Podcast Episodes
Back to SearchVedic Texts, Indus Script, Aryan Migration
Episode 299
Seasoned scholar Asko Parpola discusses his Indological career, from how it began in the 1960s to what he’s working on now. Key themes include his lo…
2 years, 11 months ago
Sandra Destradi, "Reluctance in World Politics: Why States Fail to Act Decisively" (Bristol UP, 2023)
Episode 83
Why do international actors, including powerful states, often fail to develop clear foreign policies and instead adopt indecisive, ‘muddling-through’…
2 years, 11 months ago
John Zubrzycki, "Dethroned: The Downfall of India’s Princely States" (Hurst, 2024)
Episode 163
Post-independence India had a big problem–about 40% of its land wasn’t, well, India. Instead, this land was in the hands of the princely states: Rule…
2 years, 11 months ago
Sayan Dey, "Performing Memories and Weaving Archives: Creolized Cultures across the Indian Ocean" (Anthem Press, 2023)
Episode 327
Usually, discourses on the planetary evolution and the movements of slaves remain restricted within the narratives and scholarships of the Trans-Atla…
2 years, 11 months ago
Greg Bailey, "The Brahmavaivarta Purana (Ganesa Khanda): Ancient Indian Tradition and Mythology" (Motilal Banarsidass, 2022)
Episode 297
Greg Bailey discusses his new translation of the Gaṇeśa Khaṇḍa of the Brahmavaivarta Purāṇa, one of the few texts dedicated solely to the popular ele…
2 years, 11 months ago
Dominik A. Haas, "Gāyatrī: Mantra and Mother of the Vedas" (Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 2023)
Episode 307
The mantra known as Gāyatrī or Sāvitrī (Ṛgveda III 62.10) is one of the most frequently recited texts of mankind. Over the course of time it has not …
2 years, 11 months ago
Raj Balkaran and McComas Taylor, "Visions and Revisions in Sanskrit Narrative: Studies in the Sanskrit Epics and Purāṇas" (ANU Press, 2023)
Episode 312
Sanskrit narrative is the lifeblood of Indian culture, encapsulating and perpetuating insights and values central to Indian thought and practice. Raj…
2 years, 11 months ago
Arupjyoti Saikia, "The Quest for Modern Assam: A History, 1942-2000" (India Allen Lane, 2023)
Episode 161
The northeast Indian state of Assam has had a complex history. As independence loomed, Assam was a large British province, bordering the fellow Briti…
2 years, 11 months ago
Keith Cantú, "Like a Tree Universally Spread: Sri Sabhapati Swami And Śivarājayoga" (Oxford UP, 2023)
Episode 298
Keith Cantú's Like a Tree Universally Spread: Sri Sabhapati Swami And Śivarājayoga (Oxford UP, 2023) examines the life of a nineteenth- to early twen…
2 years, 11 months ago
Pavitra Sundar, "Listening with a Feminist Ear: Soundwork in Bombay Cinema" (U Michigan Press, 2023)
Episode 5
Pavitra Sundar's book Listening with a Feminist Ear: Soundwork in Bombay Cinema (U Michigan Press, 2023) is a study of the cultural politics and poss…
2 years, 11 months ago