Current Events
This year’s symposium is held April 21-23 2022 at King's College London
48th Spalding Symposium on Indian Religions Schedule
Register NowDay 1: Friday 21st April 2023
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12:30-13.00: Registration
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13.00-14.30: PANEL: Narrative Lineage Constructions in Early Hindu Literature
- Sanne Dokter-Mersh (Leiden, Netherlands)
Purāṇic Influencers: Authoritative Lineages in the Bhaviṣyapurāṇa - Simon Brodbeck (Cardiff, UK)
‘Taking Back the Disgraced Wife in the Rāmāyaṇa and Mahābhārata’ -
14.30-14.45: Coffee Break
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14.45-17:00: PANEL: Sikh Traditions of Authority
- Satnam Singh (Independent Scholar, Denmark)
Intellectual Authority in the Early Modern Sikh Tradition: A case study of Bhai Mani Singh - Julie Vig (York, Canada)
Imagining Early Modern Punjab in Gurbilās literature: Tensions, Affinities, and Conflicts - Nirinjan Khalsa-Baker (Loyola Marymount, USA)
Subjectivity, Sovereignty, and Authority in the Sikh Kirtan Renaissance -
17.00-17.30: Coffee Break
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17.35-18:30: Opening Keynote Address
- Professor Tulasi Srinivas (Emerson College, USA)
The Lake of Fire: Water, Caste and Gender in India’s Climate Apocalypse
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Day 2: Saturday 22nd April
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Postgraduate Panel: 9.00-10.30
- Arkamitra Ghatak (Heidelberg, Germany)
The Divine Mother as Vaishnava Guru: Female Leadership, Charismatic Authority and Succession Dispute in the Nimbārka Sect in the early Twentieth Century - Imran Visram (Oxford, UK)
The Shi’a Imam as the Satgur: Religious Authority in the Satpanth Ismaili Muslim tradition - Tillo Detige (Bochum, Germany)
Successions of Sovereignty: Digambara Jaina Ascetic Lineages of Early Modern Western India -
10.30-10.45: Coffee Break
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PANEL: Constructing Authority on Texts, and Writing Texts on/for Authority, 10.45am-1.00pm
- Nabanjan Maitra (Bard, USA)
Provincializing the Digvijaya: Jain Antecedents to Śankara’s Rule at Śṛṅgeri - Rosina Pastore (Ghent, Belgium)
How does a King become a Philosopher? Jasvant Singh of Mārvāḍ (1626–1678) and his Vedāntic Writings - Avni Chag (SOAS, UK)
Sources of Schism Formations in the Svāminārāyaṇa Sampradāya -
Lunch one hour (1pm until 2pm)
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PANEL: Constructing Self-made Identity/Authority (1), 14.00-15.30
- Taushif Kara (King’s College London, UK)
The Imam between the Merchant and the King - Christine Marrewa-Karwoski (Columbia, USA)
The Political Dynasty of Gorakhpur’s Godmen: The Nath Mahants, the Ramjanmabhoomi Movement, and a New Era for India -
15:30-15:45 – Coffee break
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PANEL: Constructing Self-made Identity/Authority (2) 3.45pm-5.15pm
- Amanda Lucia (California-Riverside, USA)
‘Self-styled God man’: lineage versus criminality in media discourse - Jon Keune (Michigan State, USA)
Babasaheb’s Heavy Mantle: Buddhism and Community Leadership after Ambedkar -
17:15-17:30- Coffee break
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PANEL: Gender and Leadership, 5.30pm-7.00pm
- Leah Comeau (Saint Joseph’s, USA, and Hamburg, Germany)
Organic Leadership at the Sri Aurobindo Ashram: the Samadhi, the Mother, and her flowers - Dr Waithanji Mutiti (Gretsa, Kenya)
Patriarchy, Women and Leadership Contestations in Hinduism in Kenya - CONFERENCE DINNER (with ticket) – 19.30 onwards close by King’s College London
Day 3: Sunday 23rd April
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Postgraduate Panel 9.00-10.30
- Tushar Shah (Cambridge, UK)
‘The Guru Never Leaves the Earth’: Death, Transition and Continuity - Kirtan Patel (Texas, USA)
Politics of Piety: Schism, Sovereignty, and Obedience in Colonial Gujarat, 1870-1905 - Lucy May Constantini (Open University, UK)
Evolutions in the Transmission of Kaḷarippayaṟṟ˘, a South Indian Martial Art -
10:30-10:45-Coffee Break
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PANEL: Tradition, lineage and succession, 10.45-12.15
- Jonathan Edelman (Florida, USA)
Lineage and Ontology: The construction of tradition and conversion in Hindu and Christian Scholasticism - Måns Broo (Abo Akademi, Finland)
Rupture and Reform of Succession: The Case of the Gauḍīya Maṭha -
CLOSING KEYNOTE ADDRESS, 12.15-13.15
- Professor Gwilym Beckerlegge, Professor of Modern Religions (Open University, UK)
From Gurus and Svāmīs to Workers, Trusts and Managing Committees13.15-13.30 Closing discussion
13.30 Conference ends