Hoos’ List

Introduction to the study of history intended for first- or second-year students. Seminars involve reading, discussion, and writing about different historical topics and periods, and emphasize the enhancement of critical and communication skills. Several seminars are offered each term. Not more than two Introductory Seminars may be counted toward the major in history.

Studies the major elements of South Asian civilization, from the Stone Age to 1200, including the Indus Valley, Vedic literatures, Buddhism, Jainism, Epic traditions, the caste system, Mauryan and Guptan Empires, and devotional Hinduism.

Studies the social, political, economic and cultural history of South Asia from 1200 to 1800, from the Turkic invasions through the major Islamic dynasties, especially the Mughal Empire, to the establishment of English hegemony in the maritime provinces.

Surveys 200 years of Indian history from the mid-18th century to the present, focusing on the imperial/colonial encounter with the British Raj before Independence, and the social and political permutations of freedom in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka since.

This course provides the opportunity to offer a new topic in the subject area of South Asian history.

Studies the society and politics in the Mughal Empire, the Empire's decline and the rise of successor states, the English as a regional power and their expansion, and social, economic and political change under British paramountcy, including the 1857 Revolt.

Surveys 100 years of Indian history, defining the qualities of the world's first major anti-colonial movement of nationalism and the changes and cultural continuities of India's democratic policy in the decades since 1947.

India's Partition and its far-reaching consequences may be productively studied from several different perspectives. This course juxtaposes select novels, films, contemporary writings, and some secondary sources to reflect on a few of the big questions thrown up by this event. These include the place of minorities in the subcontinent and the changing nature of center-state relations in the subcontinent after 1947.

Surveys the evolving definitions and roles of women in the major social and cultural traditions of South Asia, i.e., India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka.

Required for history majors, to be completed before enrollment in the Major Seminar. Introduces a variety of approaches to the study of history, methods for finding and analyzing primary and secondary sources, and the construction of historical arguments. Workshops are offered on a variety of topics each term.

This course provides the opportunity to offer a new topic in the subject area of South Asian history.

The major seminar is a small class (not more than 15 students) intended primarily but not exclusively for history majors who have completed two or more courses relevant to the topic of the seminar. The work of the seminar results primarily in the preparation of a substantial (ca. 25 pages in standard format) research paper. Some restrictions and prerequisites apply to enrollment. See a history advisor or the director of undergraduate studies.

The major colloquium is a small class (not more than 15 students) intended primarily but not exclusively for history majors who have completed two or more courses relevant to the topic of the colloquium. Colloquia are most frequently offered in areas of history where access to source materials or linguistic demands make seminars especially difficult. Students in colloquia prepare about 25 pages of written work distributed among various assignments. Some restrictions and prerequisites apply to enrollment. See a history advisor or the director of undergraduate studies.

In exceptional circumstances and with the permission of a faculty member any student may undertake a rigorous program of independent study designed to explore a subject not currently being taught or to expand upon regular offerings. Independent Study projects may not be used to replace regularly scheduled classes. Enrollment is open to majors or non-majors.

Analyzes historical sources and historians of political systems in Muslim India until the rise of British power.

This course provides the opportunity to offer a new topic in the subject area of South Asian history.

This course provides the opportunity to offer a new topic in the subject area of South Asian history.

Research and writing utilizing gazetteers, settlement reports, censuses, and other sources.

This tutorial is designed to help graduate students take qualifying exams on the field of twentieth-century South Asian history. Some themes we study include changes in the domains of religion and law in late colonial India, on the events and consequences of the partition of India, and on the possibilities of a comparative history of post-colonial South Asia.

In this course we will read and discuss a wide range of texts about South Asia¿s rich and contentious past. Major topics include change and continuity under colonial rule; law and colonialism; debates over nationalism and the Partition of the subcontinent; and developments in post-colonial South Asia.

This tutorial comprises a list of guided readings for graduate students of the History department who are working in histories of convict labor and their uses in domestic and global contexts. It works at the intersections of gender, legal and imperial labor histories.

This course provides the opportunity to offer a new course in the subject of Buddhism.

Provides a systematic introduction to Tibetan Buddhism with a strong emphasis on tantric traditions of Buddhism - philosophy, contemplation, ritual, monastic life, pilgrimage, deities & demons, ethics, society, history, and art. The course aims to understand how these various aspects of Tibetan religious life mutually shape each other to form the unique religious traditions that have pertained on the Tibetan plateau for over a thousand years.

An introduction to environmental ideas, texts and practices of Buddhism in broad historical and geographical context. Engages Buddhist "environmental imagination" through readings of primary texts, considers the ways that contemporary Buddhists around the world have interpreted environmental problems, and the ways that Buddhist modernist movements draw upon Buddhist ideologies in the service of social-environmental change.

Theravada, Mahayana, and Tantrayana Buddhist developments in India.

