Members
13th
Term: Apr. 2023 ～
:Global Type
:Tenure-track Type
● MUSHIGA Tomoka Assistant Professor
Research Interests: Religious History, Indology
Research Topic: The Continuity and Discontinuity in Pre-Modern and Modern Hinduism: Focusing on the Development of Sacred Places and Pilgrimages
Host Department: Graduate School of Letters
Previous Affiliation: Japan Society for the Promotion of Science/ Graduate School of Letters, Kyoto University
Short Introduction
When we come into touch with the activities of the Hindus living in India today, we find various elements inherited from ancient times. They, too, consider the religion and culture of ancient India as the basis for their beliefs and practices. On the other hand, it has been pointed out that “Hinduism” as a form of “religion” was created in the modern era by Westerners and Indian intellectuals. And the concept that Hinduism is a single and sophisticated religion leads to today’s Hindu nationalism, which discards diversity and claims the superiority of Hinduism. How can we describe the history of Hinduism to the present without assuming such a formed “Hinduism”? I have explored how the beliefs and practices of modern Hindus have been shaped historically through field research and Sanskrit literature. I feel the greatest pleasure when the two connect, but I have also realized that these should not be connected simply without historical examination. This project aims to draw continuities and discontinuities between the pre-modern and modern periods focusing on the history of sacred places and pilgrimage in Hinduism, which developed particularly during the medieval and early modern periods and still flourish in India today.
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