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Hamsa Stainton

Academic title(s): 

Associate Professor of South Asian Religions (Hinduism)

Hamsa Stainton
Contact Information
Address: 

3520 University Street, Room 307
Montreal, Quebec
H3A 2A7, Canada

Phone: 
514-398-3962
Fax number: 
514-398-6665
Email address: 
hamsa.stainton [at] mcgill.ca
Degree(s): 

B.A. (Cornell)
M.T.S. (Harvard Divinity School)
M.Phil. (Columbia University)
Ph.D. (Columbia University)

Specialization: 

South Asian religions; Hinduism; Sanskrit language and literature; Indian aesthetics; Kashmir; Shaivism and Tantric traditions; the Mahabharata and Ramayana; the history of yoga; bhakti traditions.

Biography: 

Hamsa Stainton is an听Associate Professor in the School of Religious Studies at 91社区. He completed graduate work at Columbia University (Ph.D.) and Harvard Divinity School (M.T.S.), and he previously taught at the University of Kansas. He specializes in South Asian religions, particularly Hinduism, and has spent many years studying and traveling in South Asia. He teaches classes on a variety of topics related to the history and diversity of South Asian religions, including courses on the history of yoga, the Ramayana and Mahabharata, bhakti and Tantric traditions, and Hindu goddesses. His recent research and publications focus on the religious and literary history of Kashmir, and specifically the genre of Sanskrit devotional poetry known as the stotra (hymn of praise). His recent monograph, Poetry as Prayer in the Sanskrit Hymns of Kashmir (Oxford University Press, 2019), charts the trajectory of this genre in Kashmir from the eighth century to the present. He has also published a volume on Hindu Tantra, co-edited with Dr. Bettina B盲umer, called Tantrapu峁膩帽jali: Tantric Traditions and Philosophy of Kashmir; Studies in Memory of Pandit H.N. Chakravarty. His current research, funded by a SSHRC Insight Development Grant, is called 鈥淣avigating the Ocean of Hymns: Popular Sanskrit and the Historiography of Hinduism.鈥�

Courses: 
  • RELG 252 Hinduism & Buddhism 3 Credits
      Offered in the:
    • Fall
    • Winter
    • Summer

  • RELG 254 Intro to Yoga Traditions 3 Credits
      Offered in the:
    • Fall
    • Winter
    • Summer

  • RELG 350 Bhakti Hinduism 3 Credits
      Offered in the:
    • Fall
    • Winter
    • Summer

  • RELG 372 Hindu Goddesses 3 Credits
      Offered in the:
    • Fall
    • Winter
    • Summer

  • RELG 459 Bhagavadgita & Mahabharata 3 Credits
      Offered in the:
    • Fall
    • Winter
    • Summer

  • RELG 545 Ramayana: Multiple Lives 3 Credits
      Offered in the:
    • Fall
    • Winter
    • Summer

  • RELG 547 Special Topics in Hinduism 3 Credits
      Offered in the:
    • Fall
    • Winter
    • Summer

  • RELG 558 Indian Tantric Traditions 3 Credits
      Offered in the:
    • Fall
    • Winter
    • Summer

  • RELG 659 Many Mahabharatas 3 Credits
      Offered in the:
    • Fall
    • Winter
    • Summer

  • RELG 665 Primary Text: Sanskrit 1 3 Credits
      Offered in the:
    • Fall
    • Winter
    • Summer

  • RELG 666 Primary Text: Sanskrit 2 3 Credits
      Offered in the:
    • Fall
    • Winter
    • Summer

Selected publications: 

听

"The Guru as 艢iva: Govinda Kaula鈥檚 骋耻谤耻蝉迟耻迟颈谤补迟苍腻惫补濒墨 and a Lineage of Devotion in Kashmir.鈥� Indo-Iranian Journal 64.4 (2021): 348-376.

"Wretched and Blessed: Emotional Praise in a Sanskrit Hymn from Kashmir." In Emotions in Classical Indian Thought, edited by Maria Heim, Chakravarthi Ram-Prasad, and Roy Tzohar. Bloomsbury Research Handbooks in Asian Philosophy Series. New York: Bloomsbury, forthcoming.

Poetry as Prayer in the Sanskrit Hymns of Kashmir. Religion in Translation Series of the American Academy of Religion. New York: Oxford University Press, 2019. ().

Tantrapu峁膩帽jali: Tantric听Traditions and Philosophy of Kashmir; Studies in Memory of Pandit H.N. Chakravarty, co-edited with Bettina Sharada B盲umer. Delhi: Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, 2018.

"Poetry and K峁mar膩ja鈥檚 Hermeneutics of Non-dualism." In Tantrapu峁膩帽jali: Tantric Traditions and Philosophy of Kashmir; Studies in Memory of Pandit H.N. Chakravarty, edited by Hamsa Stainton and Bettina Sharada B盲umer, 339-368. Delhi: Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, 2018.

