Podcast Episodes

Hosted by Dr. Raj Balkaran, The New Books in Indian Religions podcast seeks to shed light on new publications within the field of Indian religions.

Michael Slouber on Early Tantric Medicine: Snakebite, Mantras, and Healing in the Garuda Tantras (Oxford University Press, 2016).

  • Podcast #219, published 2022-09-29.

Karen O’Brien-Kop on Phiroz Mehta: A Zoroastrian Teacher of Indian Philosophy of Religion in 1970s-80s Britain

  • Podcast #218, published 2022-09-22.

Michael S. Allen on The Ocean of Inquiry: Niscaldas and the Premodern Origins of Modern Hinduism (Oxford University Press, 2022).

  • Podcast #217, published 2022-09-15.

Silvia Schwarz Linder on Goddess Traditions in India: Theological Poems and Philosophical Tales in the Tripurarahasya (Routledge, 2022)

  • Podcast #216, published 2022-09-08.

Aniket De on The Boundary of Laughter: Popular Performances Across Borders in South Asia (Oxford University Press, 2022)

  • Podcast #215, published 2022-09-01.

Michael J. Altman on Hinduism in America: An Introduction (Routledge, 2022).

  • Podcast #214, published 2022-08-25.

Meenal Shrivastava on Amma’s Daughters: A Memoir (Athabasca University Press, 2018).

  • Podcast #212, published 2022-08-15.

Koushiki Dasgupta on Sadhus in Indian Politics: Dynamics of Hindutva (Sage, 2021).

  • Podcast #211, published 2022-08-11.

Marion “Mugs” McConnell on Letters from the Yoga Masters: Teachings Revealed through Correspondence from Paramhansa Yogananda, Ramana Maharshi, Swami Sivananda, and Others (North Atlantic Books, 2016).

  • Podcast #210, published 2022-08-11.

Kajri Jain on Gods in the Time of Democracy (Duke University Press, 2021).

  • Podcast #209, published 2022-08-04.

Naman P. Ahuja on MARG Magazine: Readings From the Temple (New Books Network, 2022).

  • Podcast #207, published 2022-07-21.

Simran Jeet Singh on The Light We Give: How Sikh Wisdom Can Transform Your Life (Riverhead, 2022).

  • Podcast #206, published 2022-07-19.

Antonio Rigopoulos on The Hagiographer and the Avatar: The Life and Works of Narayan Kasturi (SUNY Press, 2021).

  • Podcast #205, published 2022-07-14.

Matthew Clark on Botanical Ecstasies: Psychoactive Plant Formulas in India and Beyond (Psychedelic Press, 2021).

  • Podcast #204, published 2022-07-07.

A Conversation with Sravana Borkataky-Varma: Historian, Practitioner, Educator, and Social Entrepreneur (New Books Network, 2022).

  • Podcast #203, published 2022-07-05.

Radha Raghunathan on Soaring with Bharati in the Wisdom-Chariot (Ñānaratam) (Adyar Library, 2022).

  • Podcast #202, published 2022-06-30.

Simon Atkinson, Krishnamacharya on Kundalini: The Origins and Coherence of His Position (Equinox Publishing, 2022).

  • Podcast #201, published 2022-06-29.

Raj Balkaran Speaks with Christa Kuberry on The Stories Behind the Poses: The Indian Mythology That Inspired 50 Yoga Postures (Leaping Hare Press, 2022).

  • Podcast #200, published 2022-06-27.

Srilata Raman on The Transformation of Tamil Religion: Ramalinga Swamigal and Modern Dravidian Sainthood (Routledge, 2022).

  • Podcast #199, published 2022-06-23.

Karen O’Brien-Kop on Rethinking ‘Classical Yoga’ and Buddhism: Meditation, Metaphors and Materiality (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2021).

  • Podcast #198, published 2022-06-16.

Roger R. Jackson, "Rebirth: A Guide to Mind, Karma, and Cosmos in the Buddhist World" (Shambhala, 2022)

  • Podcast 198, published 2022-06-16.

