South Asian Studies

South Asian Studies

episodes

Interviews with scholars of South Asia about their new books.

Subhashini Kaligotla, "Shiva's Waterfront Temples: Architects and Their Audiences in Medieval India" (Yale UP, 2022)

October 31, 2024

Shiva's Waterfront Temples

Subhashini Kaligotla
Hosted by Raj Balkaran

The vibrant red sandstone temples of India's Deccan Plateau, such as the Pattadakal temple cluster, have attracted visitors since the eighth century o…

Bihani Sarkar, "Classical Sanskrit Tragedy: The Concept of Suffering and Pathos in Medieval India" (I. B. Tauris, 2021)

October 30, 2024

Classical Sanskrit Tragedy

Bihani Sarkar
Hosted by Kshitij Jain

It is often assumed that classical Sanskrit poetry and drama lack a concern with the tragic. However, as Bihani Sarkar makes clear in Classical Sanskr…

Rajbir Singh Judge, "Prophetic Maharaja: Loss, Sovereignty, and the Sikh Tradition in Colonial South Asia" (Columbia UP, 2024)

October 30, 2024

Prophetic Maharaja

Rajbir Singh Judge
Hosted by Arighna Gupta

How do traditions and peoples grapple with loss, particularly when it is of such magnitude that it defies the possibility of recovery or restoration? …

Anuradha Sajjanhar, "The New Experts: Populist Elites and Technocratic Promises in Modi's India" (Cambridge UP, 2024)

October 30, 2024

The New Experts

Anuradha Sajjanhar
Hosted by Dave O'Brien

How are technocratic experts supporting populist politics? In The New Experts Populist Elites and Technocratic Promises in Modi’s India (Cambridge UP,…

Sabina Faiz Rashid, "Poverty, Gender and Health in the Slums of Bangladesh: Children of Crows" (Routledge, 2024)

October 29, 2024

Poverty, Gender and Health in the Slums of Bangladesh

Sabina Faiz Rashid

Poverty, Gender and Health in the Slums of Bangladesh: Children of Crows (Routledge, 2024) provides comprehensive ethnographic accounts that depict th…

Townsend Middleton, "Quinine's Remains: Empire’s Medicine and the Life Thereafter" (U California Press, 2024)

October 28, 2024

Quinine's Remains

Townsend Middleton
Hosted by Rounak Bose

What happens after colonial industries have run their course—after the factory closes and the fields go fallow? Set in the cinchona plantations of Ind…

How Did Arabic Get on That Sign?

October 26, 2024

How Did Arabic Get on That Sign?

Rizwan Ahmad

In this episode of the Language on the Move Podcast, Tazin Abdullah speaks with Dr. Rizwan Ahmad, Professor of Sociolinguistics in the Department of E…

Omer Aijazi, "Atmospheric Violence: Disaster and Repair in Kashmir" (U Pennsylvania Press, 2024)

October 25, 2024

Atmospheric Violence

Omer Aijazi

Atmospheric Violence: Disaster and Repair in Kashmir (U Pennsylvania Press, 2024) grapples with the afterlife of environmental disasters and armed c…

Himanshu Upadhyaya, "Critical Insights on Colonial Modes of Seeing Cattle in India (1850–1980)" (Springer, 2024)

October 25, 2024

Critical Insights on Colonial Modes of Seeing Cattle in India (1850–1980)

Himanshu Upadhyaya

Critical Insights on Colonial Modes of Seeing Cattle in India: Tracing the Pre-history of Green and White Revolutions (Springer 2024) traces the conto…

Daniela Bevilacqua, "From Tapas to Modern Yoga: Sādhus' Understanding of Embodied Practices" (Equinox, 2024)

October 24, 2024

From Tapas to Modern Yoga

Daniela Bevilacqua
Hosted by Raj Balkaran

Extensively based on fieldwork material, From Tapas to Modern Yoga: Sādhus' Understanding of Embodied Practices (Equinox, 2024) primarily analyses emb…

