New Books Network

Indian Religions October 21, 2021

Turbulent Transformations

Non-Brahmin Śrīvaiṣṇavas on Religion, Caste and Politics in Tamil Nadu

Katherine Young

Hosted by Raj Balkaran

Katherine Young, Turbulent Transformations: Non-Brahmin Śrīvaiṣṇavas on Religion, Caste and Politics in Tamil Nadu (Orient Blackswan, 2021) studies the interlinking of religious, social and political identities in modern Tamil Nadu …

Indian Religions October 14, 2021

An Introductory Sanskrit Reader

Improving Reading Fluency

Antonia M. Ruppel

Hosted by Raj Balkaran

An Introductory Sanskrit Reader: Improving Reading Fluency (Brill, 2021) aims to help students start reading original Sanskrit literature. When we study ancient languages, there often is quite a gap between …

Ideas Roadshow Podcast October 12, 2021

Exploring the Sikh Tradition

Eleanor Nesbitt

Hosted by Howard Burton

Exploring the Sikh Tradition is based on an in-depth filmed conversation between Howard Burton and Eleanor Nesbitt who is Professor Emeritus of Education Studies at University of Warwick and a …

Indian Religions October 7, 2021

The Rādhā Tantra

A Critical Edition and Annotated Translation

Mans Broo

Hosted by Raj Balkaran

The Rādhā Tantra is an anonymous 17th-century tantric text from Bengal. Mans Broo's The Rādhā Tantra: A Critical Edition and Annotated Translation (Routledge, 2019) offers a lively picture of the meeting of …

Ideas Roadshow Podcast October 7, 2021

Turning the Mirror

A View From the East

Pankaj Mirshra

Hosted by Howard Burton

Turning the Mirror: A View From the East is based on an in-depth filmed conversation between Howard Burton and award-winning writer Pankaj Mishra. The conversation provides behind-the-scenes insights into several …

Indian Religions October 5, 2021

Winged Stallions and Wicked Mares

Horses in Indian Myth and History

Wendy Doniger

Hosted by Raj Balkaran

Raj Balkaran speaks with Wendy Doniger about her new book Winged Stallions and Wicked Mares: Horses in Indian Myth and History (University of Virginia Press, 2021), along with her translation of the final …

Indian Religions October 1, 2021

The Ubiquitous Siva

Somananda's Sivadrsti and His Philosophical Interlocutors

John Nemec

Hosted by Raj Balkaran

The Ubiquitous Siva: Somananda's Sivadrsti and His Philosophical Interlocutors (Oxford UP, 2021) is a sequel to a volume published in 2011 by OUP under the title The Ubiquitous Siva: Somananda's Sivadrsti …

Indian Religions September 30, 2021

The Psychology of the Yogas

Gidi Ifergan

Hosted by Raj Balkaran

Gidi Ifergan's new book The Psychology of the Yogas (Equinox Publishing, 2021) explores the dissonance between the promises of the yogic quest and psychological states of crisis. Western practitioners of yoga …

Indian Religions September 22, 2021

The Philosophy of Sri Chinmoy

Love and Transformation

Kusumita P. Pedersen

Hosted by Raj Balkaran

This podcast interviews Kusumita Pedersen on the first book-length study of the thought of Sri Chinmoy (1931-2007) and his teaching of a dynamic spirituality of integral transformation. The Philosophy of Sri …

Philosophy September 20, 2021

Jewel of Reflection on the Truth about Epistemology

A Complete and Annotated Translation of the Tattva-cintā-maṇi

Stephen Phillips (trans.)

Hosted by Malcolm Keating

In the first complete English translation of a monumental 14th century Sanskrit philosophical text, the Jewel of Reflection on the Truth about Epistemology (Bloomsbury 2020), Stephen Phillips introduces modern readers to …

Indian Religions September 16, 2021

Performing the Ramayana Tradition

Enactments, Interpretations, and Arguments

Paula Richman and Rustom Bharucha

Hosted by Raj Balkaran

Paula Richman and Rustom Bharucha's book Performing the Ramayana Tradition: Enactments, Interpretations, and Arguments (Oxford UP, 2021) examines diverse retellings of the Ramayana narrative as interpreted and embodied through a spectrum of …

Indian Religions September 9, 2021

Online Dharmaśāstra Library

A Conversation with Don Davis

Don Davis

Hosted by Raj Balkaran

Dr. Don Davis (Professor and Chair, Department of Asian Studies) speaks about the newly launched Resource Library for Dharmaśāstra Studies, a digitized open educational resource hosted at the University of …

Indian Religions September 9, 2021

To Savor the Meaning

The Theology of Literary Emotions in Medieval Kashmir

James D. Reich

Hosted by Raj Balkaran

Medieval Kashmir in its golden age saw the development of some of the most sophisticated theories of language, literature, and emotion articulated in the pre-modern world. James D. Reich's book To …

Indian Religions September 2, 2021

Branding Bhakti

Krishna Consciousness and the Makeover of a Movement

Nicole Karapanagiotis

Hosted by Raj Balkaran

How do religious groups reinvent themselves in order to attract new audiences? How do they rebrand their messages and recast their rituals in order to make their followers more diverse …

Indian Religions August 26, 2021

First Words, Last Words

New Theories for Reading Old Texts in Sixteenth Century India

Yigal Bronner and Lawrence J. McCrea

Hosted by Raj Balkaran

First Words, Last Words: New Theories for Reading Old Texts in Sixteenth Century India (Oxford UP, 2021) charts an intense "pamphlet war" that took place in sixteenth-century South India …

Indian Religions August 26, 2021

Open Access Publishing

A Conversation with Dominik Haas

Dominik Haas

Hosted by Raj Balkaran

What is Open Access Publishing and why is it important? Listen in as Raj Balkaran interviews Dominik A. Haas on his Fair Open Access Publishing in South Asian Studies (FOASAS) …

Indian Religions August 19, 2021

Women, Religion and the Body in South Asia

Living With Bengali Bauls

Kristin Hanssen

Hosted by Raj Balkaran

Noted for their haunting melodies and enigmatic lyrics, Bauls have been portrayed as spiritually enlightened troubadours traveling around the countryside in West Bengal in India and in Bangladesh. As emblems …

Indian Religions August 16, 2021

Religious Studies Today

A Conversation with Amir Hussain

Amir Hussain

Hosted by Raj Balkaran

Listen in as Raj Balkaran speaks with Amir Hussain (Chair, Theological Studies at Loyola Marymount University) about his scholarship on Muslims in America, his work as the Editor of the …

Indian Religions August 12, 2021

In the Service of Krishna

Illustrating the Lives of Eighty-Four Vaishnavas from a 1702 Manuscript

Emilia Bachrach

Hosted by Raj Balkaran

Today I talked to Dr. Emilia Bachrach about In the Service of Krishna: Illustrating the Lives of Eighty-Four Vaishnavas from a 1702 Manuscript in the Amit Ambalal Collection (Mapin, 2020).The Pushtimarg, or the Path …

Indian Religions August 11, 2021

Jainism

An Introduction

Jeffery D. Long

Hosted by Pankaj Jain

Jainism evokes images of monks wearing face-masks to protect insects and mico-organisms from being inhaled. Or of Jains sweeping the ground in front of them to ensure that living creatures …