Benjamin Fleming 1B-820 East 10th St. City College, Department of Art History Brooklyn, NY Compton-Goethals Room 244 USA, 11230 160 Convent Avenue [email protected] New York, New York 10031 [email protected]

Benjamin J. Fleming

Present position Adjunct Faculty, Department of Art History, CUNY: City College, NYC

EDUCATION

Ph.D. (South Asian Religions), McMaster University, Department of Religious Studies, 2007 Advisor: Phyllis Granoff () M.A. (Religious Studies), University of Regina, Department of Religion, 2000 B.A. with Honours (Religious Studies), University of Regina, 1998 B.F.A. (Visual Art), University of Regina, 1990

Languages • Ancient: , Pali • Modern: French; knowledge of , Bengali, and Marathi

TEACHING

Lecturer, CUNY, New York City (2017-present) City College –Art 31553 – Asian Art Since 1850 Hunter College–Rels 320 – Hinduism –Rels 251 – Asian Religions Visiting Scholar, University of Pennsylvania, Department of Religious Studies (2009 to 2017) Rels 555 (graduate seminar) - History of Print in South Asia c. 1600 – present (fall 2017), guest lecturer on manuscript culture in South Asia: Intertwined Worlds exhibition. Rels 035 – Making Meaning in Local, Global, and Historical Perspectives (2015-16), co- taught with Annette Yoshiko Reed Rels 002 – Introduction to Religion (fall 2012), guest lecturer on “Religions of .” Rels 001 – Religions of Asia (spring 2010, 2011) Rels 006 – Religion and Violence (summer 2010) Rels 163/SAS 140 – Introduction to Hinduism (fall 2009, 2010) Lecturer, Penn State University, Abington (2016-17) Rlst 107 – Introduction to Islam Rels 103 – Introduction to Hinduism Asia 100 – Themes in Asian Tradition Hist 176 – Survey of Indian History Adjunct Instructor, Saint Joseph’s University (2012-15) Rel 261-D02 – Hinduism Adjunct Instructor, Temple University (2012) Rels 5101 - Foundations in Hinduism (graduate seminar) Mellon Postdoctoral Teaching Fellow, University of Pennsylvania, Department of Religious Studies, (2007-2009) Rels 999 – Graduate Directed Reading Course: Survey of Recent Scholarship on Hindu Literature Rels 163/SAS 140 - Introduction to Hinduism Rels 161 - Demons in Indian Religion Rels 001 - Religions of Asia Adjunct Instructor, McMaster University, Department of Religious Studies (2005-07) Indian Storytelling East Asian Religions Introduction to Sanskrit Grammar Teaching Assistant, McMaster University, Department of Religious Studies (2000-06) East Asian Buddhism; World Religions; Death and Dying: The Western Experience; The Indian Religious Tradition; Moral Issues; Death and Dying: Comparative Views. Teaching Assistant, University of Regina, Department of Religious Studies (1999-2000) Modern Hinduism; Introduction to World Religions; Sacred Texts in Comparative Perspective; Introduction to World Religions.

RESEARCH, CURATION, SPECIAL COLLECTIONS

Research project with Dr. Elizabeth A. Cecil (Florida University): “Religion on the Road: Portable Śaiva Shrines in Kashmir.” (Ongoing). • A research project to be undertaken in Kashmir to understand and document extant examples of portable liṅga shrines produced in the Gupta era and forward. • This project is particularly concerned with the trade and pilgrimage networks of the mercantile classes in this region and how they connected to broader economic and religious patterns in the rest of the subcontinent and Central Asia, but is the iconographic, theological, and liturgical contexts • Includes visits to sites, temples, and ateliers in the Himalayas along with an investigation of local museums and archaeological institutions with pertinent materials both material and textual. • Project will result in a book, special journal issue, and a digital preservation component for endangered materials, available through Open Access resources.

Principal Investigator, Amir Ahmad Minai Archive of Karachi, Pakistan (EAP 1210) • A digitization and preservation project under consideration by the British Library’s Endangered Archives Programme (Summer 2019). • Working with a team of local and international scholars, will digitize and create metadata for a collection of poems and correspondences of the Urdu poet laureate Amir Minai.

Curator, “Intertwined Worlds: Jain, Buddhist, and Hindu Manuscripts and Objects from South and Southeast Asia,” Goldstein Family Gallery at Penn Libraries (on display from August 23- December 22, 2017) • Conceptualized an exhibit of materials highlighting interconnections of South Asian religions as well as raising funds for the exhibit and the related colloquium • Chose and arranged manuscripts, sculptures, and paintings from the collections of the Penn Libraries and from the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology for the exhibit, writing descriptions both for objects and for the exhibit as a whole • Organized a related three-day Colloquium featuring international scholars of Asian and Western religions, manuscripts, and material culture

Indic specialist for the Schoenberg Institute for Manuscript Studies (2016 to 2017) • Arranging workshops, gallery and library visits with scholars and students related to the Penn collections and exhibits. I regularly give talks and lead demonstrations related to the Penn

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holdings of manuscripts related to Asia for the institute, which is a subsidiary of the Kislak Center of the University of Pennsylvania and brings manuscript culture together with technology, giving open access to cultural heritage locally and around the world. • Networking to arrange internal sources of funding for such workshops, presentations, and symposium for the library from academic departments (such as from the South Asia, Religious Studies, and the Center for Ancient Studies) • Working on the Schoenberg Database of Manuscripts Project. This database enables scholars to trace the provenance of manuscripts from origin until today. I created an inventory of nearly 9,000 manuscripts held at a library in Bangladesh for inclusion in the database. • Serving on the Advisory Council, Schoenberg Institute for Manuscript Studies which oversees and advises on activities at the Penn Libraries related to manuscript holdings, acquisitions, etc.

Indic Manuscript Specialist, Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, University of Pennsylvania (2011-16). The library hosts the largest Indic manuscript collection in North America and contains works written on paper and palm-leaf dating from the 13th to early 20th centuries in more than twenty different languages from across South and Southeast Asia. • I wrote the subject content for a major NEH grant in the digital humanities titled: “Providing Global Access to Penn’s Indic Manuscripts, circa 1527-1930.” I was also the manuscript cataloger for the grant. I created approximately 2700 unique MARC and Voyager catalog records for inclusion in the Library of Congress database, WorldCat, and Franklin (Penn catalog) using Connexion as computer program.

Principle Investigator, Rāmamālā Library Manuscript Project (EAP 683), a digitization and preservation project funded by the British Library Endangered Archives Programme with support from the Schoenberg Institute for Manuscript Studies (2014-15). • The project focused on creating an inventory and database for 9,000 Sanskrit and Bangla manuscripts held at the Rāmamālā Library in Comilla, Bangladesh. • I trained and managed a staff of about 6 local scholars and students on handling, preserving, and creating a digital inventory for pre-modern manuscripts held at the library. I organized workshops engaging a broad range of scholars and students from Bangladesh for training and teaching in manuscript digitization and preservation. • The team digitized about 1% of these manuscripts, a selection of damaged and significant works. This digital sample is now hosted by Penn through Penn-in-Hand and by the British Library and will help to preserve these works above and beyond their physical well-being. • We assessed the overall state of the physical collection and created a plan for practical solutions for preserving the collection as a whole. The work included protecting the collection from vermin and insects, dust, and similar issues related to raw preservation of the manuscripts held in Bangladesh.

Consultant with the Penn Museum (2010-2017) • I have helped to identify Buddhist and Hindu sculptures and numismatic materials from South Asia and elsewhere through my own scholarly work of translating and identification of iconography or through connecting the museum with scholars who hold expertise related to the museum’s collections. These works include a stela from the Pāla dynasty, a liṅga from north India, numismatic inscriptions, as well as a Thangka from the Chinese dynasty of Qianlong.

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• I have contributed to approximately 10 item descriptions and translations for their public and institutional records.

Researcher, The Digital Sanskrit Library Project (2009-10), • I created digital cataloging records based on manuscripts of the Mahābhārata and Bhāgavata Purāṇa held at the Rare Book & Manuscript Library at the University of Pennsylvania. • The metadata is being used for an online manuscript project hosted by the Sanskrit Library, centered in the Department of Classics at Brown University and funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.

