Podcast Episodes
Back to SearchArsalan Khan, "The Promise of Piety: Islam and the Politics of Moral Order in Pakistan" (Cornell UP, 2024)
Episode 329
The Promise of Piety: Islam and the Politics of Moral Order in Pakistan (Cornell University Press, 2024) by Arsalan Khan is an incisive ethnographic …
2 years, 6 months ago
Robert P. Goldman and Sally J. Sutherland Goldman, "The Rāmāyaṇa of Vālmīki: The Complete English Translation" (Princeton UP, 2022)
Episode 325
The Rāmāyaṇa of Vālmīki, the monumental Sanskrit epic of the life of Rama, ideal man and incarnation of the great god Visnu, has profoundly affected …
2 years, 6 months ago
Miss Tibet: Representing Tibet through Beauty Pageants
Episode 217
What does the Miss Tibet beauty pageant tell us about what it means to be Tibetan in a globalized world? And what understandings of Tibetan culture d…
2 years, 6 months ago
Sanskrit Study: A Conversation with Antonia Ruppel
Episode 336
A candid conversation with renowned Sanskritist and online teacher Antonia Ruppel on her love of the language, teaching philosophy, views on academia…
2 years, 6 months ago
Peter Scharf, "Ramopakhyana - the Story of Rama in the Mahabharata" (Routledge, 2023)
Episode 327
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, whi…
2 years, 6 months ago
Tantra: A New Understanding
Episode 335
Professor Gavin Flood of Oxford University discusses new insights on tantra to be released in an upcoming publication stemming from his Continuing St…
2 years, 6 months ago
Matthew Robertson, "Puruṣa: Personhood in Ancient India" (Oxford UP, 2024)
Episode 224
The concept of the puruṣa, or person, is implicated in a wide range of ancient texts throughout the Indian subcontinent. In Puruṣa: Personhood in Anc…
2 years, 6 months ago
Translating a Śrī Vidyā Text: The Cidvilāsastava of Amṛtānanda
Episode 328
The Cidvilāsastava is one of the most comprehensive treatments of the esoteric contemplation of ritual found within the Śrīvidyā tradition and Śaiva …
2 years, 6 months ago
Patrick Olivelle, "Ashoka: Portrait of a Philosopher King" (Yale UP, 2024)
Episode 323
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 sou…
2 years, 6 months ago
William S. Waldron, "Making Sense of Mind Only: Why Yogacara Buddhism Matters" (Wisdom Publications, 2023)
Episode 125
Through engaging, contemporary examples, Making Sense of Mind Only: Why Yogacara Buddhism Matters (Wisdom Publications, 2023) reveals the Yogacara sc…
2 years, 6 months ago