All Episodes
Episodes
Uma Majmudar, “Gandhi and Rajchandra: The Making of the Mahatma” (Lexington Books, 2020)
This book traces the little-known yet unparalleled influence of Shrimad Rajchandra, Jain zaveri (jeweller)-cum-spiritual seeker, on Mahatma Gandhi. In examining original Gujarati writings of both Gandhi and...
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Annapurna Garimella, “The Contemporary Hindu Temple: Fragments for a History” (Marg Foundation, 2019)
Contemporary Hindu temples raise aesthetic, economic, political and philosophical questions about the role of architecture in making a place for the sacred in society. This book presents the Hindu temple from the...
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Anway Mukhopadhyay, “The Authority of Female Speech in Indian Goddess Traditions” (Palgrave, 2020)
Contemporary debates on “mansplaining” foreground the authority enjoyed by male speech, and highlight the way it projects listening as the responsibility of the dominated, and speech as the privilege of the dominant....
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Bihani Sarkar, "Heroic Shāktism: The Cult of Durgā in Ancient Indian Kingship" (Oxford UP, 2017)
Heroic Saktism is the belief that a good king and a true warrior must worship the goddess Durga, the form and substance of kingship. This belief formed the bedrock of ancient Indian practices of cultivating political...
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Sree Padma, "Vicissitudes of the Goddess: Reconstructions of the Gramadevata in India's Religious Traditions" (Oxford UP, 2013)
In Vicissitudes of the Goddess: Reconstructions of the Gramadevata in India's Religious Traditions (Oxford UP, 2013), Padma (Bowdoin College) focuses on two types of Gramadevatas or goddesses: deified women and those...
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Michael Slouber, "A Garland of Forgotten Goddesses: Tales of the Feminine Divine from India and Beyond" (U California Press, 2020)
Michael Slouber's new book A Garland of Forgotten Goddesses: Tales of the Feminine Divine from India and Beyond (University of California Press, 2020) surveys the diversity of India's feminine divine tradition by...
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Tim Bruce, "Devi Mahatmyam: The Glory of the Goddess" (Raconteurs Audio LLP, 2020)
Today I talked to Tim Bruce, narrator of Devi Mahatmyam: The Glory of the Goddess (Raconteurs Audio LLP, 2020).
For millions worldwide, the Devi Mahatmyam is of central spiritual importance and of equal cultural...
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Rita D. Sherma, "Contemplative Studies in Hinduism: Meditation, Devotion, Prayer, and Worship" (Routledge, 2020)
What counts as contemplative practices in Hinduism? What can Hindu Studies offer Contemplative Studies as a discipline?
Contemplative Studies in Hinduism: Meditation, Devotion, Prayer, and Worship (Routledge, 2020),...
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Sanjay Lal, "Gandhi's Thought and Liberal Democracy" (Lexington Books, 2019)
Is religion indispensable to public life? What can Gandhi’s thought contribute to the modern state? With an intense focus on both the depth and practicality of Mahatma Gandhi's political and religious thought this...
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Alan Brill, " Rabbi on the Ganges: A Jewish-Hindu Encounter" (Lexington, 2019)
How do Judaism and Hinduism compare as religions? Beyond the academic merits of comparative religion, what can adherents to one of these faiths gain by learning about the other?
Alan Brill's new book Rabbi on the...
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Robert M. Geraci, "Temples of Modernity: Nationalism, Hinduism, and Transhumanism in South Indian Science" (Lexington, 2018)
What is the relationship between science, religion and technology in Hinduism? We speak with Robert M. Geraci about his research into religious ideas and practices in Indian science and engineering circles.
Temples of...
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Neela Bhattacharya Saxena, "Absent Mother God of the West: A Kali Lover's Journey into Christianity and Judaism" (Rowman, 2015)
In Absent Mother God of the West: A Kali Lover's Journey into Christianity and Judaism (Rowman, 2015) Neela Bhattacharya Saxena draws on her personal religious experiences and devotion to the Goddess Kali as a...
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