OTHER PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES

Peer Reviewer of articles: - Journal of Hindu Studies - Library Hi Tech - Manuscript Studies: A Journal of the Schoenberg Institute for Manuscript Studies - Oxford Bibliography Online-Hinduism

Moderator, Indo-Eurasian Research List, with Michael Witzel, Steve Farmer, and Lars Martin Fosse. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Indo-Eurasian_research/ (2007 to present). Moderating an active interdisciplinary email list with over 1,100 members from over thirty subfields of premodern studies; experience writing for an online, multi-lingual audience as well as working with HTML and other web tools

Associate Master, Fisher Hassenfeld College House, University of Pennsylvania (2014-16). Organizing activities and educational events for a freshmen-only residence within the Penn’s College House system. Living and interacting with students as well as arranging programming to enhance intellectual community and academic support, while also helping to train and support a staff of 25 undergraduate and graduate students

Associate Fellow, Stouffer College House, University of Pennsylvania (2011-14). Organized activities and educational events for undergraduate students in a residence within Penn’s College House system. Living and interacting with students as well as arranging programming to enhance intellectual community and academic support

President, Oriental Club of Philadelphia (2008-10). This club was established in 1888 and includes a membership of scholars of South and East Asia, Near East, and Central Asia from a variety of scholarly backgrounds with focus on non- Western linguistic, religious, philosophical, and textual traditions. French translator of English abstracts for Global Social Policy Journal (2007-10). Translation work for an interdisciplinary journal of public policy and social development, published by the Institute on Globalization and the Human Condition, McMaster University

FELLOWSHIPS & AWARDS

Andrew W. Mellon Digital Humanities Fellowship, Price Labs for Digital Humanities, 2016-17

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Endangered Archives Grant (Rāmamālā Library Manuscript Project), British Library, 2013-15 Faculty Recognition Award, Panhellenic Council, Interfraternity Council, and Multicultural Greek Council, University of Pennsylvania, 2010 Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Teaching Fellowship, University of Pennsylvania, Department of Religious Studies, 2007-2009 Doctoral Fellowship, Social Science and Humanities Research Council, 2000-2004 Doctoral Research Fellowship, Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute, 2002-2003 MA Research Fellowship, Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute, 2000-2001 [declined] Hindu Samaj Award, Hindu Temple, Regina, 2000 Language Training Scholarship, Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute, 1999 First prize, Canadian Society for the Study of Religion Student Essay Contest, for “Domestic Dimensions of the Ganesh Caturthi Festival,” 1998 Second prize, Canadian Society for the Study of Religion Student Essay Contest, for “Hajj Murals and their Context: A Reading and Critique of Juan E. Campo,” 1997 Undergraduate Award, Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute, 1997 Dean’s Honours List, Faculty of Arts, University of Regina, 1997

PUBLICATIONS

2018. “Jyotirliṅgas.” In Tracy Coleman, ed., Oxford Bibliographies Online: Hinduism. New York: Oxford University Press. (Forthcoming) 2018. “Digitizing Penn’s Indic Manuscripts.” In Manuscript Studies: A Journal of the Schoenberg Institute for Manuscript Studies 3.2 (Forthcoming) 2016. “The Materiality of South Asian Manuscripts from the University of Pennsylvania MS. coll. 390 and the Rāmamālā Library in Bangladesh.” Manuscript Studies: A Journal of the Schoenberg Institute for Manuscript Studies 1.1: 28-51. 2015. “Ancient Texts and Modern Technologies: New Approaches to Asian Manuscripts.” In Prachyavidya Patrika. Published by the Prof. Dilip Kumar Bhattacharyya Research Centre, Department of Sanskrit, University of Dhaka. 2014. (ed. with Richard D. Mann). Material Culture in Asian Religions: Text, Image, Object. London: Routledge Publishers. 2014. “Relics, Liṅgas, and Other Auspicious Material Remains in South Asian Religions.” In Material Religion 10.4: 452-71. 2014. “Manuscripts and Shifting Geographies: The Dvādaśajyotirliṅgastotra from the Deccan College as Case Study.” In Material Culture in Asian Religions: Text, Image, Object, ed. Benjamin J. Fleming and Richard D. Mann. London: Routledge Publishers. 2013. “Making Land Sacred: Inscriptional Evidence for Buddhist Kings and Brahmin Priests in Medieval Bengal.” Numen: International Review for the History of Religion 60.5–6: 559–85. 5

