SANGH (South Asia Network Ghent)
The interdisciplinary research group South Asia Network Ghent, in short SANGH (Sanskrit/Hindi meaning “community”), aims to offer a platform where UGent researchers working on South Asia meet and interact. The members of Sangh focus on varied aspects of South Asian society and culture, ranging from its rich literary history (Literary studies), to its diverse religious traditions (Religious studies), its numerous languages (Linguistics), its rapid developments in cinema (Media) and performing arts (Art History), etc. Their studies address both historical and contemporary issues, as well as local and transnational perspectives. They do so employing diverse research methods and theoretical backgrounds current in the Humanities and Social Sciences. A special research interest of the group is Jainism and its cultural heritage. All Sangh members are committed to the highest academic standard by engaging with sources in South Asian languages (especially Sanskrit and Hindi), be it in communication with people during field work, texts, or other media.
More details can be found on the research portal of the faculty.
Projects
Multiresearcher project
- Nilgiri Archaeological Project: Culture and environment in the upland forests of South India from Antiquity to Early Modernity (2021-2026)
- Archaeological explorations and investigations in the Gangetic Plains and neighbouring regions (2021-2025)
- Excavations at Bodhgaya, the site of the Buddha’s enlightenment: the Mahabodhi temple, Taradih monastery and Bakraur stupa (2021-2024)
Postdoc research
- Buddhist ideology and propaganda in the Indic Northwest. A study in Avadāna literature (2020-2023)
- Challenging and expanding the national canon. The case of Usmān’s Citrāvalī (1613) and its afterlife in India’s multilingual contexts (2022-2025)
- Nalanda in the history of philosophy: An investigation of the textual and material sources (2022-2025)
- Waking Prithviraj: the subversive poetics of the past in North Indian historical literature (2021 – 2024)
- Remember Africa? The effects of twice-migration on the religious and cultural lives of British ‘East African’ Jains (2019-2023)
- When the king does philosophy. The Vedantic writings of Jasvant Singh of Mārvāḍ (1626–1678) (2022-2025)
- Political authority and social justice. A philosophical study of Arthaśāstra (2022-2025)
- Coexistence, Conflict and Calamity: Entangled Worlds of Hinduism and Islam in the Heart of India (2023-2026)
PhD research
- Bhaiṣajyaguru. Iconography and rituals of the medicine Buddha across Asia (2022-2026)
- Non-finite verbs in Rajasthani (2015-2019 ongoing)
- Evangelists and epigones. Sanskrit adaptations of Mahābhārata by Jains in 13th-century Gujarāt (2021-2023)
- The Jains in contemporary Southeast Asia (Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore). Their distinctiveness and identities (2022-2025)
Websites
- Jaina Studies
- Ghent Centre for Buddhist Studies (GCBS)
- The Nilgiri Archaeological Project
- South Indian Kali Studies