Introduces Buddhist literature in translation, from India, Tibet, and East and South East Asia.

This course examines the ways in which Chinese Buddhism differs from the Buddhisms of other countries. The first half of the course introduces Buddhism with a focus on the historical development of the tradition.The second half of the course surveys several philosophical schools and forms of practice including Huayan, Chan, Pure Land, and Tantric Buddhism.

This course focuses on meditation from three overlapping perspectives: traditional Buddhist practices, contemporary scientific research, and modern secular adaptations; students also learn secular meditative practices firsthand. Each day we will explore a major type of meditation that relates to a variety of topics and practices - attention, insight, compassion, aesthetics, somatic work, visualization, open awareness, and so forth.

This is a lecture-based course--an idiosyncratic but hopefully helpful introduction to Buddhist philosophy. A few aspects of Buddhist philosophy, at any rate. The subject is potentially endless and can be grabbed from several different ends. Note: this course emphasizes the history of Buddhist concepts and arguments in premodern South Asia. But we will explore what are hopefully ideas of interest: in philosophy of mind; metaphysics; gender.

This course is an introduction to Buddhism and an exploration of the place of Buddhism within contemporary Asian, European, and North American cultures through film. The goals are 1) to identify longstanding Buddhist narrative themes in contemporary films, 2) to consider how Buddhism is employed in films to address contemporary issues, and 3) to gain through film a vivid sense of Buddhism as a complex social and cultural phenomenon.

Studies the development and history of the thought, practice, and goals of Zen Buddhism.

This course provides the opportunity to offer a new course in the subject of Buddhism.

This course serves as an introduction to the religious beliefs and practices of China, Taiwan, and the Chinese diaspora. The course covers several broad themes in Chinese religion, including ritual, self-cultivation, means of communicating with the gods, and the intersection of political authority and religion. We will engage with textual, material, and visual traditions.

This course surveys the history of Daoist literature, thought, and practice. We will consider how early Daoism emerged in the context of other religious practices, how it developed institutional forms, and how textual revelations led to new traditions. We will also examine how Daoism defined itself against Buddhism and the role Daoist ritual plays in the contemporary religious landscape of Taiwan and China

The goal of this course will be to examine different conceptions of Buddhist meditation and how these different conceptions affect the nature of practice and the understanding of the ideal life within a variety of Buddhist traditions. Thus, the study of Buddhist meditation traditions reveals not just intricate forms of practice, but reveals the nature of the good life and how one lives it.

Buddhist Mysticism and Modernity

This course provides an in-depth experience in contemplative practices to prepare students to live more fully, be more engaged & compassionate citizens & professionals, & navigate life's stressors with greater clarity, peace of mind, & healthy behaviors. Besides mindfulness training, this course will also foster the cultivation of compassion and prosocial qualities. For more info: http://pages.shanti.virginia.edu/Mindfulness__Compassion/.

This seminar takes as its point of departure Carolyn Bynum's statements: "No scholar studying religion, no participant in ritual, is ever neuter. Religious experience is the experience of men and women, and in no known society is this experience the same." The unifying theme is gender and Buddhism, exploring historical, textual and social questions relevant to the status of women and men in the Buddhist world from its origins to the present day.

This course is a survey of religions in Japan as well as their roles in Japanese culture and society. The topics that will be discussed are syncretism between Buddhism and Shinto, the development of uniquely Japanese forms of Buddhism, the spontaneous emergence of Pure Land Buddhism, the use of Shinto as a nationalistic ideology, and the role of Christianity. No prerequisites; but a basic knowledge of Buddhism or Japanese history is useful.

Common to all the world¿s philosophies is engagement with the claim that all that exists in the universe is ultimately one, whether in one¿s awareness or in actual fact. This course examines how Hindus and Buddhists have articulated this idea, basing the same in detailed analysis of one¿s subjective awareness of reality, in an examination of the nature of existence independent of one¿s experience of it, and on the basis of scriptural revelation.

This seminar will examine what Buddhists mean when they talk about Nirvana. We'll begin with how the concept of Nirvana develops in the culture in which Sakyamuni Buddha lived and taught, explore how different forms of Buddhism in Sri Lanka, Tibet, China, Japan, and in the west developed new ideas about what Nirvana is and how it can be experienced. We'll read classic sutras on the topic, as well as books and essays by contemporary Zen Masters.

Tibet possesses one of the great Buddhist philosophical traditions in the world. Tibetan Buddhist thinkers composed comprehensive and philosophically rigorous works on human growth according to classical Buddhism, works that surveyed ethics, meditation practice, the nature of personal identity, and enlightenment itself. In this seminar we will read and discuss famous Tibetan overviews of Buddhist philosophy. Pre-Requisites: One prior course in religion or philosophy recommended

This course examines social and cultural dynamics of Buddhism in relation to its rapid and recent transmutation into a global religion. Drawing upon anthropological theory on globalization, and ethnographic and historical studies, it addresses topics such as processes of transmission and adaptation, encounters with modernity, and the role of mass migration and electronic media in the process of transnationalization of Buddhist traditions.

