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X-WR-CALNAME:Allure and Ambivalence: The Indian Aesthetic in Contemporary T
 hai Religious Worlds
X-WR-TIMEZONE:Eastern Time (US & Canada)
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DTSTAMP:20261017T123350Z
UID:tag:localist.com\,2008:EventInstance_52001652468145
DTSTART:20260406T161500Z
DTEND:20260406T171500Z
DESCRIPTION:Talk by Aditya Bhattacharjee (Asian Studies\, Cornell Universit
 y)\n\nThe cultural affinities that have long connected South and Southeast
  Asia are particularly visible in Thailand\, one of the first countries to
  recognize India after independence and a nation that occupies a prominent
  place both in India’s cultural diplomacy efforts and in the itineraries
  of internationally bound Indian tourists. My talk turns from these well-k
 nown forms of state-level and civilizational interaction to the popular an
 d everyday textures of lived\, religious worldmaking in which ordinary Tha
 is encounter and make sense of Indian-ness. Drawing on longstanding ethnog
 raphic fieldwork that moves fluidly between temples\, social media platfor
 ms\, and unplanned interactions on city streets\, I consider how Thai Budd
 hists in varied settings engage Indian-ness less as a living South Asian t
 radition than as an aesthetic vocabulary that can be refracted and reinter
 preted through a Buddhist grammar of their own.\n\nIn practice\, this refr
 active process produces visual and ritual fields in which Indian themes ap
 pear in unexpected combinations and take on meanings shaped by local conte
 xts. In these settings\, Indian motifs are woven into wider Asian assembla
 ges that combine Buddhist imagery\, Chinese prosperity figures\, and local
  protective spirits. Taken together\, the talk’s case studies illuminate
  a distinct Thai Hindu modality whose allure and ambivalence\, as perceive
 d by both participants and observers\, invite a reconsideration of how Ind
 ian-ness travels\, settles\, and is remade across Asia. In doing so\, the 
 talk reframes notions of a global Hinduism through an intra-Asian lens tha
 t decenters India as the singular vehicle of religious innovation within i
 ts study.\n\nAditya Bhattacharjee is a Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow jointly 
 appointed in the Department of Asian Studies and the Society for the Human
 ities at Cornell University. His research examines how Hindu identities an
 d ritual practices take shape across diverse cultural worlds\, from urban 
 Thailand to diasporic communities in North America. He is currently develo
 ping his first book\, Global Ganesh: Mapping a Divine Diaspora\, based on 
 his dissertation at the University of Pennsylvania. The project traces how
  Thai Buddhist laypeople and monastics engage Indian deities such as Ganes
 ha\, Shiva\, Vishnu\, and various Hindu goddesses in suburban Bangkok and 
 in the American Northeast\, using these cases to reconsider how borrowing 
 and appropriation are defined within interreligious encounters. Bringing t
 ogether insights from material and visual culture\, diaspora studies\, and
  theories of ritual creativity\, the book challenges India-centered models
  of Hindu mobility and offers globally informed perspectives on religious 
 circulation in Asia. Before coming to Cornell\, Bhattacharjee taught at th
 e Rhode Island School of Design\, where he developed interdisciplinary cou
 rses on Asian philosophy\, diaspora\, and religious art.
LOCATION:Uris Hall\, G08
SUMMARY:Allure and Ambivalence: The Indian Aesthetic in Contemporary Thai R
 eligious Worlds
URL;VALUE=URI:https://events.cornell.edu/event/allure-and-ambivalence
CATEGORIES:Seminar
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