2013. “Ellora Cave 16: Speculations and Connections to the Cult of the Twelve Jyotirliṅgas.” Pages 116-25 in Living Rock: Buddhist, Hindu and Jain Cave Temples in Western Deccan, ed. Pia Brancaccio. Mumbai: Marg Publications. 2013. Review Essay on Petteri Loskikallio and Mislav Jezic, eds., Parallels and Comparisons: Proceedings of the Fourth Dubrovnik International Conference on the Sanskrit Epics and Purāṇas, September 2005, in Orientalistische Literaturzeitung. 2013. “New copperplate grant of Śrīcandra (no. 8) from Bangladesh.” Pages 234-38 in The Bangladesh Reader, ed. Meghna Guhathakurta and Willem van Schendel. Durham: Duke University Press. 2012. “Liṅga and Yoni.” In Alf Hiltebeitel, ed., Oxford Bibliographies Online: Hinduism. New York: Oxford University Press. DOI: 10.1093/OBO/9780195399318-0115. 2012. Review of Richard D. Mann, The Rise of Mahāsena: The Transformation of Skanda-Kārttikeya in North India from the Kuṣāṇa to Gupta Empires (Leiden: Brill, 2011), in Journal of Asian Studies, 71.3: 830-31. 2011. Review of Finbarr B. Flood, Objects of Translation: Material Culture and Medieval “Hindu- Muslim” Encounter (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2009), in Journal of Asian Studies 70.3: 865-66. 2011. “Shiva.” In Alf Hiltebeitel, ed., Oxford Bibliographies Online: Hinduism. New York: Oxford University Press. DOI: 10.1093/OBO/9780195399318-0088. 2011. Review Essay on D. Goodall and A. Padoux, eds., Mélange tantriques à la mémoire de Hélène Brunner/Tantric Studies in Memory of Hélène Brunner (Pondicherry: Institut Français de Pondichéry/École Française d’Extrême-Orient, 2007), in Sino-Platonic Papers 208. 2011. “From Tirupati to Brooklyn: Interpreting Hindu Votive Hair-Offerings.” Studies in Religion/Sciences Religieuses 40.2: 199–234 [the first in a pair of articles on “Hindu Hair and Jewish Halakha,” prefaced by a co-authored introduction with Annette Yoshiko Reed] 2010. “New copperplate grant of Śrīcandra (no. 8) from Bangladesh.” Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 73.2: 223–44. 2010. Review of Jason Hawkes and Akira Shimada, eds., Buddhist Stupas in South Asia: Recent Archaeological, Art-Historical, and Historical Perspectives (New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2009), in Journal of Asian Studies 69.4: 1276-77. 2009. “Mapping Sacred Geography in Medieval India: The Case of the 12 Jyotirliṅgas.” International Journal of Hindu Studies 13.1: 51–81. 2009. “The Form and Formlessness of Śiva: The Liṅga in Indian Art, Mythology, and Pilgrimage.” Religion Compass 3, DOI: 10.1111/j.1749-8171.2009.00141.x 2008. Review of Pia Brancaccio and Kurt Behrendt, eds., Gandharan Buddhism: Archaeology, Art, Texts (Vancouver: UBC Press, 2006), in Studies in Religion/Sciences Religieuses 37.3-4.