"Poetry as Prayer: The 艢aiva Hymns of Jagaddhara of Kashmir." Vol. ed. by Jonathan Edelmann. International Journal of Hindu Studies 20.3 (2016): 339-354.

"Book Review: Ratnakan蹋t蹋has Stotras: Su虅ryastutirahasya, Ratnas虂ataka und S虂ambhukr蹋pa虅manoharastava, J. Hanneder, S. Jager, A. Sanderson.鈥� In Indo-Iranian Journal (Brill) 59.4 (2016): 365-370.

鈥淏ook Review: Ithamar Theodor, Exploring the Bhagavad G墨t膩: Philosophy, Structure and Meaning (Ashgate, 2010).鈥� In Philosophy East and West 64, no. 3 (July 2014): 807-812.

鈥淭rika.鈥� In The Encyclopedia of Indian Religions: Hinduism, ed. by Rita Sherma. Springer, forthcoming.

鈥淪om膩nanda.鈥� In The Encyclopedia of Indian Religions: Hinduism, ed. by Rita Sherma. Springer, forthcoming.

Graduate supervision: 

Ali Smears, M.A. (thesis), "Mobilizing Shakti: Hindu Goddesses and Campaigns Against Gender-based Violence", (2018).

Conferences: 

Selected conference presentations and invited lectures:

鈥淣avigating an Ocean of Hymns: Problems and Possibilities for the Study of Sanskrit Stotras,鈥� South Asian Religions Colloquium, Harvard Divinity School, Cambridge, MA, February 2020.

鈥淪o Close Yet So Far: Devotion, Humility, and Non-duality in 艢aiva Hymns from Kashmir,鈥� Colloquium on 鈥淭he Other in South Asian Traditions: Divine Others, Religious Others, Cultural Others,鈥� University of Montreal, December 2019.

鈥淏eyond Poetry: The Poetics and Devotionalism of Ma峁卥ha鈥檚 艢谤墨办补峁囜弓丑补肠补谤颈迟补,鈥� Annual Conference on South Asia, Madison, WI, October 2019.

鈥淒evotion to the Guru and the Sanskrit Hymns of Kashmir,鈥� Translating Devotion: Poetry from Kashmir and Tibet Workshop, School of Religious Studies, 91社区, September 2019.

鈥�A Necklace of Praise to the Guru 鈥� Translation workshop on the 骋耻谤耻蝉迟耻迟颈谤补迟苍腻惫补濒墨,鈥� Translating Devotion: Poetry from Kashmir and Tibet Workshop, School of Religious Studies, 91社区, September 2019.

鈥�Stotras and the Bhakti Movement,鈥� American Academy of Religion Annual Meeting, Denver, CO, November 2018.

鈥淜ashmir Studies: Progress, Desiderata, and Collaborative Ways Forward,鈥� Kashmir Pre-47 Roundtable Discussion, Annual Conference on South Asia, Madison, WI, October 2018.

鈥淧raise, Poetry, and Pathos in Sanskrit Hymns,鈥� Workshop on Emotions in Classical Indian Thought, Amherst College, September 2018.

鈥淢etapoetic Poetry from Kashmir: Ma峁卥ha鈥檚 艢谤墨办补峁囜弓丑补肠补谤颈迟补 and Jagaddhara Bha峁弓a鈥檚 厂迟耻迟颈办耻蝉耻尘腻帽箩补濒颈,鈥� 17th World Sanskrit Conference, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, July 2018.

鈥淧oetry as Prayer: Rethinking Love and Devotion in Sanskrit Literature,鈥� College of William and Mary, March 2018.

鈥淏uilding on Strengths: Development, Conversation, and Connection in the Muktabodha Indological Research Institute,鈥� Muktabodha Indological Research Institute Scholars Conference, Manhattan, NY, April 2016.

鈥淏eyond Death and Decay: Literary Innovation in the Sanskrit Hymns of Kashmir,鈥� Annual Conference on South Asia, Madison, WI, October 2016.

鈥淒evotional Poetry and the Poetics of Devotion: On the History of Bhaktirasa in Kashmir,鈥� American Oriental Society Annual Meeting, Boston, March 2016.

鈥淩ebooting Hindu Hymns,鈥� South Asian Studies Seminar Series, University of Iowa, Iowa City. September 2015.

鈥淎esthetics and Religious Experience in the Non-dual Hymns of Kashmir,鈥� Religion in South Asia Conference, Missouri State University, Springfield, MO, March 2015.

鈥淧oetry as 笔谤补蝉腻诲补: Sanskrit Stotras and the Nature of Bhakti,鈥� Association for Asian Studies Annual Conference, Philadelphia, March 2014.

鈥淭he Courtship of 艢iva and Sarasvat墨 in the Poetry of Jagaddhara of Kashmir,鈥� 15th World Sanskrit Conference in Delhi, India, January 2012.

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