Hinduism with Professor Vasudha Narayanan

On this program we continue our journey into Hinduism, as Caer Hallundbaek talks with Dr. Vasudha Narayanan, Distinguished Professor, Department of Religion, at the University of Florida, and a past President of the American Academy of Religion. Dr. Narayanan was educated at the Universities of Madras and Bombay in India, and at Harvard University. Her fields of interest are the Sri Vaishnava tradition; Hindu traditions in India, Cambodia, and America; visual and expressive cultures in the study of the Hindu traditions; and gender issue, and more. She is currently working on Hindu temples and traditions in Cambodia. A prolific writer, her books include The Life of Hinduism; The Vernacular Veda: Revelation, Recitation, and Ritual; The Way and the Goal: Expressions of Devotion in the Early Srivaisnava Tradition; The Tamil Veda; and many articles on the Hindu tradition, performing arts and performing rituals, Hindu responses to the problems of ecology, and Hinduism in America and other cultures. Dr. Narayanan and the University of Florida have created the nation’s first Center for the Study of Hindu Traditions (CHiTra) to encourage the research, teaching and public understanding of Hindu culture and traditions.

In this hour, topics include: the development of Hinduism; the belief in a Supreme Being; regional and local expressions forms of Hinduism; the role and experience of women; Dr. Narayanan’s Catholic school education in India; Hindu symbols and their social and religious meaning; the effect of vernacular texts; reincarnation; the concept of a ‘good life,’ on earth and beyond; the domestic shrine; the experience of Hinduism in different cultures around the world, including America and the Southeast Asia; the inclusion of aspects of other faiths in Hinduism; the Center for the Study of Hindu Traditions, and more.