This course explores the origins and development of Buddhism in South Asia. It assumes students have no prior knowledge of Buddhism. The goal is to understand the complex of teachings, practices, and relationships that would become known later as Buddhism and, simultaneously, how such a complex has developed within specific cultural contexts.

This course provides the opportunity to offer a new course in the subject of Buddhism.

This course is a seminar that examines the development of Buddhism in America going from its earliest appearance to contemporary developments.

This topical course provides upper level undergraduate students in Religious Studies an opportunity for advanced coursework in Buddhism

This course will explore how scholars have understood the concept of Orientalism to describe processes in which Westerners have distorted (and even constructed wholesale) understandings of what Buddhism can be to serve their own interests. We will begin with Edward Said's foundational work, Orientalism, then consider how his ideas have been used to develop critiques of Western understandings of Buddhism up to the present day.

A history of Tibetan Buddhist literature from the origins in the 7th century to the early 20th century, focused on literature produced in Tibet, covering major genres and styles from all the major schools, traditions, eras and regions. Weekly readings of excerpts and short pieces. Course is entirely in English translation. Knowledge of Tibetan language encouraged but not required. Seminar format, active discussion required.

Study of the Pali and Sanskritic Buddhist philosophical traditions.

Examines selected topics in the major schools of Japanese Buddhism, Tendai, Shingon, Pure Land, Nichiren, and Zen. Prerequisite: RELB 2130 or 3160, or instructor permission.

Examines the Dzokchen tradition of Tibetan Buddhist Tantra focusing on its philosophical and contemplative systems and its historical and social contexts.

Readings in Sanskrit religious and philosophical texts, their syntax, grammar, and translation. Prerequisite: SANS 5010, 5020, or equivalent and instructor permission.

Readings in Sanskrit religious and philosophical texts, their syntax, grammar, and translation. Prerequisite: SANS 5010, 5020, or equivalent and instructor permission.

Studies the Middle Way School of Madhyamika, including Nagarjuna's reasoning and its intent and place in the spiritual path.

Advanced study in the philosophical and spiritual language of Tibet, past and present. Prerequisite: RELB 5000, 5010, 5350, 5360, or equivalent.

Advanced study in the philosophical and spiritual language of Tibet, past and present. Prerequisite: RELB 5000, 5010, 5350, 5360, or equivalent.

Surveys political, social, religious, and intellectual issues in Tibetan history from the fifth to fifteenth centuries, emphasizing the formation of the classical categories, practices, and ideals of Tibetan Buddhism.

This course introduces the structure, scope, and contents of the Tibetan-language Buddhist canonical collections. We will read and discuss selections in both English and Tibetan from the 5000 works in the Scripture (Bka' 'gyur) and Treatise (Bstan 'gyur) collections, as well as reference aids and current research on the canons. The course goal is to develop a firm basis for all research involving Tibetan-language canonical literature.

Topics on the history, scripture, thought, and practice of religious Daoism, with an emphasis on the formative period (2nd-10th c.).

This course provides the opportunity to offer a new course in the subject of Buddhism.

Over the fourteen weeks of the semester, we will explore the following question: How did we go from Buddhism as a highly marginal and even overtly marginalized phenomenon at the end of WWII to a highly influential and culturally powerful force? We will move toward one part of the answer by looking at the genealogy of insight meditation in America.

Studies Chinese religion and society within the context of a specific period of Chinese history, or in terms of a specific theme. Buddhism, Daoism, Confucianism, and popular religion will be covered (along with other forms of religion, as appropriate).

Examines the Yogachara-Svatantrika system as presented in Jang-kya's Presentation of Tenets, oral debate, and exercises in spoken Tibetan. Prerequisite: RELB 5000, 5010, 5350, 5360, 5470, 5480 or equivalent.

Examines the Yogachara-Svatantrika system as presented in Jang-kya's Presentation of Tenets, oral debate, and exercises in spoken Tibetan. Prerequisite: RELB 5000, 5010, 5350, 5360, 5470, 5480 or equivalent

Examines the major schools of Chinese Buddhism: T'ien-t'ai, Hua-yen, Pure Land, and Ch'an.

This course provides the opportunity to offer a new course in the subject of Buddhism.

Readings in various genres, including philosophy, poetry, ritual, narrative, and so forth.

Advanced readings in poetry, psychology, or philosophy.

This course provides the opportunity to offer a new course in the subject of Buddhism.

