The Poetics of Religion: Comparative Illustrations from India

Welcome to this interdisciplinary hybrid conference spotlighting the interplay between religion, philosophy, language, literature, and performance, in ways that help illuminate the connections, contrasts, and tensions animating concepts, practices, and forms of life across major religious traditions in India. Programme 10:30 - 11:30 | Mysticisms, Devotions and Selfhoods: Hindu-Muslim Contexts • Saad Ismail — The Metaphysics of Mystical Experience in Muhammad Iqbal and Sri Aurobindo • Ankur Barua — Intoxication as Servitude: Reflections on a Theological Theme in Hindu and Islamic Poetry • A.K. Muneer — Malabar’s Parallel Roads to Bhakti: Thinking with Muhyiddin Mala and Jnanappana 11:45 - 13:15 | Creolization/Hybridity: On the Entanglements of Culture and Religion • Ayan Guha — Negotiating Caste Hierarchy through Hybridity: Matua Identity, Dalit Consciousness and the Quest for a Doctrine of Dignity • Sarah Ahmad — Beyond Belief: Sensory Commonality and the Making of Shared Spirituality at Sufi Shrines in India • Steven S. George — Chavittunatakam: Performance, Christianity, and Creolisation in Kerala [Online] 14:45 - 15:45 | Cultural Poetics: Religion, Belonging and Aesthetics • Yoonus K. — The Afterlives of Persianate Romance: Literary Circulation and Aesthetic Formation in South India [Online] • Harini Kumar — The Paarvai of Shahul Hamid: The Enduring Legacy of an Indian Ocean Sufi [Online] • Amara Ali — Grammar of Grief: Kashmiri Marsiya and the Poetics of Belonging [Online] Speakers Saad Ismail (Aligarh Muslim University, India) Ankur Barua (University of Cambridge, UK) A.K. Muneer (Aligarh Muslim University, India & CRASSH, University of Cambridge, UK) Ayan Guha (University of Sussex, UK) Sarah Ahmad (Independent scholar) Steven S. George (King’s College London, UK) Yoonus K. (University of Calicut, India) Harini Kumar (Yale University, USA) Amara Ali (University of California, Berkeley, USA) Convened by Dr A.K. Muneer and Dr Ankur Barua. This conference is supported by the Faculty of Divinity, CRASSH, and the Spalding Trust, UK. The Trust promotes ethical, philosophical and religious education across the globe by supporting inter-religious study to foster mutual understanding and respect.