We are pleased to announce this year’s online symposium to be held April 23-25 2021 (online) – all timings are BST (GMT+1).
Please register via this link: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/46th-spalding-symposium-onindian-religions-tickets-142207834461
Day 1: Friday 23rd April
11.55-12.00: Welcome
12.00-13.00: Keynote Address
Jacqueline Suthren Hirst (University of Manchester)
When is a Blue Lotus not a Blue Lotus? Categorisation, Learning and Epistemic Shifts
13.00-13.15: Coffee Break
13.15-14.15: Arun Brahmbhatt (St Lawrence University)
Debating the Scholastic ‘Other’ in Svaminarayan Literature
14.15-15.15: Heleen De Jonckheere (University of Chicago)
Vernacularising Jainism. The Dharmaparīkṣā by Manohardāss
15.15-15.30: Coffee Break
Postgraduate papers:
15.30-16.00: Szilvia Szanyi (University of Oxford)
The Changing Meanings of the Term Āśraya in Vasubandhu’s Abhidharmakośabhāṣya
16.00-16.30: Ranjamrittika Bhowmik (University of Oxford)
Mystical Utterances of Sahaja: The Soul-Body Amalgam in Caryāgīti, Tukkhā and Bāul-Fakir Songs of Bengal
16.30-17.00: Seema Chauhan (University of Chicago)
Parodying Mīmāṃsā Epistemology Through a Jaina Rāmāyaṇa
Day 2: Saturday 24th April
11.00-12.00: Ananya Vajpeyi (Centre for the Study of Developing Societies)
The Ethics of Poetry and the Poetry of Ethics: Bhartṛhari’s Three Hundred Reconsidered
12.00-13.00: Karl-Stéphan Bouthilette (University of Ghent)
Acknowledging the Philosophical and Spiritual Value of Doxography as a Literary Genre
13.00-13.15: Coffee Break
13.15-14.15: Christopher T. Fleming (University of Oxford)
Devasvatva: New Contributions to the Study of the Sanskrit Jurisprudence of Divine Ownership
14.15-15.15: Caley Smith (University of Washington)
What Kind of a Subject is the Vedic Śūdra?
15.15-15.30: Coffee Break
15.30-16.30: Stuart Ray Sarbacker (Oregon State University)
Pātañjala Yoga and Buddhist Abhidharma on Extraordinary Perfections and Accomplishments: A Comparison of Pātañjalayogaśāstra 4.1 and Abhidharmakośa 7.53 on the sources of Siddhi and Ṛddhi
16.30-17.15: Plenary (Topic TBC)
Day 3: Sunday 25th April
12.00-13.00: Charles DiSimone (University of Ghent)
Notes on Recent Buddhist Manuscript Discoveries from Mes Aynak and Greater Gandhāra
13.00-13.15: Coffee Break
13.15-14.15: Jonathan Duquette (University of Cambridge)
Power, Independence and Divinity: A Śaiva Response to Veṅkaṭanātha’s View of the Goddess
14.15-15.15: Deepak Sarma (Case Western Reserve University)
Comparison as Means of Colonization, Comparison as Strategy to Controvert: Madhva Vedanta and Christianity
15.15-15.30: Coffee Break
Postgraduate papers:
15.30-16.00: Radha Blinderman (Harvard University)
Why Kṛṣṇa and Śakti Have Their Own Grammars: Rivalry and Innovation in Sectarian Grammars of Sanskrit
16.00-16.30: Charlotte Gorant (Columbia University)
Nāgas in Early Buddhism: Fluidity and Framing Presence in Art
16.30-17.30: Keynote Address
Oliver Freiberger (University of Texas at Austin)
Comparing Religion Within and Beyond South Asia
17.30-17.35: Closing Remarks