This tutorial introduces the structure, scope, and contents of the Tibetan-language Buddhist canonical collections. We will read and discuss selections in both English and Tibetan from the 5000 works in the Scripture (Bka' 'gyur) and Treatise (Bstan 'gyur) collections, as well as reference aids and current research on the canons. The course goal is to develop a firm basis for all research involving Tibetan-language canonical literature.

This course is exploring one of the most important scriptures in the history of esoteric Buddhism, the Thalgyur, and its extensive commentary attributed to Vimalamitra. The two texts are over a thousand pages in length, only existent in Tibetan, and extremely difficult to understand. This course explores the texts through detailed philological and interpretative analysis.

This tutorial constitutes a reading course in Sanskrit, the classical language of India. Students will read the original texts and translate them into English, analyzing and interpreting the materials in light of the Indian tradition of commentary and exegesis and in light of contemporary scholarly and other analyses of the relevant subject matter: Buddhist esoteric literature, a.k.a. Buddhist Tantra.

This course explores classical Tibetan literature and religious systems through a variety of genres in the original Tibetan texts.

This tutorial explores key recent works on the Buddhism of South and Southeast Asia. It includes the study of pre-modern and modern forms of what comes to be called Theravada Buddhism.

This tutorial will train students to read Buddhist Philosophical texts in Sanskrit at an advanced level.

In this course students will read a selection of Pali canonical and commentarial texts.

This tutorial will focus on the translation of Chinese Buddhist texts into English. Texts will be drawn from a variety of time periods, traditions, and genres. Students will gain familiarity with Buddhist Chinese, and the themes and conventions of Buddhist texts.

This tutorial will examine the field of Buddhist Studies from its formation in Asia, Europe, and North America to contemporary critiques. We will consider the underlying assumptions, historical changes in what is taken to be the object of study, and the contributions of different methodological approaches. The aim is to provide students of Buddhism with a means to situate their own research in the context of the larger field of Buddhist Studies.

This tutorial will examine the making of gender in Buddhist practice across Asia. We will interweave discussions in three regions of Asia: We will read historical texts on men, women, and Pa¿¿aka from South Asia; women as patrons of Buddhist art in East Asia; and contemporary ethnographic accounts of gender and gendered Buddhist movements in Southeast Asia

Surveys the Hindu religious heritage from pre-history to the 17th century; includes the Jain and Sikh protestant movements.

An investigation of yoga practice throughout history from multiple disciplinary perspectives. Topics include yoga's origins in ancient India, systematic yoga theories in Buddhism and Hinduism, Tantric Yoga, and the medicalization and globalization of Yoga in the modern period. Students' readings and writing assignments are supplemented throughout with practical instruction in yoga.

his course provides the opportunity to offer a new course in the subject of Hinduism

This course will explore Hindu views of the relationship between human, natural, and divine worlds, as well as the work of contemporary environmentalists in India. We will read texts both classical and modern (from the Bhagavad Gita to the writings of Gandhi), and will consider case studies of Hindu responses to issues such as wildlife conservation, pollution, deforestation, and industrial agriculture.

Examines Jain history, belief, and practice. Prerequisite: RELG 1040, RELH 2090, 2110, or instructor permission.

Common to all the world¿s philosophies is engagement with the claim that all that exists in the universe is ultimately one, whether in one¿s awareness or in actual fact. This course examines how Hindus and Buddhists have articulated this idea, basing the same in detailed analysis of one¿s subjective awareness of reality, in an examination of the nature of existence independent of one¿s experience of it, and on the basis of scriptural revelation.

Yoga is practiced by millions of people across the world and comes in an astonishing variety of forms. Historically, yoga has roots in ancient Indian practices of asceticism and meditation. But how are these practices related to yoga as it practiced today? This seminar will trace the history of yoga from its earliest origins to the present. Readings will include both primary sources (in translation) and works of contemporary scholarship.

The purpose of this course is to study the phenomenon of religious violence in one geographic and cultural context. We will examine the roles of religion and violence in Indian political life from the British period until contemporary times, and through the Indian example, we will explore current questions and problems regarding the relationship between religion and politics.

This course provides the opportunity to offer a new course in the subject of Hinduism.

This course examines western encounters with India by reading the fiction and travel writing of Europeans, expatriate Indians, and Americans in India. In reading such works, the course will explore the place of India in the European and American literary and cultural imagination.

Examines a major genre of Hindu religious narrative. Genre varies but may include the epics; the mythology of the Puranas; the 'didactic' Kathasaritsagara and Pancatantra; the hagiographies of the great Hindu saints; and the modern novel. Prerequisite: RELG 1040, RELH 2090, RELH 2110, or instructor permission.

This course involves the close reading of selected passages of the Hindu Epics, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. Students will read the primary sources in translation (from one or both epics), along with relevant secondary scholarly works. An advanced knowledge of Indian religions and/or Hinduism is presumed of students wishing to enroll in this course.

