Benjamin J. Fleming - Research
PUBLICATIONS
i. Peer-Reviewed Publications
"Liṅga and Yoni." In: Hiltebeitel, A (Ed.), Oxford Bibliographies Online: Hinduism. New York: Oxford University Press, forthcoming, 2012.
"Shiva." In: Hiltebeitel, A (Ed.), Oxford Bibliographies Online: Hinduism. New York: Oxford University Press, 2011, DOI: 10.1093/OBO/9780195399318-0088.
"From Tirupati to Brooklyn: Interpreting Hindu Votive Hair-Offerings," in Studies in Religion/Sciences Religieuses 40(2) June, 2011 [the first in a pair of articles on "Hindu Hair and Jewish Halakha," as prefaced by a co-authored introduction with Annette Yoshiko Reed]. [link from Sage]
"New copperplate grant of Śrīcandra (no. 8) from Bangladesh," Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 73.2 (2010): 223–44. [PDF from BSOAS]
"Mapping Sacred Geography in Medieval India: The Case of the 12 Jyotirliṅgas," International Journal of Hindu Studies 13.1 (2009): 51–81 [PDF from SpringerLink] [errata]
"The Form and Formlessness of Śiva: The Liṅga in Indian Art, Mythology, and Pilgrimage," Religion Compass 3 (2009), doi: 10.1111/j.1749-8171.2009.00141.x [Online at Blackwell]
"A Temporary Affair: Images and Methods of Possessing the Divine in Hinduism," Journal of Religion and Culture 13 (1999): 69-82.
ii. Edited Volume iii. Invited papers, reviews and review essay(ed., with Richard Mann) History and Material Culture in Asian Religions. London: Routledge Publishers, forthcoming.
"Ellora Cave 16: Speculations and Connections to the Cult of the Twelve Jyotirliṅgas," in Pia Brancaccio (Ed.), Living Rock: Buddhist, Hindu and Jain Cave Temples in Western Deccan (Marg Publications), forthcoming.
"Nandi and Śiva," in Journal of Vaiṣṇava Studies, forthcoming.
Review Essay on Petteri Loskikallio and Mislav Jezic, eds., Parallels and Comparisons: Proceedings of the Fourth Dubrovnik International Conference on the Sanskrit Epics and Purāṇas, September 2005, in Orientalistische Literaturzeitung, forthcoming.
Reprint of "New copperplate grant of Śrīcandra (no. 8) from Bangladesh" [BSOAS 73.2 (2010): 234-8], in The Bangladesh Reader, Chapter 2: Early Histories, (eds.) Meghna Guhathakurta and Willem van Schendel, Durham: Duke University Press, forthcoming 2012.
Review of Upinder Singh (ed.), Rethinking Early Medieval India: A Reader (OUP India: 2011), Journal of Hindu Studies, forthcoming.[JHS]
Review Essay on Dominic Goodall and André Padoux, eds., Mélange tantriques à la mémoire de Hélène Brunner/Tantric Studies in Memory of Hélène Brunner (Pondicherry: Institut Français de Pondichéry/École Française d'Extrême-Orient, 2007), In "Reviews XIII" [ed.] Victor Mair, Sino-Platonic Papers 208, February 2011. [SPP]
Review of Finbarr B. Flood Objects of Translation: Material Culture and Medieval "Hindu-Muslim" Encounter (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2009), forthcoming in Journal of Asian Studies. Journal of Asian Studies 70.3 (2011): 865-6. [JAS]
Review of Jason Hawkes and Akira Shimada, eds., Buddhist Stupas in South Asia: Recent Archaeological, Art-Historical, and Historical Perspectives (New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2009), Journal of Asian Studies 69.4 (2010): 1276-7. [JAS]
Review of Pia Brancaccio and Kurt Behrendt, eds., Review of: Gandharan Buddhism: Archaeology, Art, Texts (Vancouver: UBC Press, 2006), Studies in Religion/Sciences Religieuses 37.3-4 (2008). [pre-print]
iv. In Progress
Light in Place: Pilgrimage and Story in Medieval Śaivism. [Book project based on dissertation and postdoctoral research.]
