👩🏫 Current Position
i) Assistant Professor, Department of Religion, Emory University.
ii) Member of the American Academy of Religion, serving on the steering committees for the Jainism and Tantric Studies units.
🎓 Educational Background
i) Ph.D. in Asian Religions, Yale University, 2015.
ii) M.A. in Study of Religion, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, 2008.
iii) B.A. in Religious Studies, University of Wisconsin–Madison, 2006.
🔬 Research Approach and Interests
Specializes in South Asian religions, especially Jainism.
i) Combines:
a) Study of Gujarati, Hindi, Sanskrit, and Prakrit texts.
b) Analysis of material culture.
c) Fieldwork for an ethno-historical approach.
ii) Key research themes:
a) Ritual, sacred space, and narratives.
b) Material culture, Tantra, and Indian art and architecture.
c) Jain astrology and Digambara Jain festivals.
d) Religious identity in India, particularly the distinction between Jain and Hindu identities.
📚 Publications
Book:
i) Making a Mantra: Tantric Ritual and Renunciation on the Jain Path to Liberation (University of Chicago Press, 2021).
a) Follows the life of a Jain mantra from its origin in the early first millennium, through medieval tantric initiations and meditation practices, to its modern use in healing rituals.
b) Part of the Class 200: New Studies in Religion series.
ii) Additional research publications and articles are available through institutional and academic repositories.
✈️ Fellowships and Projects
i) Fulbright-Nehru Senior Research Fellowship (2020):
a) Conducted nine months of research in Mumbai on Jain festivals for a new book project:
b) What Makes a Jain Not a Hindu? Religious Identity and the Indian Festival Calendar.
ii) Ongoing research project on Jain astrology.
🏆 Teaching and Recognition
i) Teaching Philosophy: Passionate about both undergraduate and graduate teaching.
ii) Award:
a) Crystal Apple Award (2016) for excellence in undergraduate teaching at Emory University.
iii) Curated Exhibits (with undergraduate students) at Emory’s Michael C. Carlos Museum:
a) Tell the Whole Story from Beginning to End: The Ramayana in Indian Painting (2018).
b) The Avatars of Vishnu (2021).
📘 Courses Taught
i) Undergraduate Courses
i) Religion in the News
ii) Jainism: Religion of Nonviolence
iii) Is Yoga Religious?
iv) Violence, Nonviolence, and Religion: From India to Atlanta
v) The Religious Art of South Asia
ii) Graduate Courses
i) Religion and Material Culture
ii) Tantric Traditions
iii) The Purāṇas
iv) Hinduism and the Senses
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