Bollywood Horrors: Religion, Violence And Cinematic Fears In India, 2022 Rutgers University
Bollywood Horrors: Religion, Violence And Cinematic Fears In India, Sen Meheli
Journal of Religion & Film
This is a book review of Ellen Goldberg, Aditi Sen, and Brian Collins, eds., Bollywood Horrors: Religion, Violence and Cinematic Fears in India (Bloomsbury Academic, 2021).
Child Of Empire, 2022 University of Utah
Child Of Empire, Sheila J. Nayar
Journal of Religion & Film
This is a review of the VR short film, Child of Empire (2022), created by Project Dastaan, which includes the artists Sparsh Ahuja, Erfan Saadati, Stephen Stephenson, and Omi Zola Gupta.
Maharaja's Children, 2022 University of Nebraska at Omaha
Maharaja's Children, William L. Blizek
Journal of Religion & Film
This is a film review of Maharaja's Children (2022), directed by Tomasz Stankiewiez.
Vedantic Basis And Praxis Of The Integral Advaita Of Sri Aurobindo, 2022 California Institute for Integral Studies
Vedantic Basis And Praxis Of The Integral Advaita Of Sri Aurobindo, Debashish Banerji
Monsoon: South Asian Studies Association Journal
The integral nondualism of Sri Aurobindo can be traced to the great pronouncements (mahāvākya) of the Upanishads and later commentaries. This study examines teachings on the Supermind (vijñāna) and the other four kinds of consciousness that define human reality: Matter (annaṃ), Life (prāṇaḥ), Mind (manaḥ), and Bliss (ānanda). Through Yoga and Tantra, one learns and embodies the pathway to the divine.
Digital And Spatial Humanities Mapping: Eurasia-Pacific Early Trade And Belief Linkages, 2022 Ryazan College of Fine Arts, Russian Federation
Digital And Spatial Humanities Mapping: Eurasia-Pacific Early Trade And Belief Linkages, Igor Sitnikov, David Blundell
Monsoon: South Asian Studies Association Journal
The Eurasia-Pacific is a dynamic region of rapid economic growth, cultural awareness, natural resource exploration, and military buildup. The concept of the region is relatively new, featuring contested vast areas of geo-resource space of numerous cultures and languages. The current findings in anthropology and archaeology and even its more specific subfields such as folklore are important contribution to the understanding of periodic environmental changes and technical innovations were the main forces of transformations in social structures that have determined the mechanisms and levels of cross-cultural trade activity across the region. We have traced early trade and belief linkages across Eurasia-Pacific …
Tusha Hiti: The Origin And Significance Of The Name, 2022 Chaffey College
Tusha Hiti: The Origin And Significance Of The Name, Deepak Shimkhada
Monsoon: South Asian Studies Association Journal
In this article, the author examines the royal bath called Tushā Hiti located in Sūndari Chowk (Beautiful Courtyard) of Pātan Durbar Square, using six different methods of investigation. The question: What is in a name? started the ball of investigation rolling and along the way were added more supporting blocks such as history, iconography, function and purpose, notion of purity and impurity, and finally the hiti in popular culture to get a complete picture of the subject in question.
Ganges In Indian Sculpture And Literature: Mythology And Personification, 2022 Soka University
Ganges In Indian Sculpture And Literature: Mythology And Personification, Nalini Rao
Monsoon: South Asian Studies Association Journal
The river Ganges is a symbol of wealth, purity and eternity, and its sacred waters have inspired sages, philosophers, and artists in India who have immortalized its divine imagery. However, it has rarely been understood from a historical point of view, as to how it became so sacred and to view it from a multi-dimensional and interdisciplinary perspective with an accumulation of layers of historical thought and practices, provides a rationale for the living practices around the river. The paper explores the evolution of the concept of sacredness and eternity of River Ganges through art- historical and archaeological evidence. It …
Diversity, Equity, And Inclusion: Perspectives From Contemporary India And 6th Century Jain Yoga, 2022 Loyola Marymount University