RECENT RESEARCH ACTIVITIES
Cataloger of Sanskrit manuscripts for the Rare Book and Manuscript Library, University of Pennsylvania. 2011-present. [Catalogue manuscripts and annotating records (colophons, dates, authors, scribes, etc.) of about 3,000 Sanskrit manuscripts for Penn in Hand, online catalogue. Digital images of manuscripts are being made available online to the public along with the catalogue data].
Researcher, The Digital Sanskrit Library Project, 2009 to 2010. Work entailed examining manuscripts of the Mahābhārata and Bhāgavata Purāṇa from the University of Pennsylvania's collection and annotating records for an online manuscript catalogue, centered in the Department of Classics at Brown University.
Moderator, Indo-Eurasian Research List, with Steve Farmer, Lars Martin Fosse, and Michael Witzel. 2007 to present. This list currently has more than 1,000 research members from over thirty fields. It focuses on premodern studies globally.
President, Oriental Club of Philadelphia, 2008-2010. This club was established in 1888 and includes a membership of scholars of South and East Asia, Near East, and Central Asia from a variety of scholarly backgrounds with focus on non-Western linguistic, religious, philosophical, and textual traditions.
CONFERENCES & PRESENTATIONS
- i. Invited Lectures and Workshop Presentations
"Reading the Liṅga as ‘Relic’: Śaivism, the Buddhist Distinction, and Other Auspicious Signs of Death in South Asian Religions," Matter of Contention: Relics and Other Sacred Objects at the Crossroads of Religious Traditions, hosted by the Department of Religious Studies, University Texas, Austin, April 23-24, 2012. [abstract]
"Illusions, Fantasies, and the Chaos of History: Fire and Light Imagery in Ancient Hinduism," Ancient Studies Group, State University New York College at Oneanta, April 5, 2010.
"Phallus Or Fire? Rethinking Liṅga Worship in Ancient Hinduism," New Scholars Lecture Series, University of Regina, Canada, January 15, 2010. [abstract/poster]
"Sacred Space and Gift Giving: a Consideration of Land-Grant Inscriptions in 10th Century Bengal," Penn Humanities Forum on Change, University of Pennsylvania, April 28, 2009.
"Sacred Geography in Medieval India: The Case of the 12 Jyotirliṅgas," Penn Humanities Forum on Origins, University of Pennsylvania, April 8, 2008.
"A New Copper Plate Inscription of Śrīcandra: Contracts and Curses in Medieval India," Oriental Club of Philadelphia, February 14, 2008.
"Mapping Sacred Geography: The Rise of Pan-Indian Pilgrimage Routes in Medieval India," Religious Studies Colloquium, University of Pennsylvania, November 15, 2007.
"Child Sacrifice in Indian Religion: Unintended Ritual and the Theophany of the Ghuśmeśvara Jyotirliṅga," Department of Religious Studies Annual Graduate Student Colloquium, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, April 2005.
ii. Conference papers
"Divine Continuity and Redaction: Purāṇic Critiques of the Mahābhārata in the Bhāgavata Purāṇa: Skandha 1 Adhyāya 5," 221st Meeting of the American Oriental Society, Chicago, Illinois, March 2011. [abstract]
"Time Regained?: Purāṇic Perspectives on Myth and History," Representations of History: Ancient Narratives and Collective Memory, Comparative Studies in Hinudisms and Judaisms Group, American Academy of Religion Annual Meeting, October 31, 2010. [abstract]
"Buddhist and Brahmins Brahmins in Medieval Bengal: New Evidence from Copperplate Inscriptions," History and Material Culture in Asian Religions, University of Pennsylvania, March 21-22, 2010.
