American Academy of Religion 1999
Annual Meeting
Boston, Massachusetts, November 20-23, 1999
The Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Religion/Society of
Biblical Literature will be headquartered at the Sheraton Boston Hotel. For
Information regarding registration, accommodation, etc., visit the AAR web site, e-mail
, or call
404/727-2343. For tapes of RISA and other AAR Annual Meeting sessions,
contact: ACTS Inc.
1999 ANNUAL MEETING PROGRAM
Sessions of the Religion in South Asia Section of
the AAR
A20 - Saturday, November 20, 1999; 1:00pm– 3:30pm
Theme: "Alternative" Krishna Traditions in Folk Religion and
Vernacular Literature
Guy Beck, Tulane University, Presiding
Glen A. Hayes, Bloomfield College The Necklace of Immortality: Regional Metaphors and Alternative Views of Krsna in
Bengali
Vernacular Tantra
June McDaniel, College of Charleston Folk Vaishnavism and the Thakur Panchayat: Life and Status among Village Krsna Statues
Tracy Pintchman, Loyola University, Chicago Celebrating Tulsi and Krsna's Wedding in Benarsi Women's Folk Traditions
Valerie Ritter, University of Washington Epiphany in Radha's Arbor: Nature and the Reform of Bhakti in Hariaudh's Priyapravas
Anne E. Monius, University of Virginia Dance before Doom: Krsna in the Non-Hindu Literature of Early Medieval South India
A76 - Sunday, November 21, 1999; 9:00am– 11:30 am
Theme: Sectarian Critiques of Philosophers and Philosophical Systems
Lloyd Pflueger, Truman State University, Presiding
Timothy Cahill, Loyola University, New Orleans Sanskritizing a Sastra: Alamkara as Vedic Prosthesis
Frederick Smith, University of Iowa The Hierarchy of Philosophical Systems according to Vallabhacarya
Christopher Chapple, Loyola Marymount University How Haribhadra Stakes the Middle Ground between Eternalism and Nihilism
Parimal Patil, University of Chicago On Why It Was (and Still Is) Important to Think about Isvara
Knut Jacobsen, University of Bergen Competing Interpretations of Kapila, the Mythical Founder of the Samkhya Darsana
Francis X. Clooney, Boston College, Respondent
A106 - Sunday, November 21, 1999; 1:00pm– 3:30pm
Theme: The Translation Resumed: Celebrating the Resumption of the Chicago Mahabharata
Anne Feldhaus, Arizona State University, Presiding
David Gitomer, DePaul University How to Think about the Bhisma Parvan: A Translator's Perspective on Structure,
Meaning,
and Aesthetics in the Book of Bhisma
John D. Smith, Cambridge University Mapping the Mahabharata
James Fitzgerald, University of Tennessee, Knoxville The Book of the Women in the Mahabharata
Alf Hiltebeitel, George Washington University
Resuming with the Santi Parvan
Wendy Doniger, University of Chicago Translating the Critical Apparatus of the Mahabharata
A139 - Sunday, November 21, 1999; 3:45pm– 6:15pm
Theme: The Gift
James Egge, Concordia College, Moorhead, Presiding
Leona Anderson, University of Regina When Too Much Is Too Much: An Analysis of Excess Gifting in Sanskrit Literature
Loriliai Biernacki, University of Pennsylvania Whose Goose is Ghus?: A Defense of Bribery in Contemporary India
Maria Hibbets, Harvard University Medieval Hindu Dharmasastra, Jain, and Theravada Reflections on the Gift
Leslie Orr, Concordia University, Montreal Women and the Gift in Medieval South India
Charles Hallisey, Harvard University, Respondent
Business Meeting
Vasudha Narayanan, University of Florida
Anne Feldhaus, Arizona State University
A163 - Monday, November 22, 1999; 9:00am– 11:30am
Theme: Omniscience and Yogic Perception: Controversies in Indian Religious Thought
Parimal Patil, University of Chicago, Presiding
Sara McClintock, Harvard University Knowing All through Knowing One
Purushottama Bilimoria, Deakin University Extra-Sensorial Liaisons of 4-D Yogins
Denise Hanusek, Harvard University Yogic Perception and the Essence of Meditation in Ramanuja
Kristi L Wiley, University of California Yogic Perception and Knowledge in Jainism
Matthew Kapstein, University of Chicago, Respondent
A193 - Monday, November 22, 1999; 1:00pm– 3:30pm
Theme: Reading Sanskrit and Being Religious: Language and Identity in
Late-Twentieth Century India
Carlos Lopez, Harvard University, Presiding
Parimal Patil, University of Chicago Normativity and a Role for Sanskrit in the Future of Hinduism
Deepak Sarma, Vanderbilt University The Propriety of Promulgating a Proprietary Language: The Case of Madhva Vedanta and
the Diffusion of Sanskrit in Contemporary India
Michael Witzel, Harvard University Indology and Religious Studies
Laurie L. Patton, Emory University The Prostitute's Gold: The Religious Dimensions of Women and Sanskrit Education
Purushottama Bilimoria, Deakin University A Report on Indologism and Its Others
A251 - Tuesday, November 23, 1999; 9:00am– 11:30am
Theme: Female Gurus: Indian Paradigms and Contemporary Leaders in the U. S.
Diana Eck, Harvard University, Presiding
Rebecca Manring, Indiana University, Bloomington Sita Devi: An Early Gaudiya Vaisnava Guru
Carol Anderson, Kalamazoo College The Life of Gauri Ma
Selva J. Raj, Albion College Ammachi: The Mother of Compassion
Karen Pechilis Prentiss, Drew University Gurumayi: The Sakti and Her Guru
Kathleen M. Erndl, Florida State University, Respondent
, or call
404/727-2343. For tapes of RISA and other AAR Annual Meeting sessions,
contact: