“Reciprocal Illumination” Of Hinduism, Human Rights, And The Comparative Study Of Religion: Arvind Sharma’S Contributions, 2024 Chapman University
“Reciprocal Illumination” Of Hinduism, Human Rights, And The Comparative Study Of Religion: Arvind Sharma’S Contributions, Nancy M. Martin
Religious Studies Faculty Articles and Research
Arvind Sharma has made immensely significant contributions in the fields of both comparative religion and the study of Hinduism through his methodology of “reciprocal illumination” and his prominent role in international conversations on women and religion, religion and human rights, freedom of religion, and religious tolerance and conflict. Aware of the power of religion and its negative valuation, especially post-September 11, he displays a deep commitment to fostering interreligious understanding, arguing for religion as an essential and positive partner in envisioning and actualizing human flourishing, upholding human dignity, and engaging in global ethical cooperation, and equally he demonstrates Hinduism’s potential …
Editor's Introduction, 2023 College of the Holy Cross
Editor's Introduction, Mathew Schmalz
Journal of Global Catholicism
Introduction by Founding Editor, Mathew N. Schmalz to Graduate Symposium II.
Tracking The Harmonium From Christian Missionary Hymns To Sikh Kirtan, 2023 Wellesley College
Tracking The Harmonium From Christian Missionary Hymns To Sikh Kirtan, Gurminder Kaur Bhogal
Yale Journal of Music & Religion
The harmonium is prominent in Sikh practices of devotional music known as kirtan and yet its significance has barely been addressed in Euro-American scholarship. Following on the heels of a recent ban against using the instrument at the holiest temple of the Sikhs, Harmandir Sahib (popularly known as the Golden Temple), this article explores how the ban seeks to discard this colonial instrument and return to playing traditional string instruments (tanti saz) associated with the courts (darbar) of the Sikh Gurus. This study is the first to examine primary missionary sources from the nineteenth and early …
Theological Implications Of The Symbols And Signs In The Sacrament Of Matrimony Of The Syro-Malabar Church, 2023 Dharmaram Vidya Kshetram
Theological Implications Of The Symbols And Signs In The Sacrament Of Matrimony Of The Syro-Malabar Church, Nelson Mathew O. Carm.
Journal of Global Catholicism
This article discusses the significance of the signs and symbols used in the sacrament of the marriage of the Syro-Malabar Church and the adaptations from different cultures, particularly the Hindu culture of India. It concentrates on the specific elements found in the marriage celebration of the St. Thomas Christians. The rituals that are unique to the Sacrament of Matrimony of the Syro-Malabar Church, mainly expressed through symbols and signs, remain a significant contribution to the liturgy, spirituality, and theology of the Sacrament of Matrimony, and to the theology of inculturation. In the Syro-Malabar liturgy, marriage rituals, and signs and symbols …
Editor’S Note, 2023 Loyola Marymount University and Loyola Law School
Editor’S Note, Deepak Shimkhada
Monsoon: South Asian Studies Association Journal
This special issue of Monsoon is dedicated to the studies honoring the goddess traditions in South Asia. The onset of the Monsoon Season in South Asia typically commences in June and continues until late August and early September. The publication of this issue, therefore, has been strategically timed to coincide with that season, which is a vital source of sustenance for millions of individuals in this part of the world. This anthology consisting of five papers—written by scholars with expertise in the field of goddess and women studies—speak unequivocally about the goddesses or women for their strength, beauty, wisdom, and …
Mai Bhago And Amrita Devi Bishnoi: Women Of Strength, 2023 Malaviya Center for Peace Research, Banaras Hindu University
Mai Bhago And Amrita Devi Bishnoi: Women Of Strength, Sowmya Ayyar
Monsoon: South Asian Studies Association Journal
Mai Bhago (1670-1720), also known as Bhag Kaur, distinguished herself on the battlefield to defend the Sikh faith. Amrita Devi Bishnoi (d. 1730) is said to have sacrificed her life with 362 others to protect the Khejari trees in the Rajasthan desert. Both women continue to inspire social justice and ecological activism.
Indigenous Stitch-Arts Of India: Tradition And Revival In A Global Age, 2023 East Carolina University
Indigenous Stitch-Arts Of India: Tradition And Revival In A Global Age, Punam Madhok
Monsoon: South Asian Studies Association Journal
Stitch art allows for the creative expression and economic support of countless women throughout India. This article examines four notable styles: chikankari, flora and fauna stitched in white thread on fine white cotton, rabari, the stitching of mirrors into colorful cloth, phulkari, resplendent flowery motifs sewn into shawls in Punjab, and kantha, Bengali patch work yielding quilts and seating mats. In addition to describing each technique, this article discusses how women have been economically empowered through this art by such organizations as Self-Help Enterprise (SHE) in Kolkata and Adithi, a women’s cooperative, in Bihar.
