Due to the generous funding of The Spalding Trust, and with support from King’s College London, we are delighted to announce our speakers for 2023. Registration will be open in another day or two along with the daily schedule, but for now, do save the date!
The 48th Spalding Symposium on Indian Religions
April 21-23, 2023, at King’s College London
Department of Theology and Religious Studies
Theme: ‘Lineage, Authority, Schism’
Lecture Theatre 1, Bush House, King’s College London, 30 Aldwych, London WC2B 4BG
In-person.
Opening Keynote Address
Professor Tulasi Srinivas (Emerson College, USA)
The Lake of Fire: Water, Caste and Gender in India’s Climate Apocalypse
(This presentation only is online)
Closing Keynote Address
Professor Gwilym Beckerlegge (Open University, UK)
From Gurus and Svāmīs to Workers, Trusts and Managing Committees
Speakers
Panel: Sikh Traditions
Nirinjan Khalsa-Baker (Loyola Marymount, USA)
Subjectivity, Sovereignty, and Authority in the Sikh Kirtan Renaissance
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
Panel: Constructing Authority on Texts, and Writing texts on/for Authority
Avni Chag (SOAS, UK)
Sources of Schism Formations in the Svāminārāyaṇa Sampradāya
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
Panel: Gender and Leadership
Leah Comeau (Saint Joseph’s, USA)
Organic Leadership at the Sri Aurobindo Ashram: the Samadhi, the Mother, and her flowers
Waithanji Mutiti (Gretsa, Kenya)
Patriarchy, Women and Leadership Contestations in Hinduism in Kenya
Panel: Constructing Self-made Identity/Authority [1]
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
Panel: Constructing Self-made Identity/Authority [2]
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
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
Panel: Tradition, Lineage and Succession
Jonathan Edelman (Florida, USA)
Lineage and Ontology: The construction of tradition and conversion in Hindu and Christian Scholasticism
Mans Broo (Abo Akademi, Finland)
Rupture and Reform of Succession: The Case of the Gauḍīya Maṭha
Postgraduate papers
Tushar Shah (Cambridge, UK)
‘The Guru Never Leaves the Earth’: Death, Transition and Continuity
Arkamitra Ghatak (Heidelberg, Germany)
The Divine Mother as Vaishnava Guru: Female Leadership, Charismatic Authority and Succession Dispute in 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
Kirtan Patel (Texas at Austin, 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
Tillo Detige (Bochum, Germany)
Successions of Sovereignty: Digambara Jaina Ascetic Lineages of Early Modern Western India