The Bhakti-Sufi project at Sahapedia is hosting a series of virtual conversations titled ‘Dukh mein sumiran sab karein…' on the broad theme of the narratives, tropes and structures of feeling associated with Bhakti that can speak to us in times of crisis. In our first session titled Sankat Mochan Hanuman: The Messages of the Divine Monkey in Times of Crisis, Prof. Philip Lutgendorf will be in conversation with Prof. Nita Kumar about the figure of Hanuman and what his mythology can teach us about confronting a world of widespread ecological imbalance.

Details of the Speakers - 

Panelist 1 - Prof. Philip Lutgendorf 

Bio - Philip A. Lutgendorf taught Hindi and Modern Indian Studies at the University of Iowa for 33 years, retiring as Professor in 2018. He is the author of The Life of a Text (1991), a book on the performance of the Hindi Ramayana and Hanuman’s Tale: The Messages of a Divine Monkey (2007). His interests include epic performance traditions, folklore and popular culture, and mass media. He is presently translating the Ramcaritmanas of Tulsidas for the Murty Classical Library of India/Harvard University Press.

Panelist 2 - Prof. Nita Kumar 

Bio - Nita Kumar retired as Brown Family Professor of South Asian History at Claremont McKenna College, California. She is the author of The Artisans of Banaras (1988), Friends, Brothers and Informants (1992), Lessons from Schools (2001), The Politics of Gender, Community and Modernity (2007), and (as editor or co-editor), Women as Subjects (1994) and Food, Faith and Gender in South Asia (2020). She translated Geetanjali Shree’s Mai (2000) and scripted the movie Shankar’s Fairies. In Varanasi, she runs the organization NIRMAN which has been working for children, families, education, environment and the arts since 1990.