Andrea Benvenuti, "Nehru's Bandung: Non-Alignment and Regional Order in Indian Cold War Strategy" (Oxford UP, 2024)

October 24, 2024

Nehru's Bandung

Andrea Benvenuti
Hosted by Nicholas Gordon

In 1955, the leaders of 29 Asian and African countries flock to the small city of Bandung, Indonesia, for the first-ever Afro-Asian conference. India …

India Rising: Navigating the Second Cold War in South Asia from Nepal to the Maldives

October 23, 2024

India Rising: Navigating the Second Cold War in South Asia from Nepal to the Maldives

Dinesh Paudel and Aaron Magunna

What is the role of India in the Second Cold War (SCW) in South Asia? How do local histories, internal politics, and subnational dynamics shape relati…

Corey Ross, "Liquid Empire: Water and Power in the Colonial World" (Princeton UP, 2024)

October 17, 2024

Liquid Empire

Corey Ross
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, a handful of powerful European states controlled more than a third of the land surface of the planet. These…

Suganya Anandakichenin, "The Monsoon Cloud: Poet Kāḷamēkam and His Irreverent Poetry" (Primus, 2024)

October 17, 2024

The Monsoon Cloud

Suganya Anandakichenin
Hosted by Raj Balkaran

A wordsmith, an extempore poet and a satirist, Kāḷamēkam (also known as Kāḷamēka Pulavar; fifteenth century) is widely known for his taṉippāṭals or 's…

Kanupriya Dhingra, "Old Delhi's Parallel Book Bazaar" (Cambridge UP, 2024)

October 11, 2024

Old Delhi's Parallel Book Bazaar

Kanupriya Dhingra

Old Delhi's Parallel Book Bazaar (Cambridge UP, 2024) looks at Old Delhi's Daryaganj Sunday Book Market, popularly known as Daryaganj Sunday Patri Kit…

Michael Thomas Williams, "Existence and Perception in Medieval Vedānta: Vyāsatīrtha's Defence of Realism in the Nyāyāmṛta" (de Gruyter, 2024)

October 10, 2024

Existence and Perception in Medieval Vedānta

Michael Thomas Williams
Hosted by Raj Balkaran

Existence and Perception in Medieval Vedānta: Vyāsatīrtha's Defence of Realism in the Nyāyāmṛta (de Gruyter, 2024) focuses on discussions of metaphysi…

How have Bureaucratic Politics Undermined Pakistan’s Prospects for Democracy? A Conversation with Sameen Ali.

October 10, 2024

How have Bureaucratic Politics Undermined Pakistan’s Prospects for Democracy?

Sameen Ali
Hosted by Petra Alderman

For many years, explanations of Pakistan’s politics and its failed democratic transition have focused on the role of the military and politicians. But…

Rohit Manchanda, "The Enclave: A Sharp and Hilarious Portrait of Womanhood in India" (Fourth Estate, 2024)

October 10, 2024

The Enclave

Rohit Manchanda
Hosted by Nicholas Gordon

Maya, the protagonist of Rohit Manchanda’s novel The Enclave (Fourth Estate: 2024), should be happy with her life. She’s newly single, her net worth s…

Adeana McNicholl, "Of Ancestors and Ghosts: How Preta Narratives Constructed Buddhist Cosmology and Shaped Buddhist Ethics" (Oxford UP, 2024)

October 9, 2024

Of Ancestors and Ghosts

Adeana McNicholl
Hosted by Jessica Zu

In Buddhist cosmology, pretas make up one of several categories of rebirth. They are best known as "hungry ghosts," pitiful beings with miniscule mout…

Shweta Kishore and Kunal Ray, "Resistance in Indian Documentary Film: Aesthetics, Culture and Practice" (Edinburgh UP, 2024)

October 7, 2024

Resistance in Indian Documentary Film

Shweta Kishore and Kunal Ray
Hosted by Priyam Sinha

Dr. Shweta Kishore and Dr Kunal Ray’s Resistance in Indian Documentary Film: Aesthetics, Culture and Practice (Edinburgh UP, 2024) is a unique collect…