Talk:Archana Venkatesan

By Sachi Anjunkar

Archana Venkatesan is a Professor of Religious Studies and Comparative Literature at the University of California, Davis. She is also the interim Director of the Davis Humanities Institute as of September 2022. According to her profile, her research interests include Tamil Vaishnava (Alvar) poetry, South Indian performance, Women and Goddess traditions in India.

As per her bio, she has published no books, papers, or research pertaining to Hindus, the rights of Hindus, the impact or relationship between Islam and Hinduism / Hindutva, India, or the Indian Government in the context of BJP government.

In 2021, she endorsed the "Dismantling Global Hindutva" conference and made the allegation

"the current government of India [in 2021] has instituted discriminatory policies including beef bans, restrictions on religious conversion and interfaith weddings, and the introduction of religious discrimination into India’s citizenship laws. The result has been a horrifying rise in religious and caste-based violence, including hate crimes, lynchings, and rapes directed against Muslims, non-conforming Dalits, Sikhs, Christians, adivasis and other dissident Hindus. Women of these communities are especially targeted. Meanwhile, the government has used every tool of harassment and intimidation to muzzle dissent. Dozens of student activists and human rights defenders are currently languishing in jail indefinitely without due process under repressive anti-terrorism laws."

Publications related to India

Books

1. Venkatesan, Archana. Endless Song: The Tiruvaymoli of Nammalvar. Penguin Classics, 2020.
2. Venkatesan, Archana, and Crispin Branfoot. In Andal's Garden: Art, Ornamentation and Devotion in Srivilliputtur. Marg Publications, 2015.
3. Venkatesan, Archana. A Hundred Measures of Time: Nammalvar’s Tiruviruttam. Penguin Classics, 2014.
4. Venkatesan, Archana. The Secret Garland: Translations of Tiruppavai and Nacciyar Tirumoli. American Academy Texts and Translations Series, Oxford University Press, 2010.

Journal Articles

1. Venkatesan, Archana. “Speared through the Heart: The Sound of God in the Worlds of Tirumaṅkai.” Journal of Hindu Studies, Winter 2018. Forthcoming.
2. Venkatesan, Archana. “The Other Trinity: Alternate Histories of Carnatic Music.” International Journal of Hindu Studies, Winter 2018, pp. 122-166.
3. Venkatesan, Archana. “Making Saints, Making Communities: Nāyaki Svāmikaḷ and the Saurashtras of Madurai.” South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies, vol. 37, no. 4, Dec. 2014, pp. 1-18.
4. Venkatesan, Archana. “Āṇṭāḷ of a Thousand Names: The Making of a Goddess the Śrīvaiṣṇava Way.” In Voyages of the Body and Mind: Selected Female Icons from India and Beyond, edited by Anita Ratnam and Ketu H. Katrak, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2014, pp. 10-18.
5. Venkatesan, Archana. “A Tale of Two Cēvais: Araiyar Cevai and Kaittala Cevai at the Antal Temple in Srivilliputtur.” Journal of Vaishnava Studies, Spring 2013.
6. Venkatesan, Archana. “A Different Kind of Antal Story: The Divyasuricaritam of Garudavahana Pandita.” International Journal of Hindu Studies, Aug. 2013.
7. Venkatesan, Archana. “Ecstatic Seeing: Adorning and Enjoying the Body of the Goddess.” In Introducing Hinduism in Practice, edited by Pratap Penumala, Equinox Press, 2012.
8. Venkatesan, Archana. “Love and Longing in the Time of Rain: A Response to Anne Monius’s Ecologies of Human Flourishing: A Case Study from Pre-Colonial South India.” In Ecologies of Human Flourishing, edited by Don Swearer, Harvard University Press, 2011.
9. Venkatesan, Archana. “How to Love God Like a Woman: Some Thoughts on Loving God in the Srivaisnava Sampradaya.” Journal of Hindu Christian Studies, vol. 20, 2007.
10. Venkatesan, Archana. “Who Stole the Garland of Love: Antal Stories in the Srivaisnava Tradition.” Journal of Vaishnava Studies, March 2007.

Encyclopedia Entries

1. Venkatesan, Archana. Entries on "Aesthetics," "Drama," and "Television and Radio." In Routledge Encyclopedia of Hinduism, edited by Denise Cush, Catherine Robson, and Lynn Foulston, Routledge Press, 2007.

Other Publications

1. Venkatesan, Archana. “Looking the Other Way: Inscriptions, Murals, and Signs in South Indian Temples.” Publication details needed.
2. Venkatesan, Archana. “Speared through the Heart: The Sound of God in the Worlds of Tirumaṅkai.” Publication details needed.
3. Venkatesan, Archana. Review of Re-figuring the Rāmāyaṇa as Theology: A History of Reception in Premodern India by Ajay K. Rao. Publication details needed.
4. Venkatesan, Archana. Review of Caitanya Vaiṣṇava Philosophy: Tradition, Reason and Devotion edited by Ravi M. Gupta. Dorchester, UK: Ashgate, 2014. ISBN 978-0754661771 (hb), 978-1-138-24885-4 (pb).