Indian Religions

Indian Religions

episodes

Interviews with scholars of Indian religions about their new books.

Channel Sponsors:

Karen O'Brien-Kop and Suzanne Newcombe eds., "Religion, Spirituality and Public Health" (British Academy, 2025)

April 9, 2026

Religion, Spirituality and Public Health

Karen O'Brien-Kop and Suzanne Newcombe eds.
Hosted by Raj Balkaran

Religion, Spirituality and Public Health: Competing and Complementary Epistemes (British Academy, 2025) focuses on exploring the role of different 'wa…

Asif Iqbal, "Bangladesh in Anglophone and Vernacular Literature: Cultural Imaginings of a Postcolonial Nation" (Routledge, 2025)

April 2, 2026

Bangladesh in Anglophone and Vernacular Literature

Asif Iqbal
Hosted by Raj Balkaran

Bangladesh in Anglophone and Vernacular Literature: Cultural Imaginings of a Postcolonial Nation (Routledge, 2025) illuminates individual and collecti…

Indology in Canada Conference: A Conversation with Dagmar Wujastyk

April 1, 2026

Indology in Canada Conference

Hosted by Raj Balkaran

Introducing a new conference to showcase the breadth and vitality of Canadian research on premodern India. We discuss the vision behind the conference…

Tulasi Srinivas, "The Goddess in the Mirror: An Anthropology of Beauty" (Duke UP, 2025)

March 26, 2026

The Goddess in the Mirror

Tulasi Srinivas
Hosted by Raj Balkaran

In The Goddess in the Mirror: An Anthropology of Beauty (Duke UP, 2025), Tulasi Srinivas offers a pathbreaking ethnography of contemporary Indian beau…

Ewa Debicka-Borek and Ofer Peres, "Routes, Patterns, Ideologies: Navigating Sacred Sites in India" (HASP, 2025)

March 19, 2026

Routes, Patterns, Ideologies

Ewa Debicka-Borek and Ofer Peres
Hosted by Raj Balkaran

Hindu sacred geographies are shaped by interwoven webs of myth, ritual, and pilgrimage. Routes, Patterns, Ideologies: Navigating Sacred Sites in India…

Margherita Trento et al., "For the Love of Tamil: Essays in Honor of E. Annamalai" (UnionPress, 2025)

March 12, 2026

For the Love of Tamil

Margherita Trento, Constantine V. Nakassis, Navaneethakrishnan Govindarajan, Sascha Ebeling
Hosted by Raj Balkaran

For the Love of Tamil celebrates the life and work of E. Annamalai (born 1938), the most prominent Tamil linguist of his generation. Spanning six deca…

The 4th Yoga Darśana Yoga Sādhana Conference

March 9, 2026

The 4th Yoga Darśana Yoga Sādhana Conference

Hosted by Raj Balkaran

The 4th International Yoga Darśana Yoga Sādhana Conference convenes 27–29 May 2026 at EHESS Paris, organized by CESAH. Theme: Authenticity, Authority …

Hillary Rodrigues, "The Supreme Refuge: Durgā's Transformation Into the Hindu Great Goddess" (SUNY Press, 2025)

March 5, 2026

The Supreme Refuge

Hillary Rodrigues
Hosted by Raj Balkaran

The Supreme Refuge: Durgā's Transformation Into the Hindu Great Goddess (SUNY Press, 2025) provides the first comprehensive examination of the Hindu G…

Amy Landry, "The Ocean of Yoga: A Complete Guide to Living the Teachings, Tradition, and Practice" (Shambhala, 2026)

March 2, 2026

The Ocean of Yoga

Amy Landry
Hosted by Raj Balkaran

The Ocean of Yoga: A Complete Guide to Living the Teachings, Tradition, and Practice (Shambhala, 2026) is definitive guidebook to the core principles …

Syona Puliady, et al., "Visualizing Devotion: Jain Embroidered Shrine Hangings" (U Washington Press, 2025)