This course offers an advanced survey of the "six schools" of Indian philosophy. The purpose of the course is to develop a strong familiarity with the major schools of Hindu thought and the major philosophical concerns they addressed, and students will be asked to develop an historical understanding of the relevant authors and traditions. We will read primary texts in translation, along with selected secondary sources.

As yoga has risen to global prominence, the scholarly study of yoga has flourished. This course offers an introduction to this scholarship, as well as an overview of the theory and practice of yoga from its ancient past to the present day. The course will focus primarily on historically Hindu traditions, though some attention will devoted to parallel traditions from Buddhism and Jainism.

This course examines Hindu-Muslim interactions in South Asia, bridging the long-standing gap between Hindu and Islamic studies while introducing critical issues currently facing the historiography of Hindu-Muslim relations. Special topics within the ambit of Hindu-Muslim encounters will be explored in depth, with a particular emphasis on intellectual interactions between traditions of Hindu and Islamic philosophy.

This course examines philosophical debates of Hindu and Buddhist authors from the time of the founding of Buddhism to the medieval period. Primary sources in translation and secondary, scholarly sources are examined in this course. Prerequisite: Significant prior exposure to Hinduism and/or Buddhism.

The purpose of this course is to provide a comprehensive introduction to Indian tantric Saivism, beginning with the proto-tantric traditions of the "Outer Way" (atiarga) and including the increasingly goddess orientated and increasingly non-dualistic developments evidenced by the myriad traditions of the "Way of Mantras" (mantramarga). Students who wish to take this course are expected to have a deep familiarity with Hindu traditions.

This course will examine the public and social dimensions of Hinduism. Topics will include the role of religion in shaping social institutions (e.g.: caste, the law), cultural attitudes toward sexual and other personal relationships, and the relationship between religion and government. Put in emic terms, we will explore the nature of the first three of the four Hindu goals of life (purusarthas): dharma, artha, and kama. Prerequisite: Basic Knowledge of Hindu Traditions

This course provides the opportunity to offer a new course in the subject of Hinduism.

This course will explore the intellectual and social history of Vedanta, one of the most influential schools of Indian philosophy. We will trace its rise to prominence from the early classical period, when it was one of several competing schools, to the colonial period, when it came to be identified by many as the essence of Hinduism.

This course offers a comprehensive introduction to the system of the great Sanskrit grammarian, Panini. The purpose of the course is to cultivate familiarity and facility with Panini's generative grammar. Students will learn the principles of the grammar and how to apply them in addressing a range of technical and grammatical issues. Key commentators on the grammar will also be read, as will relevant secondary sources.

This tutorial constitutes a reading course in Sanskrit, the classical language of India. Students will read the original texts and translate them into English, analyzing and interpreting the materials in light of the Indian tradition of commentary and exegesis and in light of contemporary scholarly and other analyses of the relevant subject matter: aesthetics, or the alamkarasastra.

This tutorial constitutes a reading course in Sanskrit, the classical language of India. Students will read the original texts and translate them into English, analyzing and interpreting the materials in light of the Indian tradition of commentary and exegesis and in light of contemporary scholarly and other analyses of the relevant subject matter: the stotra genre or that of Indian devotional poetry.

This tutorial constitutes a reading course in Sanskrit, the classical language of India. Students will read in Sanskrit the primary sources associated with "Hindu Law," the Dharmasutras, Dharmasastras, and the literature on Artha or Statecraft. Advanced Knowledge of Sanskrit required.

This tutorial constitutes a reading course in Sanskrit, the classical language of India. Students will read the original texts and translate them into English, analyzing and interpreting the materials in light of the Indian tradition of commentary and exegesis and in light of contemporary scholarly and other analyses of the relevant subject matter: philosophical literature.

This tutorial offers an advanced introduction to Hinduism and ecology for graduate students working on religion and environment. The course will explore Hindu views of the relationship between human, natural, and divine worlds, as well as the work of contemporary environmentalists in India. At the end of the course, students will submit an original research project contributing to existing scholarship in the field.

Tutorial constitutes a reading course in Sanskrit, the classical language of India.  Students will read the original texts and translate them into English, analyzing and interpreting the materials in light of the Indian tradition of commentary and exegesis and in light of contemporary scholarly and other analyses of the relevant subject matter: Saiva Religion.

Studies Sanskrit sounds, the Devanagari script, and basic grammar.

A continuation of SANS 1010. Prerequisite: SANS 1010. Note: The following six courses are all intermediate level Sanskrit courses. They are offered two-by-two in a three-year rotation.

A continuation of SANS 1010. Prerequisite: SANS 1010. Note: The following six courses are all intermediate level Sanskrit courses. They are offered two-by-two in a three-year rotation.

