Examines Kṛṣṇa’s hint of laughter (prahasann iva) in the Bhagavadgītā, its interpretations in the Vedānta commentarial tradition, and its significance in Kṛṣṇaite iconography and literature.

Examines the intersections of gender, religion, and politics among various Indian religious communities, from early British rule to the late twentieth century.

Combines historical, literary, art historical, and archaeological perspectives to explore the idea of the Hindu temple in the British colonial imagination.

Explores the Sāṃkhya system and the delicate relationship it articulates between witness consciousness (Puruṣa) and manifest realities (Prakṛti), providing a path to freedom through knowledge.

Offers a new, interreligious approach to questions of mission and conversion, grounded in a close study of the Chinmaya Mission, Ramakrishna Mission and other movements associated with the Hindu tradition of Advaita Vedānta.

Explores the cultural dynamics of this ancient form of Sanskrit theater.

Argues that ancient yantra (robot) tales reveal how their Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain authors thought about the nature of humanity and our role in a cosmos filled with divine and natural forces.

A literary and historical investigation into an ancient Indian religious thinker, tracing his rise in importance in the Hindu tradition.

A comparative study of wonder in South Asian religions.

Details the textual and performative history of the South Asian festival of Indra and its role in the development of classical Hinduism.

Rejects Hindu nationalism and pluralist secularism in favor of a revitalized politics of Indian federalism.

Examines the place of history in the political thought of Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, one of the key architects of modern Hindu nationalism.

Explores the rich diversity of narratives, rituals, and participants connected with one of the most important celebrations for Hindus in South Asia and in the diaspora.

Explores how a folk ballad in southern India transforms the landscape and embeds the deities that are its subject within the social worlds of their devotees.

A major contribution to the study of South Asian literature, offering a landmark view of Mahābhārata studies.

Examines the key role of a hagiographer within a charismatic religious movement.

The first book to offer a detailed framework, a fine-grained history, and an analytically nuanced understanding of one of the rarest branches of Hindu worship.

Investigates the professional practices of astrologers in urban India and their popularity among the educated middle and upper classes.

The first in-depth study of the All World Gayatri Pariwar, a modern Indian religious movement.

A systematic analysis of the myth cycle of Paraśurāma (“Rāma with the Axe”), an avatára of Viṣṇu with a much darker reputation.

Broadens the parameters of religious studies by accounting for material acts that help shape religious worlds.

A comprehensive and theory-rich investigation of the history and philosophy of yoga, from its Indian origins to the contemporary context.

An accessible introduction to the centrality of word, chant, and song in the Hindu, Buddhist, Islamic, and Sikh traditions.

Explains the Hindi novel’s role in anticipating and creating the story of middle-class modernity and modernization in North India.

A distillation of the historian’s finest writings on modern Indian historical themes.