Diversity, Equity, And Inclusion: Perspectives From Contemporary India And 6th Century Jain Yoga, Christopher Key Chapple
Monsoon: South Asian Studies Association Journal
Times New Roman
Socio-Cultural And Economic Impacts Of Religious Festivals On Sustainable Local Community Livelihoods In Kerala: The Case Of Palakkad, 2022 Avinashilingam Institute for Home Science and Higher Education for Women, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India
Socio-Cultural And Economic Impacts Of Religious Festivals On Sustainable Local Community Livelihoods In Kerala: The Case Of Palakkad, Dr. Bindu V T Nair, Aiswarya Babu N
International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage
Festivals depict the heritage, culture, and traditions of a particular region. They create a state of exhilaration and enthusiasm. Kerala is a state in southwest India with its own distinct culture and traditions. The state is also known for its religious pluralism. This study attempts to understand the perceived impact of religious festivals on the local community livelihoods in Palakkad, a district in central Kerala. Twelve temples in which religious festivals are held annually, with attendance in the range of thousands, were selected. The selected temples are famous for hosting specific religious festivals which attract a large number of visitors, …
Hindu Nationalism And Indian Christian Response!, 2022 Boston College
Hindu Nationalism And Indian Christian Response!, Dhinakaran Savariyar
The Journal of Social Encounters
Indian democracy is fast recast as Hindu nationalism which neither honors the country’s constitutional secularity nor upholds its tradition of diversity (religious, cultural, and linguistic), inclusivity, and pluralism. The forged uniformity avowedly seeks to construct the “one” India - one religion (Hindu), one culture (Hindu), and one language (Hindi). Falsely representing a Hinduism under attack from ‘invader’ religions, nationalist ideologues arouse the base emotions of the unsuspecting majoritarian community and stoke their fears against the minorities, particularly Christians. Conscientious challenging of such imposed homogeneity is met with charges of sedition and profiling as anti-national foreign stooge. At this critical juncture, …
Everyday Creativity: Singing Goddesses In The Himalayan Foothills, 2022 University of Wisconsin–Madison
Everyday Creativity: Singing Goddesses In The Himalayan Foothills, Nadia Chana
Yale Journal of Music & Religion
A book review is presented for Kirin Narayan, Everyday Creativity: Singing Goddesses in the Himalayan Foothills (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2016).
The Dance Of Ādi Śakti: The Goddess In The Songs Of Bharati And Nazrul, 2022 Ashoka University, Sonipat, India
The Dance Of Ādi Śakti: The Goddess In The Songs Of Bharati And Nazrul, Achintya Prahlad
Yale Journal of Music & Religion
C Subramania Bharati (1882-1921) and Kazi Nazrul Islam (1899-1976) were significant poet-songwriters of the Indian freedom struggle. Their works explore a wide range of themes – political, philosophical, romantic and devotional. Both poets were educated in rāga music, which is prominent in many of their songs. Bharati wrote in Tamil, while Nazrul wrote in Bangla. It is highly unlikely that they read or were influenced by each other’s works. However, one finds several similarities in their poetry, especially the importance given to the goddess Ādi Śakti in her various forms, Kālī in particular. The goddess plays a major role in …
Bodies Of Silence, Floods Of Nectar: Ritual Music In Contemporary Brahmanical Tantric Temples Of Kerala, 2022 Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts
Bodies Of Silence, Floods Of Nectar: Ritual Music In Contemporary Brahmanical Tantric Temples Of Kerala, Paolo Pacciolla
Yale Journal of Music & Religion
The Tantric concept of sound (nāda) as universal life-force has seen worldwide diffusion over the last few decades but such a fame does not reflect academic interest in the impact of Tantra on music. Indeed, while a number of essays have been written to demonstrate the contribution of Tantrism to the evolution of Indian religions and culture, its contribution to music has been left largely unexplored.
