Ithaca College

Please note: The campus venue has changed from what is listed in the poster.

Eric Steinschneider
Visiting Assistant Professor
Department of Philosophy and Religion

Money, Monasteries, and Monism: Fashioning Hindu Selves in Colonial South India

7:00 p.m. April 17, 2019

Emerson Suite C, Ithaca College 
Campus Center

Open to students, faculty, staff, and the public.

Modern Hindu consciousness has never been a singular phenomenon. The specific forms it takes are indebted, in ways that are only beginning to be understood, to religious traditions rooted in particular regions and vernacular languages. Closer attention to these traditions can help decenter Eurocentric and Hindu nationalist readings of Indian religious history. This talk theorizes Hindu selfhood in modernity with reference to the Kovilur Atinam, a monastic institution in Tamil-speaking South India founded by the wealthy merchant Mutturamalinga Swamigal (1791-1847). Examining the significance of this figure’s life story for the local community, I explore how social aspirations, traditions of monastic authority, and vernacular religious literature participate in the formation of contemporary Hindu identities. 

Individuals with disabilities requiring accommodations should contact Eric Steinschneider at esteinschneider@ithaca.edu or (607) 274-5802. We ask that requests for accommodations be made as soon as possible.