Indian Religions

Indian Religions

episodes

Interviews with scholars of Indian religions about their new books.

Channel Sponsors:

Sanskrit Study: A Conversation with Antonia Ruppel

April 12, 2024

Sanskrit Study

Antonia Ruppel
Hosted by Raj Balkaran

A candid conversation with renowned Sanskritist and online teacher Antonia Ruppel on her love of the language, teaching philosophy, views on academia,…

Peter Scharf, "Ramopakhyana - the Story of Rama in the Mahabharata" (Routledge, 2023)

April 11, 2024

Ramopakhyana: The Story of Rama in the Mahabharata

Peter Scharf
Hosted by Raj Balkaran

Consisting of about 25,000 verses in Valmiki's Rāmāyaṇa, the story of Rāma was summarized in 704 verses in eighteen chapters in the Rāmopākhyāna, whic…

Tantra: A New Understanding

April 10, 2024

Tantra: A New Understanding

Gavin Flood
Hosted by Raj Balkaran

Professor Gavin Flood of Oxford University discusses new insights on tantra to be released in an upcoming publication stemming from his Continuing Stu…

Translating a Śrī Vidyā Text: The Cidvilāsastava of Amṛtānanda

April 5, 2024

Translating a Śrī Vidyā Text

Brian Campbell
Hosted by Raj Balkaran

The Cidvilāsastava of Amṛtānanda (fl. c. 1325-1375) one of the most comprehensive treatments of the esoteric contemplation of ritual found within the …

William S. Waldron, "Making Sense of Mind Only: Why Yogacara Buddhism Matters" (Wisdom Publications, 2023)

April 4, 2024

Making Sense of Mind Only

William S. Waldron
Hosted by Jessica Zu

Through engaging, contemporary examples, Making Sense of Mind Only: Why Yogacara Buddhism Matters (Wisdom Publications, 2023) reveals the Yogacara sch…

Patrick Olivelle, "Ashoka: Portrait of a Philosopher King" (Yale UP, 2024)

April 4, 2024

Ashoka

Patrick Olivelle
Hosted by Raj Balkaran

Ashoka: Portrait of a Philosopher King (Yale UP, 2024) is the first biography of the great Emperor Ashoka relying solely on his own words. Ashoka soug…

Pravina Rodrigues, "A Sakta Method for Comparative Theology: Upside Down, Inside Out" (Lexington, 2023)

March 28, 2024

A Sakta Method for Comparative Theology

Pravina Rodrigues
Hosted by Raj Balkaran

Pravina Rodrigues' book A Sakta Method for Comparative Theology: Upside Down, Inside Out (Lexington, 2023) discusses the issue of the missing Hindu in…

Making Sense of Yogacara with William Waldron

March 23, 2024

Making Sense of Yogacara with William Waldron

William Waldron

Professor William Waldron teaches courses on the South Asian religious traditions of Hinduism and Buddhism, Tibetan religion and history, comparative …

Shakuntala Gawde, "Narrative Analysis of Bhagavata Purana: Selected Episodes from the Tenth Skandha" (Dev Publishers, 2023)

March 21, 2024

Narrative Analysis of Bhagavata Purana

Shakuntala Gawde
Hosted by Raj Balkaran

Shakuntala Gawde's book Narrative Analysis of Bhagavata Purana: Selected Episodes from the Tenth Skandha (Dev Publishers, 2023) presents an analytical…

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…

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…

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:…

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…