Richard G. Marks, “Jewish Approaches to Hinduism: A History of Ideas from Judah Ha-Levi to Jacob Sapir” (Routledge, 2022)

  • Podcast #196, published 2022-06-02.

Peter Scharf, “Sabdanugamah: Indian Linguistic Studies in Honor of George Cardona” (The Sanskrit Library, 2021).

  • Podcast #195, published 2022-05-26.

Emma Natalya Stein on Constructing Kanchi: City of Infinite Temples (Amsterdam University Press, 2021).

  • Podcast #194, published 2022-05-19.

Banu Subramaniam on Holy Science: The Biopolitics of Hindu Nationalism (University of Washington Press, 2019).

  • Podcast #193, published 2022-05-12.

Julie Vig and Andrea Pinkney on South Asian Studies in Canada (New Books Network, 2022).

  • Podcast #192, published 2022-05-05.

Aleix Ruiz-Falqués on The Importance of Pail: The Language of Ancient Buddhism (New Books Network, 2022).

  • Podcast #191, published 2022-05-04.

Gregory M. Clines on Jain Rāmāyaṇa Narratives: Moral Vision and Literary Innovation (Routledge, 2022).

  • Podcast #190, published 2022-05-02.

Anthony Cerulli on The Practice of Texts: Education and Healing in South India (University of California Press, 2022).

  • Podcast #189, published 2022-04-28.

Perry Myers on Spiritual Empires in Europe and India: Cosmopolitan Religious Movements from 1875 to the Interwar Era (Palgrave MacMillan, 2021).

  • Podcast #188, published 2022-04-21.

Patrick Olivelle on Gṛhastha: The Householder in Ancient Indian Religious Culture (Oxford University Press, 2019).

  • Podcast #187, published 2022-04-14.

Karen O’Brien-Kop,  Brian Black, Avni Chag, and Kush Depala on The Spalding Symposium on Indian Religions (New Books Network, 2022).

  • Podcast #186, published 2022-04-11.

M. K. Raghvendra on The Hindu Nation: A Reconciliation with Modernity (Bloomsbury, 2021).

  • Podcast #185, published 2022-04-7.

Swami Medhananda on Swami Vivekananda's Vedantic Cosmopolitanism (Oxford University Press, 2022).

  • Podcast #184, published 2022-03-31.

Deepra Dandekar on Baba Padmanji: Vernacular Christianity in Colonial India (Routledge Chapman & Hall, 2020).

  • Podcast #183, published 2022-03-24.

Samuel Wright on A Time of Novelty: Logic, Emotion, and Intellectual Life in Early Modern India, 1500-1700 C.E (Oxford University Press, 2021).

  • Podcast #182, published 2022-03-17.

Jeffery D. Long and Michael G. Long on Nonviolence in the World's Religions: A Concise Introduction (Routledge, 2021).

  • Podcast #181, published 2022-03-10.

James McHugh on An Unholy Brew: Alcohol in Indian Religion and History (Oxford University Press, 2021).

  • Podcast #180, published 2022-03-03.

Diana Dimitrova on Rethinking the Body in South Asian Traditions (Routledge, 2020).

  • Podcast #179, published 2022-02-24.

Jarrod Whitaker on Strong Arms and Drinking Strength: Masculinity, Violence, and the Body in Ancient India (Oxford University Press, 2011).

  • Podcast #178, published 2022-02-17.

Walter Dorn and Andrew Bartles-Smith on Hinduism and International Humanitarian Law (New Books Network, 2022).

  • Podcast #177, published 2022-02-16.

Gitte Bechsgaard and Gillian McCann on Yoga and Alignment: From the Upanishads to B. K. S. Iyengar (Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2021).

  • Podcast #176, published 2022-02-10.

Julian Strube on Global Tantra: Religion, Science, and Nationalism in Colonial Modernity (Oxford University Press, 2022).

  • Podcast #175, published 2022-02-03.

A Conversation with Hanuman Dass, Founder and Chairman of Go Dharmic.

  • Podcast #174, published 2022-01-27.