March 1, 2026

Visualizing Devotion

Syona Puliady, Steven M. Vose and Lynna R. Dhanani
Hosted by Kshitij Jain

Textiles, embroidered with religious imagery, express lay piety in public and private shrinesThis beautifully illustrated volume highlights Jain devot…

Renny Thomas and Sasanka Perera, "Decolonial Keywords: South Asian Thoughts and Attitudes" (Columbia UP, 2025)

February 26, 2026

Decolonial Keywords

Renny Thomas and Sasanka Perera
Hosted by Raj Balkaran

Decolonial Keywords: South Asian Thoughts and Attitudes (Columbia UP, 2025) presents a set of keywords and concepts embedded in the languages of South…

Neilesh Bose, "Chips from a Calcutta Workshop: Comparative Religion in Nineteenth Century India" (Cambridge UP, 2025)

February 19, 2026

Chips from a Calcutta Workshop

Neilesh Bose
Hosted by Raj Balkaran

Chips from a Calcutta Workshop: Comparative Religion in Nineteenth Century India (Cambridge University Press, 2025) explores the development and natur…

Feminism and Critical Hindu Studies with Shreena Gandhi, Harshita Kamath, Sailaja Krishnamurt, and Shana Sippy

February 16, 2026

Feminism and Critical Hindu Studies

Shreena Gandhi, Harshita Kamath, Sailaja Krishnamurt, and Shana Sippy

This episode features a conversation with the founding members of the Feminist Critical Hindu Studies Collective, also known as the Auntylectuals. We …

Elaine M. Fisher, "The Meeting of Rivers: Translating Religion in Early Modern India" (Oxford UP, 2025)

February 12, 2026

The Meeting of Rivers

Elaine M. Fisher
Hosted by Raj Balkaran

In The Meeting of Rivers: Translating Religion in Early Modern India (Oxford UP, 2025), Elaine Fisher reconstructs Vīraśaiva origins from unstudied mu…

Black Beryl: The Modern Remaking of Kundalini, with Marleen Thaler

February 6, 2026

Black Beryl: The Modern Remaking of Kundalini

Hosted by Pierce Salguero

Today host Pierce Salguero sits down with Marleen Thaler, a researcher at the University of Vienna and University of Graz. Together, we investigate th…

Wisdom of the Goddess: The Divine Feminine in South Asian, Southeast Asian, and Himalayan Art

February 5, 2026

Wisdom of the Goddess

Hillary Langberg
Hosted by Raj Balkaran

Hillary Langberg discusses Wisdom of the Goddess, an online exhibition she curated for the Smithsonian's National Museum of Asian Art featuring nine g…

P. C. Saidalavi, "Seeking Allah's Hierarchy: Caste, Labor, and Islam in India" (U Pennsylvania Press, 2025)

February 4, 2026

Seeking Allah's Hierarchy

P. C. Saidalavi
Hosted by Khadeeja Amenda

Why Muslims in South India observe hierarchical intra-communal relationships despite the egalitarianism of their religionIn Seeking Allah’s Hierarchy:…

Vanessa R. Sasson, "The Gathering: A Story of the First Buddhist Women" (Equinox, 2023)

February 1, 2026

The Gathering

Vanessa R. Sasson

Vanessa R. Sasson's book The Gathering: A Story of the First Buddhist Women (Equinox, 2023) is a retelling of the story of the first Buddhist women's …

Rishi Rajpopat, "Panini's Perfect Rule: A Modern Solution to an Ancient Problem in Sanskrit Grammar" (Harvard UP, 2025)

January 29, 2026

Panini's Perfect Rule

Rishi Rajpopat
Hosted by Raj Balkaran

Around 500 BCE, the Indian scholar Pāṇini wrote a treatise on Sanskrit, the Aṣṭādhyāyī, describing a kind of language machine: an algebraic system of …

Knut A. Jacobsen, "Hinduism in the World: Migrations and Global Presence" (Routledge, 2025)

January 22, 2026

Hinduism in the World

Knut A. Jacobsen
Hosted by Raj Balkaran

Hinduism in the World: Migrations and Global Presence (Routledge, 2025) explores Hindu religion from a global perspective and investigates the presenc…