Dear Colleagues,

I am delighted to share the most recent publication in the Studies on the History of Śaivism series, hosted at L’Orientale University of Naples and supported by the ERC-funded project SHIVADHARMA:

Marco Franceschini, Chiara Livio, and Lidia Wojtczak (eds)
Bhūtārthakathane . . . Sarasvatī. Reading Poetry as a History Book
Studies on the History of Śaivism IV. Napoli: Università degli Studi di Napoli L’Orientale, Dipartimento Asia, Africa e Mediterraneo.

This is a fully open-access publication, available for download here:
http://www.fedoabooks.unina.it/index.php/fedoapress/catalog/book/715

Printed copies will be available in a few weeks. If you would like to get one, please email the printer at info [at] giannispa.it. As always, our publications are fully funded and open access, so you will only need to cover postage. Distribution hubs for printed copies will also be located in Naples, Bologna, and Chicago; if you are near any of these places, feel free to get in touch with me or one of the editors and we will be happy to provide you with a copy while supplies last.

This volume contains the proceedings of the wonderful conference we held in Bologna in December 2022 on the theme of kāvya and history. The event was the result of a fruitful collaboration between the Śivadharma Project, based at L’Orientale University, and the Dipartimento di Storia, Culture e Civiltà at the University of Bologna.

I hope you will enjoy reading this new contribution to the study of South Asian literary traditions as much as we did. My deepest gratitude goes to Marco, Chiara, and Lidia for their outstanding work, and to all the authors and reviewers who contributed to this brilliant publication.

Kind regards,
Florinda