Rita D. Sherma on Swami Vivekananda: His Life, Legacy, and Liberative Ethics (Lexington Books, 2021).

  • Podcast #173, published 2022-01-20.

A Conversation with Laurie Patton, Professor of Religions and President of Middlebury College.

  • Podcast #172, published 2022-01-13.

Neha Sahgal on Religion in India: Tolerance and Segregation (Pew Research Centre, 2021).

  • Podcast #171, published 2022-01-05.

Ionut Moise and Ganesh U. Thite on Vaiśeṣikasūtra: A New Translation (Oxford University Press, 2021).

  • Podcast #170, published 2021-12-30.

E. H. Rick Jarow on The Cloud of Longing: A New Translation and Eco-Aesthetic Study of Kalidasa's Meghaduta (Oxford University Press, 2021).

  • Podcast #169, published 2021-12-23.

A Conversation with Vasudha Narayanan about Hindu Studies.

  • Podcast #168, published 2021-12-21.

Gloria Maité Hernández on Savoring God: Comparative Theopoetics (Oxford University Press 2021)

  • Podcast #167, published 2021-12-16.

Ute Hüsken, Vasudha Narayanan, and Astrid Zotter on Nine Nights of Power: Durgā, Dolls, and Darbārs (SUNY Press 2021)

  • Podcast #166, published 2021-12-9.

Sabrina D. MisirHiralall on Devotional Hindu Dance: A Return to the Sacred (Palgrave Macmillan 2021)

  • Podcast #165, published 2021-12-2.

Jyotirmaya Sharma on Elusive Nonviolence: The Making and Unmaking of Gandhi’s Religion of Ahimsa (Westland 2021)

  • Podcast #164, published 2021-11-30.

Atmadarshan Laura Santoro on Song of Your Soul: A New Translation of Bhagavad Gita (New Books Network, 2021)

  • Podcast #163, published 2021-11-24.

A Discussion with Martin Gluckman (Part 2) Sanskrit Tools on the Web (New Books Network, 2021)

  • Podcast #162, published 2021-11-18.

Clara A. B. Joseph on Christianity in India: The Anti-Colonial Turn (Routledge 2020)

  • Podcast #161, published 2021-11-17.

Suchitra Samanta on Kali in Bengali Lives: Narratives of Religious Experience (Lexington Books 2021)

  • Podcast #160, published 2021-11-15.

A Discussion with Martin Gluckman (Part 1) Sanskrit Tools on the Web (New Books Network, 2021)

  • Podcast #159, published 2021-11-11.

Manu S. Pillai on False Allies: India’s Maharajahs in the Age of Ravi Varma (Juggernauth 2021)

  • Podcast #158, published 2021-11-4.

Koral Dasgupta on Kunti: The Sati Series II (Pan Macmillan India 2021)

  • Podcast #157, published 2021-10-28.

Katherine Young on Turbulent Transformations: Non-Brahmin Śrīvaiṣṇavas on Religion, Caste and Politics in Tamil Nadu (Orient Blackswan 2021)

  • Podcast #156, published 2021-10-21.

Antonia M. Ruppel on An Introductory Sanskrit Reader: Improving Reading Fluency (Brill 2021)

  • Podcast #155, published 2021-10-14.

Mans Broo on The Rādhā Tantra: A Critical Edition and Annotated Translation (Routledge 2016)

  • Podcast #154, published 2021-10-7.

Wendy Doniger on Winged Stallions and Wicked Mares: Horses in Indian Myth and History (University of Virginia Press 2021)

  • Podcast #153, published 2021-10-5.

John Nemec on The Ubiquitous Siva: Somananda's Sivadrsti and His Philosophical Interlocutors (Oxford University Press 2021)

  • Podcast #152, published 2021-10-1.

Gidi Ifergan on The Psychology of the Yogas (Equinox Publishing 2021)

  • Podcast #151, published 2021-9-30.

Kusumita P. Pedersen on The Philosophy of Sri Chinmoy: Love and Transformation (Lexington Books 2021)

  • Podcast #150, published 2021-9-22.

