Dear list members,

I am delighted to share with all of you that we have been able to establish a Centre for Religious Studies (CRS) in Manipal University. As the coordinator of this centre I look forward receiving your advice and collaborating with many of you. I invite scholars to visit our centre when in India, interact with us and deliver lectures etc. To begin with we will soon be conducting a national workshop on the Rasa Theory and an international conference/workshop on Tantric studies. Announcements should follow sometime sooner. The Centre is expected to raise its own funding. However, to begin with the university has allowed limited funding and we look forward collaborating with other organizations or universities in conducting events of mutual interest.

This Centre will only function as an administrative node under Manipal Centre for Philosophy and Humanities (MCPH) for conducting academic events. The Centre proposes to develop a comparative, multidisciplinary perspective to study the constant changes in the expressions and significance of religious practices in the past and in the present. We want to bring together expertise in specific religions with a comparative approach that draws on a variety of humanistic and social scientific disciplines. The Centre will promote interdisciplinary research, interchange and collaboration focused on religious studies among faculty members in Manipal and in the wider community through seminars, conferences and presentation of scholarly papers and lectures. 

Aims and Objectives:

To establish a first-of-its-kind department in India to facilitate scholarship, both academic engagement as well as general outreach, on different religious traditions of India.

To encourage and study interfaith dialogue between different intellectual, cultural, and literary formulations, both ancient and modern.

To build Manipal University’s reputation as a platform for innovative pedagogy in Religious Studies.

To facilitate critical conversations and engagements with the development of religious thought over different historical periods and contexts, as well as showcasing the changing relevance of these insights in contemporary society.

 

Projects:

A resource centre to build collaborations, and develop pedagogy for a robust model for religious studies in India.

Organize public events including talks, conferences, workshops, and seminars, on subjects relating to different religious traditions – Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism, Christianity and Jainism among others.

Organize lectures by leading national and international scholars.

Introducing short-term certificate courses and courses for extra credits on relevant topics including advanced and interdisciplinary research methodology and concerned language courses.

Introducing special courses for scholars training them in exhaustive academic study of religious traditions in their sources by focusing on original manuscript materials.

I look forward for your support and cooperation.

Mrinal Kaul