CONFERENCES & PRESENTATIONS i. Invited Lectures 6

“Early Religious Communities at Paharpur, Bangladesh: An analysis of terracotta plaques in their material and religious context.” Presented at Asia Beyond Boundaries: Transdisciplinary Perspectives on Primary Sources from the Premodern World at Leiden University, Netherlands, August 2018. “Intertwined Worlds Exhibit.” Talk and tour about the Intertwined Worlds exhibition given to the Orrery Society and the Penn Library Board of Overseers annual gathering, Goldstein Family Gallery, University of Pennsylvania, September 2017. “Digital Humanities, Endangered Archives, and Post-Colonial Experience: Examples from the Ramamala Library in Bangladesh.” Villanova University, Philadelphia, April 2015. “Ancient Texts and Modern Technologies: New Approaches to Asian Manuscripts.” Department of Sanskrit, Dhaka University, Bangladesh, March 2014. “Material Forms of Asian Manuscripts: Examples from Penn’s Indic Collection and the Rāmamālā Library,” 6th Annual Schoenberg Symposium on Manuscript Studies in the Digital Age: Thinking Outside the Codex, Schoenberg Institute for Manuscripts Studies, University of Pennsylvania, November 2013. “The Kali Yuga and End Times in Hinduism: Cosmos and History in Crisis.” Center for Ancient Studies Annual Symposium: The End of Time, University of Pennsylvania, Penn Museum, October 13, 2012. “Reading the Liṅga as ‘Relic’: Śaivism, the Buddhist Distinction, and Other Auspicious Signs of Death in South Asian Religions,” Matter of Contention: Relics and Other Sacred Objects at the Crossroads of Religious Traditions, Department of Religious Studies, University of Texas at Austin, April 23-24, 2012. “Illusions, Fantasies, and the Chaos of History: Fire and Light Imagery in Ancient Hinduism,” Ancient Studies Group, State University New York College at Oneonta, April 5, 2010. “Phallus or Fire? Rethinking Liṅga Worship in Ancient Hinduism,” Religious Studies Lecture Series, University of Regina, January 15, 2010. “Sacred Space and Gift Giving: A Consideration of Land-Grant Inscriptions in 10th Century Bengal,” Penn Humanities Forum on Change, University of Pennsylvania, April 28, 2009. “Sacred Geography in Medieval India: The Case of the 12 Jyotirliṅgas,” Penn Humanities Forum on Origins, University of Pennsylvania, April 8, 2008. “A New Copper Plate Inscription of Śrīcandra: Contracts and Curses in Medieval India,” Oriental Club of Philadelphia, February 14, 2008. “Mapping Sacred Geography: The Rise of Pan-Indian Pilgrimage Routes in Medieval India,” Religious Studies Colloquium, University of Pennsylvania, November 15, 2007. “Child Sacrifice in Indian Religion: Unintended Ritual and the Theophany of the Ghuśmeśvara Jyotirliṅga,” Department of Religious Studies Annual Graduate Student Colloquium, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, April 2005. ii. Conference presentations “Special Remains of the Dead in Bangladesh and Southeast Asia: Hindu and Buddhist Monuments and Iconography” Annual Conference on South Asia, Madison-Wisconsin, October 2018. 7