Mark Van Buren on Meditation and Mindfulness Training (New Books Network, 2021)

  • Podcast #149, published 2021-9-22.

Paula Richman and Rustom Bharucha on Performing the Ramayana Tradition: Enactments, Interpretations, and Arguments (Oxford University Press2021)

  • Podcast #148, published 2021-9-16.

A Conversation with Don Davis Online Dharmaśāstra Library (New Books Network, 2021)

  • Podcast #147, published 2021-9-9.

James D. Reich on To Savor the Meaning: The Theology of Literary Emotions in Medieval Kashmir (Oxford University Press 2021)

  • Podcast #146, published 2021-9-9.

Nicole Karapanagiotis on Branding Bhakti: Krishna Consciousness and the Makeover of a Movement (Indiana University Press 2021)

  • Podcast #145, published 2021-9-9.

A Conversation with Dominik Haas: Open Access Publishing (New Books Network, 2021)

  • Podcast #144, published 2021-8-26.

Yigal Bronner and Lawrence J. McCrea on First Words, Last Words: New Theories for Reading Old Texts in Sixteenth Century India (Indiana University Press 2021)

  • Podcast #143, published 2021-8-26.

Pamela Ayo Yetunde on Being Black and Buddhist (New Books Network, 2021)

  • Podcast #142, published 2021-8-25.

Kristin Hanssen on Women, Religion and the Body in South Asia: Living With Bengali Bauls (Routledge 2020)

  • Podcast #141, published 2021-8-19.

Oneika Mays on Wisdom and Social Activism (New Books Network, 2021)

  • Podcast #140, published 2021-8-18.

A Conversation with Amir Hussain: Religious Studies Today (New Books Network, 2021)

  • Podcast #139, published 2021-8-16.

Emilia Bachrach on In the Service of Krishna: Illustrating the Lives of Eighty-Four Vaishnavas from a 1702 Manuscript (Mapin Publishing 2020)

  • Podcast #138, published 2021-8-12.

A Conversation with Jacob Kyle: Embodied Philosophy (New Books Network, 2021)

  • Podcast #137, published 2021-8-11.

Vijaya Nagarajan on Feeding a Thousand Souls: Women, Ritual, and Ecology in India--an Exploration of the Kolam (Oxford University Press 2018)

  • Podcast #136, published 2021-8-5.

McComas Taylor on The Viṣṇu Purāṇa: Ancient Annals of the God with Lotus Eyes (Australian National University 2021)

  • Podcast #135, published 2021-7-28.

A Conversation with Greg Bailey: Sanskrit Scholar and Novelist (New Books Network, 2021)

  • Podcast #134, published 2021-7-22.

Darren Main on Inner Tranquility (New Books Network, 2021)

  • Podcast #133, published 2021-7-22.

Shankar Nair on Translating Wisdom: Hindu-Muslim Intellectual Interactions in Early Modern South Asia (University of California Press 2020)

  • Podcast #132, published 2021-7-15.

Anya P. Foxen and Christa Kuberry on Is this Yoga? Concepts, Histories, and the Complexities of Modern Practice (Routledge 2021)

  • Podcast #131, published 2021-7-15.

Megan Eaton Robb on Print and the Urdu Public: Muslims, Newspapers, and Urban Life in Colonial India (Oxford University Press 2020)

  • Podcast #130, published 2021-7-9.

Elder Little Brown Bear: Healing Wisdom from a Métis Elder (New Books Network, 2021)

  • Podcast #129, published 2021-7-7.

Zoë Slatoff on Yogavataranam: The Translation of Yoga A New Approach to Sanskrit, Integrating Traditional and Academic Methods and Based on Classic Yoga Texts, for University Courses, Yoga Programs, and Self Study (North Point Press 2015)

  • Podcast #128, published 2021-7-1.

Ben Williams on Contemplative Education (New Books Network, 2021)

  • Podcast #127, published 2021-6-30.

Peter Christiaan Bisschop and Yuko Yokochi on The Skandapurāṇa Project: The Varáha Cycle and the Andhaka Cycle Continued. Vol. V. Adhyáyas 96 - 112 (Brill 2021)

  • Podcast #126, published 2021-6-24.

