Assistant Professor of Religious Studies Abhishek Amar presented an invited lecture on July 12 at the Deccan College Post Graduate Research Institute in Pune, India.
In “Examining Inter-religious Dynamics in the Colonial and Post-colonial India” Amar examined the beginning of exploration and excavation of ancient religious centers. He focused on Buddhist sites in colonial South Asia and how their conservation and restoration became “sites of colonial discourse on Indian religions,” which often emphasized antagonistic relationship between Buddhist and Hindu traditions. Amar argued that “the colonial discourse shaped the conservation practices, which has resulted in framing of religions as tightly bound categories in colonial and post-colonial South Asia.”
Amar is conducting preliminary exploration of Buddhist cave and Hindu temple sites in western and southern India (Deccan region).
