Podcast Episodes

Jan E. M. Houben and Julieta Rotaru, "Vedic Myths and Rituals" (Dev Publishers, 2025)

Episode 608

Vedic Myths and Rituals, edited by Jan E.M. Houben and Julieta Rotaru, is a scholarly volume exploring the deep interplay between mythic narrative and ritual practice in the Vedic tradition. Drawing …

Published on 7 hours ago

Ruth Perini, "Varaha Upanishad: The Path to Supreme Knowledge" (2025)

Episode 602

This conversation examines the newly published translation of the Varāha Upaniṣad, a lesser-known but deeply transformative scripture from the Kṛṣṇa‑Yajurveda, composed between the 13th and 16th cent…

Published on 1 week ago

A Ukrainian Translation of the Devi Mahatmya

Episode 605

In this episode, Dr. Raj Balkaran speaks with art historian and curator Alisa Lozhkina about her groundbreaking Ukrainian translation of the Devī Māhātmya—the first ever in the language. They explore…

Published on 2 weeks ago

Vinay Lal, "Gandhi, Truth, and Nonviolence: The Politics of Engagement in Post-Truth Times" (Oxford UP, 2025)

Episode 601

The anthology presents a diverse array of essays delving into Gandhi's political activities, ethical beliefs, and philosophical stance. Distinguished Gandhian scholars contribute to this collection, …

Published on 3 weeks ago

Learning Ancient Languages: A Conversation with Antonia Ruppel

Episode 609

Sanskritist and seasoned teacher Dr. Antonia Ruppel shares her views on the merits and pitfalls of academic enterprise, the brave new world of self-employed scholarship and the teaching of ancient la…

Published on 3 weeks, 3 days ago

Vinay Lal, "India and Its Intellectual Traditions: of Love, Advaita, Power, and Other Things" (Oxford UP, 2024)

Episode 604

The book, the third volume to emerge from the enterprise known as 'The Backwaters Collective on Metaphysics and Politics', attempts to further the collective's ambition to put into question the certi…

Published on 4 weeks ago

Kirin Narayan, "Cave of My Ancestors: Vishwakarma and the Artisans of Ellora" (U Chicago Press, 2024)

Episode 575

On the podcast today I am joined by Kirin Narayan, emerita professor at the College of Asia and the Pacific at the Australian National University. Kirin is joining me to talk about her new book, Cave…

Published on 1 month ago

Navijivan Rastogi, "Kalikrama and Abhinavagupta: The Epistemological Ethics of a Tantric Tradition" (Nalanda, 2022)

Episode 602

The Krama School of the Trika Saivism of Kashmir, more familiar as Kalikrama in the contemporary parlance, has turned out to be the most crucial among the monistic Saiva traditions of medieval Kashmi…

Published on 1 month ago

Joanna Jurewicz, "Invisible Fire: Memory, Tradition and the Self in Early Hindu Philosophy" (2021)

Episode 600

Invisible Fire by Joanna Jurewicz explores early Hindu philosophy through the Manusmṛti, Bhagavadgītā, and Mokṣadharma, showing that reality is a single cognitive field manifesting through subject-ob…

Published on 1 month, 1 week ago

Ankur Barua, "The Hindu Self and Its Muslim Neighbors: Contested Borderlines on Bengali Landscapes" (Lexington, 2022)

Episode 286

In The Hindu Self and its Muslim Neighbors, the author sketches the contours of relations between Hindus and Muslims in Bengal.

The central argument is that various patterns of amicability and antipa…

Published on 1 month, 1 week ago