The word Tantra refers to a pan-Asian religious phenomenon spread over numerous centuries and including a wide number of sects having different and even opposite philosophical and theological approaches which may be …
Fidelity Afire: British Observations & Theatrical Interpretations Of Sati, 1650-1830, 2022 Minnesota State University, Mankato
Fidelity Afire: British Observations & Theatrical Interpretations Of Sati, 1650-1830, Abigail Fer
All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects
What can the shifting British interpretations of sati in the period between 1650 and 1830 tell us about the changes in how the British saw themselves as colonizers? This is the central question that this thesis seeks to resolve. From 1650 to about 1750, British interests in the Indian subcontinent were similar to other Europeans traveling in the area, characterized by the establishment of trading posts and dependence on the governing Mughals. From the beginning of this time period, European travelers were grappling with making sense of the Hindu practice of widow immolation, or sati. Early accounts by French and …
Unexpected Side Effects: A Cautionary Note On Challenges Of Persistent Self-Transcendence, 2022 University of Florida and National University
Unexpected Side Effects: A Cautionary Note On Challenges Of Persistent Self-Transcendence, Elizabeth D. Stephens, Harris L. Friedman
International Journal of Transpersonal Studies Advance Publication Archive
Self-transcendence is an ambiguous construct without consensual meaning, yet many claim that it relates to, or even causes, beneficial outcomes. Few discuss its potential deleterious side effects, choosing to focus primarily on positive effects. However, anything with sufficient potency to heal may have unintended side effects, especially when it leads beyond a transitory state to becoming an enduring trait, such as when self-transcendence (ST) becomes persistent self-transcendence (PST). With PST, evidence is overviewed here, along with two illustrative case reports, that people can suffer emotional difficulties, motivation changes, loss of self-reflexivity, anhedonia, dissociation, depersonalization, memory problems, and other psychological concerns. …
Rice, Reciprocity, And Generosity: Embedded Ecologies In Hindu Women’S Rituals, 2022 Claremont Colleges
Rice, Reciprocity, And Generosity: Embedded Ecologies In Hindu Women’S Rituals, Zoe Carlson
CMC Senior Theses
Hindu women’s perspectives of the more-than-human world are illuminated through ritual. Researching ecological actions millions of people of different faiths across the world partake in every day, in the context of the climate crisis of our present time, is a vital project I undertake in this thesis. I look to Hinduism, which has traditionally been called an “ecological” religion, but without a clear definition of what “ecological” means. I use Vijaya Nagarajan’s theories about Hinduism, women, and ecology as a theoretical guide. I apply her theory of “embedded ecologies” to analyze how knowledge about the environment is layered in cultural, …
Fast Fashion From A Buddhist Perspective, 2021 La Salle University
Fast Fashion From A Buddhist Perspective, Elizabeth Mclaughlin
HON499 projects
The connection between Buddhism and fast fashion is not immediately apparent, nor is it a particularly well-researched area. However, the topic of consumption underlies both topics, relating to each in markedly different ways. Buddhist precepts outline practices of mindful and sustainable consumption within limited means; fast fashion fosters consumption on a massive, global scale. The work of Ernst Friedrich Schumacher, a man with a career in economics that was aided by great concern for the survival and success of humankind, offers clarity to the conversation about Buddhism and fast fashion. He pioneered the field of Buddhist economics, which seeks to …
The King With The Vīṇā Flag – Perspectives Of Rāvaṇa In Film, 2021 Ashoka University
The King With The Vīṇā Flag – Perspectives Of Rāvaṇa In Film, Achintya Prahlad
Journal of Religion & Film
Rāvaṇa, the ten-headed Rākṣasa (‘demon’) king of the epic the Rāmāyaṇa, is the most fascinating of all the antagonists in films based on Hindu mythology, so powerful that even the Sun cannot rise without his orders, and celebrated as an unparalleled musician-scholar and great devotee of the god Śiva. His passion for the vīṇā, a string instrument with divine associations, is so great that this instrument adorns his royal flag as its emblem. His consciousness of his supreme powers and great knowledge soon gives way to ahaṅkāra (hubris) and lust, which leads to his eventual downfall and death at the …
Singing And Sensing The Unknown: An Embodied History Of Hindu Practice In Ghana, 2021 Stony Brook University (SUNY)
Singing And Sensing The Unknown: An Embodied History Of Hindu Practice In Ghana, Shobana Shankar
Yale Journal of Music & Religion
Hinduism fits well into the “sound-filled” West African religious soundscape, which is a scene of competition and conflict. This article explores the soundscape of devotional singing, mantras, and prayers as a central part of the embodiment and embedment of Hinduism among Africans in Ghana, where the Indian diaspora has been relatively small and the indigenous movement of Hinduism entirely through African initiative. Using ethnographic and written sources to examine the Hindu Monastery of Africa, founded by the Ghanaian monk Swami Ghanananda in 1975, I examine how the oral and aural popular devotions crafted by the swami have shifted attention away …
A Literary Analysis Of The Origin Of Human Embryonic Stem Cells, Its Advancements, Philosophical, Ethical, Sociocultural, And Political Aspects; An Investigation Of The Underlying Attributes That Affect One’S Views On Hesc Research To Resolve Turkey And Brazil’S Hesc Policy, Religious, And Cultural Conflicts, Haleema Shamsuddin
Honors Scholars Collaborative Projects
Human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) are cells derived from 5-day human embryos and are self-renewing cell lines that change into any type of cell in the body, a trait called pluripotency. hESCs have almost unlimited clinical and medical research potential. Despite the great therapeutic promise of hESC research, it comes with a controversial ethical debate due to its involvement with the destruction of the human embryo. The central argument revolves around the question of whether or not these human embryos should be ascribed equal moral status to fully developed humans. This thesis aims to analyze the origin and advancements of …