Week 3, Thursday 5 February 2.00-3.00, OCHS Library

Dr Malini Murali

Following the 19th Century’s feverish preoccupation with the East, very little sustained work has emerged over the next two centuries on translating pre-modern Indian texts and engaging with the reflective paradigms they endorse. The earlier efforts, mostly carried out by Orientalists, led to the establishment of Indology departments across Europe. In India, on the other hand, such rigorous institutional spaces are practically absent. The present interest in regional languages too tends to privilege a certain curated sense of “ancientness” as seen in the case of Bhakti poets. This has a direct bearing on translation practises that, when they do occur, seldom exhibit necessary critical shifts in the articulation of cultural difference. Hence, there is a pressing need to imagine translation as a mode through which the past may be rendered through renewed linguistic, aesthetic and epistemic registers; in other words, to conceive of translation as a way of configuring contemporaneity. I will illustrate this proposition through my engagements with two pre-modern compositions from Kerala—Adhyatmaramayanam Kilipattu and Nalacharitam Attakatha.

Malini Murali is an Assistant Professor in the Department of English at Devaswom Board College, Thalayolaparambu, affiliated with Mahatma Gandhi University, Kerala. She is the 2026 Charles Wallace Fellow at the British Centre for Literary Translation, University of East Anglia, where she will undertake an English translation of Unnayi Warrier’s Nalacharitam Attakatha, the most celebrated composition in the Kathakali repertoire. Her doctoral work, Offering to Ezhutachan: An Annotated Translation of Adhyatmaramayanam Kilipattu, was awarded an Excellent Grade by the English and Foreign Languages University, Hyderabad, and is scheduled for publication by Rupa in 2026. Her talks on language, literature, and culture are periodically broadcast on All India Radio. Her research interests include critical humanities, literary and cultural studies, and South Asian studies. She is actively engaged in the study and translation of both pre-modern and contemporary Malayalam compositions.

Lectures of the Shivdasani Visiting Fellow
Week 2, Thursday 29 January 2.00-3.00, OCHS Library

Dr Radha Raghunathan

One of the debates among the different schools of Vedānta is regarding Brahman as the cause of creation ― the dualistic schools like Sāṁkhyā, Dvaita, Viśiṣṭādvaita and others hold that the universe is real, it is transformation (pariṇāma) of Brahman. The Advaitin’s explanation is that in this modification Brahman undergoes no change but merely ‘lends’ existence; thus, the universe is a transfiguration (vivarta) of Brahman. As do all schools of Vedānta, the Advaitin quotes the famous statement from Ch.Up. 6.1.4–6 and 6.4.1–4), “Any modification is a name dependent on words / speech.” (“vācā’’rambhaṇaṁ vikāro nāmadheyam…”)

Radha Raghunathan examines the statement “vācā’’rambhaṇaṁ vikāro nāmadheyam…,” in the light of the Advaitins Śaṅkarācārya (8th cent. C.E.), Ānandagiri also known as Ānandajñāna (14th cent. C.E.), Upaniṣad Brahmayogin (fl. 1800 C.E.), Bellaṁkoṅḍa Rāmarāya Kavi (early 20th cent. C.E.), and ‘lalitaalaalitaḥ’ (current times) to see how far they succeed in establishing that creation is transfiguration and not transformation of the changeless (nirvikāra) Brahman.

Here are three highlights from this year’s report:

• Major progress in Digital Humanities
We launched a new online manuscript database that makes thousands of Indic manuscripts easier to browse, search, and study, bringing cutting-edge tools to traditional scholarship.

• Major new publications and academic projects
Our Fellows secured significant book contracts, including The Oxford Handbook of Gaudiya Vaishnava Studies (OUP) and a major new volume in the Oxford History of Hinduism. These firmly position the OCHS at the forefront of global Hindu Studies.

• Expanding international teaching and fieldwork
From our Summer University in Kathmandu to collaborations across Europe, Asia, and the Americas, our students gained exceptional opportunities for study, research, and cultural immersion.

And through it all, OCHS Online continues to flourish, offering over 40 courses and welcoming learners from more than 60 countries—the heart of our community of lifelong students.

 Download the Annual Report

This lecture will explore how Kundakunda (1st Century CE – 6th Century CE?) deals with the nature of soul, non-soul and their relationship. The historical identity of Kundakunda, the literature attributed to him, and his philosophy have been partially discussed in secondary scholarship; however, several aspects remain to be explored. One of the most significant and less explored gaps revolves around the metaphysical explanation of how the immaterial soul (said to be pure in nature) interacts with the material non-soul. Briefly outlining the secondary scholarship on Kundakunda, his texts, and philosophy, this lecture investigates the taxonomy of the soul and non-soul to trace taxonomical and conceptual shifts amongst four texts, viz. Samayapāhuḍa, Pavayaṇasāra, Paṃcatthikāya, and Ṇiyamasāra, attributed to Kundakunda. This will be followed by examining Kundakunda’s treatment of an ‘incomprehensible mysterious’ (Flügel 2023) question of interaction between soul and non-soul entities.

Anubhav Jain is a researcher in philosophy, especially in Jaina philosophy and Prakrit studies. Jain is currently a PhD researcher at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), London. His ongoing research project is “Jaina Metaphysical Discourses on Soul: A Comparative Analysis of the Chakkhaṇḍāgama and the Kundakunda’s Literature and their Commentaries” under the supervision of Prof. Peter Flügel (SOAS) and is a recipient of the Kanji Swami MPhil/ PhD Scholarship. He is also a researcher for an academic documentary film called “Search for Kundakunda”, a project in collaboration between SOAS and Chouette Films.

Pragya Jain

Drawing on Arthur Koestler’s observation that meditation must be grounded in moral awareness rather than reduced to mechanical chanting, this talk investigates the layered conception of meditation in Jain philosophy. The Jñānārṇava, composed by Śubhacandra in the 11th century, provides one of the most systematic treatments of meditation in the Jain tradition. It emphasizes that meditation is not a uniform practice but exists in both inauspicious and auspicious forms. Inauspicious meditation, characterized by attachment, aversion, and delusion, is seen as the default state in which all living beings participate. The text then outlines the transformative role of śuddhopayoga (pure cognition) which enables the transition toward auspicious meditation, serving as the basis for right belief and ultimately leading to liberation.

Pragya Jain is a research associate at the International School for Jain Studies (ISJS) and a visiting researcher at the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies (OCHS). Her research explores the theory of meditation in Jainism with special reference to Jñānārṇava. She has developed her research in dialogue with contemporary philosophy, including emerging intersections with AI and consciousness studies. She has presented and published her work on various international platforms like Religion Compass and serves as Assistant Editor of the academic journal ISJS-Transactions. Recently elected to the Executive Committee of the European Association for South Asian Studies (EASAS), she contributes to shaping interdisciplinary conversations in the field.