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Indian Religions
Indian Religions August 4, 2022

Gods in the Time of Democracy

Kajri Jain

Hosted by Raj Balkaran
In 2018 India's prime minister, Narendra Modi, inaugurated the world's tallest statue: a 597-foot figure of nationalist leader Sardar Patel. Twice the height of the Statue of Liberty, it is …

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Indian Religions August 2, 2022

After the War

The Last Books of the Mahabharata

Wendy Doniger

Hosted by Ujaan Ghosh
Wendy Doniger's After the War: The Last Books of the Mahabharata (Oxford UP, 2022) is a new translation of the final part of the Mahabharata, the great Sanskrit Epic poem about …
Indian Religions July 28, 2022

Democracy and Social Cleavage in India

Ethnography of Riots, Everyday Politics and Communalism in West Bengal C. 2012-2021

Suman Nath

Hosted by Raj Balkaran
Suman Nath's book Democracy and Social Cleavage in India: Ethnography of Riots, Everyday Politics and Communalism in West Bengal (2012-2021) (Routledge, 2022) explores the emergence of identity politics and violence at …
On Religion July 27, 2022

On Teaching and Sikh Visibility

A Discussion with Simran Jeet Singh

Simran Jeet Singh

Hosted by Gregory Soden
Dr. Simran Jeet Singh is columnist for Religion News Service, Senior Fellow at the Sikh Coalition, Chaplain at New York University and Columbia University, and serves on the Governor’s Interfaith …
Indian Religions July 21, 2022

Marg Magazine

Readings on the Temple

Naman P. Ahuja

Hosted by Raj Balkaran
In October 1946, shortly before Independence, Mulk Raj Anand founded Marg, a magazine that soon became a pioneering forum for research on Indian and South Asian art and architecture. Over …
Indian Religions July 19, 2022

The Light We Give

How Sikh Wisdom Can Transform Your Life

Simran Jeet Singh

Hosted by Raj Balkaran
An inspiring approach to a happier, more fulfilling life through Sikh teachings on love and service.  As a boy growing up in South Texas, Simran Jeet Singh and his brothers …
Environmental Studies July 14, 2022

Climate Politics and the Power of Religion

Evan Berry

Hosted by Brady McCartney
How does our faith affect how we think about and respond to climate change? Climate Politics and the Power of Religion (Indiana University Press, 2022) is an edited collection that explores …
Indian Religions July 14, 2022

The Hagiographer and the Avatar

The Life and Works of Narayan Kasturi

Antonio Rigopoulos

Hosted by Raj Balkaran
In The Hagiographer and the Avatar: The Life and Works of Narayan Kasturi (SUNY Press, 2021), Antonio Rigopoulos explores the fundamental role of a hagiographer within a charismatic religious movement …
Van Leer Institute Series on Ideas with Renee Garfinkel July 7, 2022

How Religion Evolved

And Why It Endures

Robin Dunbar

Hosted by Renee Garfinkel
What is the evolutionary purpose of religion, and are some individuals more inclined than others to be religious? Our species diverged from the great apes six to eight million years …
Indian Religions July 7, 2022

Botanical Ecstasies

Psychoactive Plant Formulas in India and Beyond

Matthew Clark

Hosted by Raj Balkaran
In Botanical Ecstasies: Psychoactive Plant Formulas in India and Beyond, Dr Matthew Clark proposes that soma/hoama is instead an ayahuasca-like plant complex made from many different species. He discusses a …
Indian Religions July 5, 2022

A Conversation with Sravana Borkataky-Varma

Historian, Practitioner, Educator, and Social Entrepreneur

Sravana Borkataky-Varma

Hosted by Raj Balkaran
A candid conversation with Dr. Sravana Borkataky-Varma, historian, practitioner, educator, and social entrepreneur.  Women and Gender in Hindu TantraTantra: The Body and Release, an Esalen Signature Series Raj Balkaran is a scholar …
Indian Religions June 30, 2022

Soaring with Bharati in the Wisdom-Chariot (Ñānaratam)

Radha Raghunathan

Hosted by Raj Balkaran
Mahakavi Subramania Bharati was a multi-faceted genius, an innovative poet who initiated a new era in Tamil literature. He was the first writer to have introduced to the Tamil literary …
Indian Religions June 29, 2022

Krishnamacharya on Kundalini

The Origins and Coherence of His Position

Simon Atkinson

Hosted by Raj Balkaran
Krishnamacharya on Kundalini: The Origins and Coherence of His Position (Equinox Publishing, 2022) explores a distinctive teaching of 'the father of modern yoga', T. Krishnamacharya. Whereas most yoga traditions teach …
Indian Religions June 27, 2022

The Stories Behind the Poses

The Indian Mythology That Inspired 50 Yoga Postures

Raj Balkaran

Hosted by Raj Balkaran
Raj Balkaran's 200th podcast episode: Christa Kuberry interviews him on his beautifully written new book The Stories Behind the Poses: The Indian Mythology That Inspired 50 Yoga Postures (Leaping Hare, 2022), and highlighting their …
Indian Religions June 23, 2022

The Transformation of Tamil Religion

Ramalinga Swamigal and Modern Dravidian Sainthood

Srilata Raman

Hosted by Raj Balkaran
Srilata Raman's book The Transformation of Tamil Religion: Ramalinga Swamigal and Modern Dravidian Sainthood (Routledge, 2022) analyses the religious ideology of a Tamil reformer and saint, Ramalinga Swamigal of the 19th …
Philosophy June 20, 2022

How Things Are

An Introduction to Buddhist Metaphysics

Mark Siderits

Hosted by Malcolm Keating
Mark Siderits’ How Things Are: An Introduction to Buddhist Metaphysics (Oxford University Press, 2022) is a wide-ranging survey of how Buddhist philosophers think about the nature of the world. The …
Indian Religions June 16, 2022

Rethinking 'Classical Yoga' and Buddhism

Meditation, Metaphors and Materiality

Karen O'Brien-Kop

Hosted by Raj Balkaran
Rethinking 'Classical Yoga' and Buddhism (Bloomsbury, 2021) revisits the early systemic formation of meditation practices called 'yoga' in South Asia by employing metaphor theory. Karen O'Brien-Kop also develops an alternative …
On Religion June 15, 2022

On Early American Yoga

A Discussion with Philip Deslippe

Philip Deslippe

Hosted by Gregory Soden
Philip Deslippe is a historian of American religion with a background in American Studies and literature. His research focuses on Asian, metaphysical, and marginal religions in modern America. Philip is …
Indian Religions June 9, 2022

Rebirth

A Guide to Mind, Karma, and Cosmos in the Buddhist World

Roger R. Jackson

Hosted by Raj Balkaran
Although Buddhism is one of the religious traditions best known for asserting rebirth, the history and scope of Buddhist approaches to the idea has not received comprehensive treatment—until now. This …
Indian Religions June 2, 2022

Jewish Approaches to Hinduism

A History of Ideas from Judah Ha-Levi to Jacob Sapir (12th-19th Centuries)

Richard G. Marks

Hosted by Raj Balkaran
Richard G. Marks's book Jewish Approaches to Hinduism: A History of Ideas from Judah Ha-Levi to Jacob Sapir (12th-19th Centuries) (Routledge, 2021) explores past expressions of the Jewish interest in Hinduism …