Chris Chapple on Nonviolence as Pandemic Wisdom (New Books Network, 2021)

  • Podcast #125, published 2021-6-23.

Lavanya Vemsani on Feminine Journeys of the Mahabharata: Hindu Women in History, Text, and Practice (Palgrave Macmillan 2021)

  • Podcast #124, published 2021-6-21.

Michael Nichols on Malleable Mara: Transformations of a Buddhist Symbol of Evil (SUNY Press 2020)

  • Podcast #123, published 2021-6-17.

Brian Collins on Indian Mythology (New Books Network, 2021)

  • Podcast #122, published 2021-6-16.

Chitgopekar Nilima on The Reluctant Family Man: Shiva in Everyday Life (Penguin Enterprise 2019)

  • Podcast #121, published 2021-6-10.

Frank Clooney on “The Scholar-Practitioner” (New Books Network, 2021)

  • Podcast #120, published 2021-6-9.

Jon Keune on Shared Devotion, Shared Food: Equality and the Bhakti-Caste Question in Western India (Oxford University Press 2021)

  • Podcast #119, published 2021-6-3.

Ruth Roth on the Wisdom of the Catholic Church (New Books Network, 2021)

  • Podcast #118, published 2021-6-2.

Karen G. Ruffle on Everyday Shi'ism in South Asia (John Wiley & Sons 2021)

  • Podcast #117, published 2021-5-26.

Arti Dhand on The Mahābhārata (New Books Network, 2021)

  • Podcast #116, published 2021-5-26.

Michael D. Nichols on Religion and Myth in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (McFarland 2021)

  • Podcast #115, published 2021-5-21.

Jacqueline Fewkes and Megan Adamson Sijapati on Muslim Communities and Cultures of the Himalayas (Routledge 2020)

  • Podcast #114, published 2021-5-19.

Ian Whicher on Yoga Philosophy (New Books Network, 2021)

  • Podcast #113, published 2021-5-19.

Bhaktimarga Swami on Devotion (New Books Network, 2021)

  • Podcast #112, published 2021-5-12.

Raj Balkaran on Pandemic Perspectives: Working Remotely (New Books Network, 2021)

  • Podcast #111, published 2021-5-10

  • Interview for Academic Life podcast (New Books Network, 2021)

Brian Carwana on World Religions (New Books Network, 2021)

  • Podcast #110, published 2021-5-5.

Brenda Beck on Land of the Golden River: The Medieval Tamil Folk Epic of Poṉṉivaḷa Nāḍu (Friesen Press 2021)

  • Podcast #109, published 2021-4-30.

A Discussion with Kate Hartmann: Teaching Buddhist Studies Online (New Books Network, 2021)

  • Podcast #108, published 2021-4-30.

Gil Ben-Herut and Jon Keune on Regional Communities of Devotion in South Asia: Insiders, Outsiders, and Interlopers (Routledge 2019)

  • Podcast #107, published 2021-4-28.

Bhante Saranapala on Kindness (New Books Network, 2021)

  • Podcast #106, published 2021-4-28.

Birinder Pal Singh on Sikhs in the Deccan and North-East India (Taylor & Francis 2018)

  • Podcast #105, published 2021-4-23.

Thomas Robinson and Hillary Rodrigues on World Religions Reader: Understanding Our Religious World (Robinest 2020)

  • Podcast #104, published 2021-4-23.

Daniel Heifetz on The Science of Satyug: Class, Charisma, and Vedic Revivalism in the All World Gayatri Pariwar (SUNY Press 2021)

  • Podcast #103, published 2021-4-22.

Nell Shapiro Hawley and Sohini Sarah Pillai on Many Mahābhāratas (SUNY Press 2021)

  • Podcast #102, published 2021-4-20.

Ayesha A. Irani on The Muhammad Avatāra: Salvation History, Translation, and the Making of Bengali Islam (Oxford University Press 2021)

  • Podcast #101, published 2021-4-14.