A second-year course focusing on developing reading fluency in Sanskrit. Selections are chosen to reinforce students' knowledge of grammar from SANS 1020, to expand vocabulary and to introduce the Mahabharata, one of ancient India's major epics. Prerequisite: SANS 1020.

A second-year course focusing on developing reading fluency in Sanskrit. Selections are chosen to reinforce student's knowledge of grammar from SANS 1020, to expand vocabulary, and to introduce the Ramayana of Valmiki, one of two major epics of ancient India, and the 'first poem' in Sanskrit. Prerequisite: SANS 1020.

A second-year course focusing on developing reading fluency in Sanskrit. Selections are chosen to reinforce student's knowledge of grammar from SANS 5020, to expand vocabulary, and to introduce the Kathasaritsagara of Somadeva, the most important collection of story literature in Sanskrit. Prerequisite: SANS 1020.

A second-year course focusing on developing reading fluency in Sanskrit. Selections are chosen to reinforce students' knowledge of grammar from SANS 1020, to expand vocabulary and to introduce the Bhagavadgita, a major religious text of ancient India. Prerequisite: SANS 1020.

A second-year course focusing on developing reading fluency in Sanskrit. Selections are chosen to reinforce student's knowledge of grammar from SANS 1020/5020, to expand vocabulary, and to introduce the Upanisads, a major spiritual text of ancient India. Prerequisite: SANS 1020.

A second-year course focusing on developing reading fluency in Sanskrit. Selections are chosen to reinforce student's knowledge of grammar from SANS 5020, to expand vocabulary, and to introduce the huge corpus of Puranic texts. Prerequisite: SANS 1020.

This course centers on selected passages from the Buddhacarita of Asvaghosa. Class time will be devoted primarily to translation and grammatical analysis and secondarily to discussion of the content. This course has three objectives: 1. to shore up and expand your knowledge of grammar, 2. to expand your reading vocabulary and increase the speed of your reading comprehension, and 3. to introduce you to the story of the Buddha in Sanskrit.

This course provides the opportunity to offer a new topic in the subject area of South Asian studies.

This course is meant to give students training in advanced Sanskrit

A study of sounds of Sanskrit, the Devanagari script and the basic grammar. Prerequisite: graduate standing.

A second-year course focusing on developing reading fluency in Sanskrit. Selections are chosen to reinforce students' knowledge of grammar from SANS 5020, to expand vocabulary and to introduce the Mahabharata, one of ancient India's major epics. Prerequisite: SANS 5020 and graduate standing.

A second-year course focusing on developing reading fluency in Sanskrit. Selections are chosen to reinforce student's knowledge of grammar from SANS 5020, to expand vocabulary, and to introduce the Kathasaritsagara of Somadeva, the most important collection of story literature in Sanskrit. Prerequisite: SANS 5020 and graduate standing.

A continuation of SANS 5010. Prerequisite: SANS 5010 or instructor permission. Note: The following six courses are all intermediate level Sanskrit courses. They are offered two-by-two in a three-year rotation.

A second-year course focusing on developing reading fluency in Sanskrit. Selections are chosen to reinforce students' knowledge of grammar from SANS 5020, to expand vocabulary and to introduce the Bhagavadgita, a major religious text of ancient India. Prerequisite: SANS 5020 and graduate standing.

A second-year course focusing on developing reading fluency in Sanskrit. Selections are chosen to reinforce student's knowledge of grammar from SANS 5020, to expand vocabulary, and to introduce the Upanisads, a major spiritual text of ancient India. Prerequisite: SANS 5020.

A second-year course focusing on developing reading fluency in Sanskrit. Selections are chosen to reinforce student's knowledge of grammar from SANS 5020, to expand vocabulary, and to introduce the huge corpus of Puranic texts. Prerequisite: SANS 5020.

This course provides the opportunity to offer a new topic in the subject area of South Asian studies.

Independent Study in Sanskrit.

The course will focus in on the period since 1990, when India took dramatic steps to reform its economic policies and re-set its relationships with other world powers. Students will be introduced to a wide range of initiatives taking place in a variety of public and privates sectors, and be encouraged through focused case studies to learn about opportunities for them to discover their own interests, possibly by studying in India with the UVa.

The course will not be a conventional "introduction" to India which customarily emphasizes cultural history. Though there will be a short section at the beginning of the course that provides an overview of India's history, we will quickly move, after 6 class meetings, to the post-independence era, and focus in on the period since 1990, when India took steps to reform its economic policies and re-set its relationships with other world powers

A survey of the foundational, formative and paradigmatic classic texts of the Indian Vedic, Buddhist, Jain, Hindu, Islamic and Sikh religio-literary-cultural traditions.

This course is an overview of the cultural dynamics as evident in the languages, literature and the arts from 2500BCE to the present. Drawing on a selection from the literary as well as writings on cultural history, miniature painting, music and cinema, the course will guide the students through the landmarks in the development of literature and the arts within a historical-cultural backdrop.