Women’S Voices From History: Gond Rani Durgawati And Rani Lakshmibhai, 2023 Loyola Marymount University and Loyola Law School
Women’S Voices From History: Gond Rani Durgawati And Rani Lakshmibhai, Nandini Sengupta, Moupia Basu
Monsoon: South Asian Studies Association Journal
Two strong women are compared and contrasted in this article. Gond Rani Durgawati (1524-1564) led a resistance movement in Jabalpur against the Mughal rule of Akbar. Rani Lakshmibai (1828-1858) organized the people of Jhansi against Sir Hugh Rose, an officer defending the interests of the British East India Company. Both women continue to be remembered for their bravery and their loyalty to the people they ruled.
An Examination Of Gandhian Economic And Political Thought And Its Relevance To The Empowerment Of Women, 2023 Hood College
An Examination Of Gandhian Economic And Political Thought And Its Relevance To The Empowerment Of Women, Purnima Mehta Bhatt
Monsoon: South Asian Studies Association Journal
Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948) sought to alleviate poverty and empower women. His commitment to nonviolence and the economic ideal of “small is beautiful” continue to inspire grassroots movements around the globe. This article discusses the Chipko movement of northern India, the protection of rain forests in Kerala’s Silent Valley, the Self Employed Women’s Association (SEWA), and Medha Patkar’s valiant though ultimately futile attempt to save the Narmada River from a massive government damming project. The ongoing legacy of these movements can be found in AWAG, the Ahmedabad Women’s Action Group and Women’s Shanti Sena (Peace Force).
Identites Of Women In Indian Art And History, 2023 Soka University
Identites Of Women In Indian Art And History, Nalini Rao
Monsoon: South Asian Studies Association Journal
The stereotypical image of Indian women portrayed in the art of stone sculpture is often interpreted as images of beauty that are sensuous, religious as well depict social life. There are historical reasons for depicting her as such. This paper inquires into the changing depiction and social forces that influenced feminine imagery. This paper examines the portrayal of beauty through idealization of female body which has evolved over the centuries in India. It also aims to understand their changing status and explores issues of feminine identity, status, and empowerment largely in ancient and medieval India. It also provides a brief …
Constructing Jain Goddess Padmavātī In Gujarati Literature, 2023 Loyola Marymount University and Loyola Law School
Constructing Jain Goddess Padmavātī In Gujarati Literature, Venu Mehta
Monsoon: South Asian Studies Association Journal
Worship of the goddess Padmāvatī emerged more than a thousand years ago. This article explores three songs about her in Gujarati by Paṇḍit Vīrvijayajī (1773-1852). By analyzing the style and form of his work, one learns a great deal about devotional liturgies that commemorate goddess Padmāvatī’s protection of the Jina Pārśvanātha and, in turn, his protection of her.
Textures Of Purāṇic Transmission: A Contemporary Vernacular Exposition Of A Sanskrit Purāṇa, 2023 Cleveland State University
Textures Of Purāṇic Transmission: A Contemporary Vernacular Exposition Of A Sanskrit Purāṇa, Sucharita Adluri Ms.