“Digitizing Penn’s Indic Manuscripts” Annual Conference of the American Oriental Society, Pittsburgh, PA, March 2018. “Cave 16 at Ellora and the Cult of the Twelve Jyotirliṅgas.” Annual Conference on South Asia, Madison-Wisconsin, October 2013. “The Rāmamālā Library Manuscript Project,” The Oriental Club of Philadelphia’s Inaugural Symposium, March 3, 2013. “Divine Continuity and Redaction: Purāṇic Critiques of the Mahābhārata in the Bhāgavata Purāṇa: Skandha 1 Adhyāya 5,” 221st Meeting of the American Oriental Society, Chicago, Illinois, March 2011. “Time Regained?: Purāṇic Perspectives on Myth and History,” Representations of History: Ancient Narratives and Collective Memory, Comparative Studies in Hinduisms and Judaisms Group, American Academy of Religion Annual Meeting, October 31, 2010. “Buddhist and Brahmins in Medieval Bengal: New Evidence from Copperplate Inscriptions,” History and Material Culture in Asian Religions, University of Pennsylvania, March 21, 2010. “Śaivism and Viṣṇu's Avatāras: The Slow Rise of Sectarian Discord,” The History of Śaivism: Textual and material evidence for the development of sectarian Śaivism, Canadian Society for the Study of Religion Annual Meeting, Ottawa, Ontario, May 25, 2009. “Śarabha and Narasiṃha: Redaction and Transmission in the Śiva Purāṇa Tradition,” 219th Meeting of the American Oriental Society, Albuquerque, New Mexico, March 2009. “Making Land Sacred: Land Grant Inscriptions in the Chandra Dynasty,” Sacred Space in Asia Group, American Academy of Religion Annual Meeting, Chicago, Illinois, November 2008. “Buddhist and Brahmins under the Reign of Śrīcandra,” Panel on History and Material Culture in Asian Religious Traditions, Canadian Society for the Study of Religion Annual Meeting, Vancouver, British Columbia, June 2, 2008. “From Tīrtha to Pan-Indian Pilgrimage: The Vārāṇasī-māhātmya, Purāṇic Transmission, and the Twelve Jyotirliṅgas,” 218th Meeting of the American Oriental Society, Chicago, Illinois, March 15, 2008. “From Tirupathi to Brooklyn: Hindu votive hair offerings and their interpretation in Jewish communities,” Comparative Studies in Hinduisms and Judaisms Group, American Academy of Religion Annual Meeting, San Diego, California, November 19, 2007. “The Altar and the Liṅga: The Adoption and Supersession of Vedic Ritual in Medieval Śaivism,” The Fourth International Vedic Workshop: The Vedas and Culture in History, University of Texas at Austin, May 24–27, 2007. “Reconsidering Liṅga Worship in Sanskrit Sources,” Topics in Asian Religions: Hindu Text and Ritual, American Academy of Religion Eastern International Regional Meeting, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, May 2005. “Śiva as an Avatāra in Anthropomorphic Form: The Story of Bhīmaśaṅkara,” Shifting Hinduisms, Transition Narratives in Early Hinduism, Canadian Society for the Study of Religion Annual Meeting, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, May 2005. “Reconsidering the Śiva Purāṇa,” American Academy of Religion Eastern International Regional Meeting, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, May 2004. 8

“The Tainted Share, Gaṇas and The Destruction of Dakṣa’s Sacrifice,” Visions of Early Hinduism and the Historical Development of Popular Divine Forms, Canadian Society for the Study of Religion Annual Meeting, Quebec City, Quebec, May 2001. “Animal-Human Hybrids: Exploring the Logic of Mythology in India: Gaṇeśa,” Canadian Society for the Study of Religion Annual Meeting, Edmonton, Alberta, May 2000. “Idols: Anti-Symbols in the Context of Hinduism: Domestic Aspects of the Ganesh Caturthi Festival,” Implications & Interpretations: Interdisciplinary Studies in Religion & Culture, Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec, April 1999. iii. Conferences and panels organized Organizer, with Lynn Ransom, 10th Annual Lawrence J. Schoenberg Symposium on Manuscript Studies in the Digital Age: Intertwined Worlds, Kislak Center, University of Pennsylvania, November 2-4, 2017. Conference organizer, with Annette Yoshiko Reed, History and Material Culture in Asian Religions, Penn Museum, March 21-22, 2010. Panel organizer, “History and Material Culture in Asian Religious Traditions,” Canadian Society for the Study of Religion Annual Meeting, Vancouver, June 2, 2008. Conference coordinator for Deus in Machina: Exploring Religion and Technology in Historical and Cross-Cultural Perspective, organized by Jeremy Stolow, The Art Gallery of Hamilton, January 2007. Panel organizer, with Richard Mann, “Shifting Hinduism, Transition Narratives in Early Hinduism,” Canadian Society for the Study of Religion Annual Meeting, Western University, London, May 2005. Panel organizer, with Richard Mann, “Visions of Early Hinduism and the Historical Development of Popular Divine Forms,” Canadian Society for the Study of Religion Annual Meeting, Université Laval, Quebec, May 2001 vi. Other Chair for panel on “Ancient Near East and South Asia Joint Special Session on Omens,” American Oriental Society Annual Meeting, Boston, March 2012. Respondent for Paroma Chatterjee, “Difficult definitions: A Byzantine thinker and his icons,” Penn Humanities Forum on Change, University of Pennsylvania, February 3, 2009. Panel discussant, “Turning Seminar Papers into Conference Presentations,” Religious Studies Colloquium, University of Pennsylvania, September 18, 2008. PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS

• American Academy of Religion • American Oriental Society • Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Pune, India [life-time member] • Canadian Society for the Study of Religions • Oriental Club of Philadelphia

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