New course in South Asian studies.

This course approaches South Asia and its cultural diversity from the inside out, rather than from an `other' centered, western viewpoint. This course is not about the history of South Asia. It is about understanding the contemporary cultural milieu 'the world as seen reflexively and reflectively through a South Asian lens. We will be reading and discussing almost exclusively South Asian voices' opinions and perceptions.

This class will focus on cinema produced by the industry in Mumbai, popularly called Bollywood. Topics will include the relationship between fiction and documentation, between melodrama and realism, music and affect. Students will be taught the tools of film analysis and will be expected to watch and unpack films each week. They will also be expected to consider films in the social, political and economic contexts in which they were made.

In this class we will examine how South Asia (primarily India, Pakistan, and Bangla Desh) came to be a legitimate area of academic investigation within the modern American and European university. How did the various disciplinary discourses pertaining to South Asia (anthropology, religious studies, art history, literature, etc.) get their starts? A close look at the history of British colonialism will serve as our point of departure.

This course provides the opportunity to offer a new topic in the subject area of South Asian studies.

South Asia, the region which stretches from Afghanistan to Burma and down to Sri Lanka, has been the center of thousands of years of trade and finance. In this course we will investigate the early history of this vast flow through the following: the highlights of the history of business and banking, trade and finance from about 1500 B.C to the early European merchant adventurers , the worlds and cultures that were implicated in that history.

In this course we will investigate the history of this vast flow through the following: the highlights of the history of business and banking, trade and finance that include the early European merchant adventurers, joint stock companies and other collectives, the beginnings of share markets, the worlds and cultures that were implicated in that history, and some of the theoretical questions that help us understand how business and banking worked.

New Course in South Asian Studies

This is the fourth-year capstone seminar for students majoring in South Asian Studies. This course will draw on the multidisciplinary interests of the students who participate to create a collaborative and collegial environment in which to investigate some of the foundational concepts and categories involved in the construction of "South Asia" as unified area of academic discourse.

Independent Study course

This class will focus on cinema produced by the industry in Mumbai, popularly called Bollywood. Topics will include the relationship between fiction and documentation, between melodrama and realism, music and affect. Students will be taught the tools of film analysis and will be expected to watch and unpack films each week. They will also be expected to consider films in the social, political and economic contexts in which they were made.

This course provides the opportunity to offer a new topic in the subject area of South Asian studies.

South Asia, the region which stretches from Afghanistan to Burma and down to Sri Lanka, has been the center of thousands of years of trade and finance. In this course we will investigate the early history of this vast flow through the following: the highlights of the history of business and banking, trade and finance from about 1500 B.C to the early European merchant adventurers , the worlds and cultures that were implicated in that history.

In this course we will investigate the history of this vast flow through the following: the highlights of the history of business and banking, trade and finance that include the early European merchant adventurers, joint stock companies and other collectives, the beginnings of share markets, the worlds and cultures that were implicated in that history, and some of the theoretical questions that help us understand how business and banking worked.

Travel writing is among the oldest forms of literature, especially in Asia. This course explores depictions of the Indian sub-continent by travel writers from Buddhist pilgrims to Arab geographers to colonial and post-colonial writers.

We will read and critique the fiction and poetry of culturally specific regions while reflecting on the assumption that experiences and identities are fundamentally gendered. We will explore issues associated with women writing in regional languages to writing in mainstream languages like Hindi, Urdu and English. We will also examine how the publication and dissemination of women's texts are related to the women movements in India and Pakistan. Prerequisite: Completion of First Writing Requirement

What is love? How is it articulated? Is love devotion? What is passion? What are the different forms of desire? The object of desire may be human (male or female), divine, abstract or ambiguous; its defining trait is its inaccessibility. Poets through the ages have expressed love and devotion through language. We will read and ponder the poetics of love.

This upper level course will comprise readings that will cover a broad spectrum of what constitutes the "modern" in Urdu and Hindi Literature. The course will track the historical beginning of Urdu-Hindi as a language, its development as a literary language and the complexities of the divide form one to two distinct languages: modern Hindi and modern Urdu.

Dalit literature is perhaps the most remarkable literary movement to emerge in post-independence India. It is the voice of the most marginalized section of India's population, those formerly known as untouchables. Until the advent of Dalit literature, the lives of Dalits had seldom been recorded in Indian literature. We will read fictional and non-fictional narratives of Dalit writers, and watch films to visualize and comprehend their lives.

The course explores some of the most influential literatures of love and devotion to emerge from the Indian subcontinent. Starting with the Bhagavad-Gita -- the first South Asian text to dwell upon the idea of bhakti or "devotion" -- then to various other "classics" of South Asian love literature, spanning the Sanskrit, Persian, Hindi-Urdu, Tamil, Punjabi, Kashmiri, and other languages. Emphasis will be placed on Hindu and Islamic literature.