"Śaivism and Viṣṇu's Avatāras: The Slow Rise of Sectarian Discord," The History of Śaivism: Textual and material evidence for the development of sectarian Śaivism, Canadian Society for the Study of Religion Annual Meeting, Ottawa, Ontario, May 25, 2009. [abstract]"Śarabha and Narasiṃha: Redaction and Transmission in the Śiva Purāṇa Tradition," 219th Meeting of the American Oriental Society, Albuquerque, New Mexico, March 2009. [abstract]
"Making Land Sacred: Land Grant Inscriptions in the Chandra Dynasty," Sacred Space in Asia Group, American Academy of Religion Annual Meeting, Chicago, Illinois, November 2008. [abstract]
"Buddhists and Brahmins Under the Reign of Śrīcandra," History and Material Culture in Asian Religious Traditions, Canadian Society for the Study of Religion Annual Meeting, Vancouver, British Columbia, June 2, 2008. [abstract]"From Tīrtha to Pan-Indian Pilgrimage: The Vārāṇasī-māhātmya, Purāṇic Transmission, and the Twelve Jyotirliṅgas," 218th Meeting of the American Oriental Society, Chicago, Illinois, March 15, 2008. [abstract]
"From Tirupathi to Brooklyn: Hindu votive hair offerings and their interpretation in Jewish communities," Comparative Studies in Hinduisms and Judaisms Group, American Academy of Religion Annual Meeting, San Diego, California, November 19, 2007. [abstract]
"The Altar and the Liṅga: The Adoption and Supersession of Vedic Ritual in Medieval Śaivism," The Fourth International Vedic Workshop: The Vedas and Culture in History, University of Texas at Austin, May 24–27, 2007. [abstract]
"Reconsidering Liṅga Worship in Sanskrit Sources," Topics in Asian Religions: Hindu Text and Ritual, American Academy of Religions Eastern International Regional Meeting, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, May 2005. [abstract]
"Śiva as an Avatāra in Anthropomorphic Form: The Story of Bhīmaśaṅkara," Shifting Hinduisms, Transition Narratives in Early Hinduism, Canadian Society for the Study of Religion Annual Meeting, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, May 2005. [abstract]
"Reconsidering the Śiva Purāṇa," American Academy of Religion Eastern International Regional Meeting, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, May 2004.
"The Tainted Share, Gaṇas and The Destruction of Dakṣa's Sacrifice," Visions of Early Hinduism and the Historical Development of Popular Divine Forms, Canadian Society for the Study of Religion Annual Meeting, Quebec City, Quebec, May 2001. [abstract]
"Animal-Human Hybrids: Exploring the Logic of Mythology in India: Gaṇeśa," Canadian Society for the Study of Religion Annual Meeting, Edmonton, Alberta, May 2000.
"Idols: Anti-Symbols in the Context of Hinduism: Domestic Aspects of the Ganesh Caturthi Festival," Implications & Interpretations: Interdisciplinary Studies in Religion & Culture, Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec, April 1999.
- iii. Conferences and Panels Organized
vi. Other PresentationsConference Organizer, with Annette Y. Reed, History and Material Culture in Asian Religions, University of Pennsylvania, spring 2010.
Panel Organizer, "History and Material Culture in Asian Religious Traditions," Canadian Society for the Study of Religion Annual Meeting, Vancouver, June 2, 2008.
Conference coordinator, "Deus in Machina: Exploring Religion and Technology in Historical and Cross-Cultureal Perspective," (an international workshop, organized by Jeremy Stolow), The Art Gallery of Hamilton, January 2007.
Panel co-organizer, with Richard Mann, "Shifting Hinduism, Transition Narratives in Early Hinduism," Canadian Society for the Study of Religion Annual Meeting, Western University, London, May 2005.
Panel co-organizer, with Richard Mann, "Visions of Early Hinduism and the Historical Development of Popular Divine Forms," Canadian Society for the Study of Religion Annual Meeting, Université Laval, Quebec, May 2001.
- Respondent for Paroma Chatterjee, "Difficult definitions: A Byzantine thinker and his icons," Penn Humanities Forum on Change, University of Pennsylvania, February 3, 2009.
- Panel Discussant, "Turning Seminar Papers into Conference Presentations," Religious Studies Colloquium, University of Pennsylvania, September 18, 2008.
PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS
- American Academy of Religion
- American Oriental Society
- Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Pune, India. [life-time member]
- Canadian Society for the Study of Religions
- Oriental Club of Philadelphia
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