Philosophy and Religious Studies Department Faculty Publications
It is well known that, contrary to the transmission of the Vedas, the purāṇas continually incorporated ever more information as they circulated as oral texts for centuries. This flexible nature has led to their denotation along with epics as ‘fluid texts’ or textual and/or cultural ‘process[es]’. Integral to popular consumption of purāṇic lore were the exegetes—expounders who were trained in reciting and interpreting the purāṇas and who incorporated material both oral and written in their delivery in temples or other performance spaces. Bailey notes that ‘fully understanding the purāṇa as a cultural phenomenon in the development and transmission of Hindu …
Deities’ Rights?, 2023 Emory University School of Law
Deities’ Rights?, Deepa Das Acevedo
Faculty Articles
A brief commotion arose during the hearings for one of twenty-first-century India’s most widely discussed legal disputes, when a dynamic young attorney suggested that deities, too, had constitutional rights. The suggestion was not absurd. Like a human being or a corporation, Hindu temple deities can participate in litigation, incur financial obligations, and own property. There was nothing to suggest, said the attorney, that the same deity who enjoyed many of the rights and obligations accorded to human persons could not also lay claim to some of their constitutional freedoms. The lone justice to consider this claim blandly and briefly observed …
Kirtan In The Americas: Music And Spirituality In A Transcultural Whirlpool, 2023 Wilfrid Laurier University
Kirtan In The Americas: Music And Spirituality In A Transcultural Whirlpool, Gustavo Moura
Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)
Kirtan (Sanskrit: कीर्तन; IAST: Kīrtana) is a broad term referring to various forms of devotional singing commonly done in South Asian traditions. It is a core practice in the Hindu and Sikh faiths that is becoming increasingly popular around the world among people of all ethnicities. Beyond its expected propagation within Hindu and Sikh diasporas, kirtan is also spreading among members of new religious movements such as ISKCON and the 3HO/Sikh Dharma, who may engage in this practice as part of their daily cultivation. Even more broadly, a form of what has been called “neokirtan” has been gaining popularity in …
Jesus And Spirituality In Interreligious Perspectives, 2022 Chapman University
Jesus And Spirituality In Interreligious Perspectives, Nancy M. Martin
Religious Studies Faculty Articles and Research
Rarely do members of diverse religions engaged in interreligious dialogue find agreement on metaphysics and doctrine, though such conversations may be very fruitful and lead to greater understanding and mutual illumination. In the area of religious experience, however, recognition of commonality may be much more readily apparent, and in such encounters, the life and spirituality of Jesus provide a meeting ground. This essay examines Jesus as a catalyst for spiritual inspiration and transformation from Islamic, Hindu, Buddhist and nontraditional perspectives. As an integral figure in Islam, Jesus appears in the writings of the likes of Ibn Arabi, Rumi and more …
Christian Mass Movements In South India And Some Of The Critical Factors That Changed The Face Of Christianity In India, 2022 The University of Western Ontario
Christian Mass Movements In South India And Some Of The Critical Factors That Changed The Face Of Christianity In India, Philip Joseph Mathew
Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository
The main reason for Christian growth in India was not individual conversions but rather Christian mass movements (CMMs). Since the late 1700s, a series of independent CMMs among non-Christians and a mass reformation movement within the Suriani community have occurred in the southern end of India. These MMs culminated in a mass emancipation movement against caste-imposed segregation of Dalits in the late 1800s, an event of national significance. In the early 1900s, Pentecostalism evolved from these CMMs and transformed the religious landscape of Christianity in South India and later in India as a whole. The Thoma Christians were the early …
Madhuri Dixit, 2022 Ashoka University
Madhuri Dixit, Abir Bazaz
Journal of Religion & Film
This is a book review of Nandana Bose, Madhuri Dixit (Bloomsbury, 2019).
“It's So Normal, And … Meaningful.” Playing With Narrative, Artifacts, And Cultural Difference In Florence, 2022 University of Denver
“It's So Normal, And … Meaningful.” Playing With Narrative, Artifacts, And Cultural Difference In Florence, Dheepa Sundaram, Owen Gottlieb
Articles
This article considers how player interactions with religious and ethnic markers, create
a globalized game space in the mobile game Florence (2018). Florence is a multiaward-
winning interactive novella game with story-integrated minigames that weave
play experiences into the narrative. The game, in part, explores love, loss, and
rejuvenation as relatable experiences. Simultaneously, the game produces a unique
experience for each player, as they can refract the game narrative through their own
cultural, identitarian lens. The game assumes the shared cultural space of the player,
the player-character (PC), and the non-player-character (NPC) while blurring the
boundaries between each of these …
Doing Philosophy Comparatively In India: Classical Indian And Western Philosophical Traditions In Engagement, 2022 San Jose State University
Doing Philosophy Comparatively In India: Classical Indian And Western Philosophical Traditions In Engagement, Joseph Kaipayil
Comparative Philosophy
When Western philosophy was introduced to Indian academia in the late nineteenth century, there arose for Indian philosophers a two-fold need: the need to preserve the self-identity of Indian philosophy and the need to dialogue with Western philosophy. In their attempt to defend the distinctiveness of Indian philosophy, the philosophers of the first half of the twentieth century affirmed that classical Indian philosophy was essentially spiritual. The philosophers of the second half of the twentieth century, however, did not have a compulsion to defend Indian philosophy in the face of Western philosophy. Many of them critiqued the traditional view about …
Deities & Devotees: Cinema, Religion, And Politics In South India, 2022 Florida State University
Deities & Devotees: Cinema, Religion, And Politics In South India, Rebecca Peters
Journal of Religion & Film
This is a book review of Uma Maheswari Bhrugubanda, Deities & Devotees: Cinema, Religion, and Politics in South India (Oxford University Press, 2019).