New Course in South Asian Literature in Translation

This upper level course will comprise readings that will cover a broad spectrum of what constitutes the "modern" in Urdu and Hindi Literature. The course will track the historical beginning of Urdu-Hindi as a language, its development as a literary language and the complexities of the divide form one to two distinct languages: modern Hindi and modern Urdu.

New Course in South Asian Literature in Translation

Dalit literature is perhaps the most remarkable literary movement to emerge in post-independence India. It is the voice of the most marginalized section of India's population, those formerly known as untouchables. Until the advent of Dalit literature, the lives of Dalits had seldom been recorded in Indian literature. We will read fictional and non-fictional narratives of Dalit writers, and watch films to visualize and comprehend their lives.

In this class we will conduct an intensive review of the Nastaliq script and the basic grammar of the Urdu language.This is not a class for students with no prior knowledge of Urdu. Rather it is designed to take advantage of the familiarity you already have with Urdu by virtue of growing up in a family where Urdu is frequently spoken. The pace will be quick, with an eye to enabling you to proceed directly to a 2000- or 3000-level Urdu class.

This course is to allow 1000-level new courses in Urdu to be taught for one semester.

Introduces various types of written and spoken Urdu; vocabulary building, idioms, and problems of syntax; and conversation. Prerequisite: for URDU 2010: HIND 1020 or equivalent.

Prerequisite: for URDU 2020: URDU 2010 or equivalent.

This course is designed to expand and to consolidate the structures the student has learned through URDU 2020 by reading original Urdu texts, ranging from literary prose fiction to news media excerpts to poetry (both classical and modern). We will discuss these texts in Urdu in class, and the students will be responsible for a series of short essays throughout the semester in Urdu pertaining both to the texts and to other topics. Pre-requisites: URDU 2020 or equivalent, or instructor permission.

This course is designed to expand and to consolidate the structures the student has learned through URDU 2020 by reading original Urdu texts, ranging from literary prose fiction to news media excerpts to poetry (both classical and modern). We will discuss these texts in Urdu in class, and the students will be responsible for a series of short essays throughout the semester in Urdu pertaining both to the texts and to other topics. Pre-requisites: URDU 2020 or equivalent, or instructor permission.

In this class we will conduct close readings (in Urdu!) of several of Manto's short fiction writings, and will discuss them in detail. There will be weekly assignments, a final take-home exam, and a final video project. Prerequisite: URDU 2020 or instructor permission.

In this class we will conduct close readings (in Urdu!) of several of Masud's short fiction writings, and will discuss them in detail. There will be weekly assignments, a final take-home exam, and a final video project. Prerequisite: URDU 2020 or instructor permission.

In this class we will conduct close readings (in Urdu!) of several 20th-century dramas/plays, and will discuss them in detail. There will be weekly assignments, a final take-home exam, and a final video project. Prerequisite: URDU 2020 or instructor permission.

This course will introduce advanced Urdu and Hindi students to some of the finest poetry in Urdu. Those who cannot read the Urdu script will have the option of reading the texts in Devanagari (the Hindi script). Some of the poets we will read are Mir, Ghalib, Dagh and Faiz. Course work will include brief analytical papers, as well as in-class presentations. Prerequisites: URDU 3010 or 3020; or HIND 3010 or 3020; or instructor permission.

This course is to allow 3000-level new courses in Urdu to be taught for one semester.

Independent Study in Urdu

This course is designed to expand and to consolidate the structures the student has learned through URDU 2020 by reading original Urdu texts, ranging from literary prose fiction to news media excerpts to poetry (both classical and modern). We will discuss these texts in Urdu in class, and the students will be responsible for a series of short essays throughout the semester in Urdu pertaining both to the texts and to other topics. Prerequisites: URDU 2020 or instructor permission.

This course is designed to expand and to consolidate the structures the student has learned through URDU 2020 by reading original Urdu texts, ranging from literary prose fiction to news media excerpts to poetry (both classical and modern). We will discuss these texts in Urdu in class, and the students will be responsible for a series of short essays throughout the semester in Urdu pertaining both to the texts and to other topics. Prerequisites: URDU 2020 or instructor permission

This course will introduce advanced Urdu and Hindi students to some of the finest poetry in Urdu. Those who cannot read the Urdu script will have the option of reading the texts in Devanagari (the Hindi script). Some of the poets we will read are Mir, Ghalib, Dagh and Faiz. Course work will include brief analytical papers, as well as in-class presentations. Prerequisites: URDU 3010 or 3020; or HIND 3010 or 3020; or instructor permission.

Independent study in Urdu language and/or literature. Prerequisite: URDU 5010 or 5020 or equivalent, or instructor permission.