific" (MDPI Books, 2019)

February 22, 2024

Perspectives on Reincarnation

Jeffery D. Long
Hosted by Raj Balkaran

What happens after you die? The book brings together fascinating theological and religious studies perspectives on a controversial yet pervasive idea:…

Knut A. Jacobsen, "The Oxford History of Hinduism: Hindu Diasporas" (Oxford UP, 2023)

February 22, 2024

The Oxford History of Hinduism

Knut A. Jacobsen
Hosted by Raj Balkaran

Knut A. Jacobsen's edited volume The Oxford History of Hinduism: Hindu Diaspora (Oxford UP, 2023) presents the histories and religious traditions of H…

Michael Stausberg, "Religions, Mumbai Style: Events-Media-Spaces" (Oxford UP, 2023)

February 15, 2024

Religions, Mumbai Style

Michael Stausberg
Hosted by Raj Balkaran

Mumbai is generally recognized as an environment of extraordinary religious diversity. The city is known at one and the same time for a habitual cosmo…

Yamini Narayanan, "Mother Cow, Mother India: A Multispecies Politics of Dairy in India" (Stanford UP, 2023)

February 11, 2024

Mother Cow, Mother India

Yamini Narayanan
Hosted by Yash Sharma

India imposes stringent criminal penalties, including life imprisonment in some states, for cow slaughter, based on a Hindu ethic of revering the cow …

Jeffery D. Long, "Discovering Indian Philosophy: An Introduction to Hindu, Jain and Buddhist Thought" (Bloomsbury, 2023)

February 8, 2024

Discovering Indian Philosophy

Jeffery D. Long
Hosted by Raj Balkaran

Jeffery D. Long's Indian Philosophy: An Introduction (Bloomsbury, 2023) helps readers discover how the many and varied schools of Indian thought can a…

Jon Paul Sydnor and Anthony J. Watson, "Nondualism: An Interreligious Exploration" (Lexington Books, 2023)

February 1, 2024

Nondualism

Jon Paul Sydnor and Anthony J. Watson
Hosted by Raj Balkaran

The time has come for nondualism. As a fundamentally unifying concept, nondualism may seem out of place in an age of rising nationalism and bitter deg…

Francesca Orsini, "East of Delhi: Multilingual Literary Culture and World Literature" (Oxford UP, 2023)

January 29, 2024

East of Delhi

Francesca Orsini

East of Delhi: Multilingual Literary Culture and World Literature (Oxford University Press, 2023) examines literature produced, practiced, and circula…

Stephen Harris, "Buddhist Ethics and the Bodhisattva Path: Santideva on Virtue and Well-Being" (Bloomsbury, 2023)

January 26, 2024

Buddhist Ethics and the Bodhisattva Path

Stephen Harris

Santideva's 8th-century Mahayana Buddhist classic, "The Guide to the Practices of Awakening" (Bodhicaryavatara), has been a source of philosophical in…

David J. Brick, "Widows Under Hindu Law" (Oxford UP, 2023)

January 25, 2024

Widows Under Hindu Law

David J. Brick
Hosted by Raj Balkaran

During British colonial rule in India, the treatment of high-caste Hindu widows became the subject of great controversy. Such women were not permitted…

Jan Westerhoff, "Candrakirti's Introduction to the Middle Way: A Guide" (Oxford UP, 2023)

January 20, 2024

Candrakirti's Introduction to the Middle Way

Jan Westerhoff
Hosted by Malcolm Keating

A proponent of the Madhyamaka tradition of Mahāyāna Buddhism, Candrakīrti wrote several works, one of which, the Madhamakāvatāra, strongly influenced …

Veena R. Howard, "Gandhi's Global Legacy: Moral Methods and Modern Challenges" (Lexington Books, 2022)

January 18, 2024

Gandhi's Global Legacy

Veena R. Howard
Hosted by Raj Balkaran

While there has been sustained interest in Gandhi's methods and continued academic inquiry, Gandhi's Global Legacy: Moral Methods and Modern Challenge…

Vera Lazzaretti and Kathinka Frøystad, "Beyond Courtrooms and Street Violence: Rethinking Religious Offence and Its Containment" (Routledge, 2022)

January 11, 2024

Beyond Courtrooms and Street Violence

Vera Lazzaretti and Kathinka Frøystad
Hosted by Raj Balkaran

Drawing on the extensive empirical field research of six scholars of religion and politics, Vera Lazzaretti and Kathinka Frøystad's Beyond Courtrooms …

Tulasi Srinivas, "Wonder in South Asia: Histories, Aesthetics, Ethics" (SUNY Press, 2023)

January 11, 2024

Wonder in South Asia

Tulasi Srinivas
Hosted by Raj Balkaran

Tulasi Srinivas' edited volume Wonder in South Asia: Histories, Aesthetics, Ethics (SUNY Press, 2023) brings together historians and ethnographers of …

Women and the Body in Buddhism (with Amy Langenberg)

January 7, 2024

Women and the Body in Buddhism

Amy Langenberg
Hosted by Pierce Salguero

Dr Pierce Salguero sits down with Amy Langenberg, a scholar of South Asian Buddhism, gender, sexuality, and the body. We focus on Amy’s work on misogy…