Dennis Hudson (Smith College)

submitted: Mon, 18 Apr 1994 09:10:30 -0500 (EST)

D. Dennis Hudson
Professor of World Religions
Department of Religion, Smith College

Mailing Address:
Smith College
Northampton, MA 01063  USA

Phones: 413-584-6429 (residence)
        413-585-3662 (office)
FAX:    413-585-3339
Email: dhudson@smith.smith.edu

Description of work:

I teach the religious history of India and South Asian religious
literature in translation. My research interests focus on the
Tamil-speaking peoples of South Asia from their earliest appearance to the
present, with special attention to two period: the 8th-9th century period
of Alvar and Nayanar developments in the context of temples and expansion
into Southeast Asia; and the 18th-19th century period of interaction
between Christians, Hindus, and Muslims, notably between the Protestants
and others. I am completing a detailed study of the Vaikuntha Perumal
Temple in Kanchipuram and am applying its Bhagavata code to other
Vaishnava temples in India and in Southeast Asia. I seek to understand
the history of the Bhagavata religion and its diffusion as manifest in
written texts and in built texts in the form of temples and sculptures.
Involved is the relation of bhakti to Tantra or Agama, with particular
attention to the Pancaratra Agama as the most ancient and pervasive
liturgical dimension to the Bhagavata religion, whose origin appears to
date at least to c.400 BCE. 

[Christian / Hindu / Muslim]
[Vaishnava / Vaisnava]