Prof. Neelima Shukla-Bhatt

Books

• 2023  -  Hinduism, the Basics. (Abingdon, UK: Routledge).


• 2015  -  Narasinha Mehta of Gujarat: Legacy of Bhakti in Songs and Stories. (New York: Oxford University Press).


• 2011  -  A Fire that Blazed in the Ocean: Gandhi and the Poems of Satyagraha in South Africa, 1909-1911. With Surendra Bhana. (New Delhi: Promilla).

Essays, Articles, & Book Chapters

• 2025  -  “A Rasatmak Journey: Aesthetics and Moral Fervor in Gandhi’s Quest” in Gandhi, Truth, and Nonviolence: The Politics of Engagement in Post-Truth Times, edited by Vinay Lal. Delhi: Oxford University Press.


• 2024  -  Oxford Online Bibliography – “Hinduism in Gujarat.” New York: Oxford University Press.


• 2024  -  “Lineages, Exemplars, and Movements” in A Cultural History of Hinduism in the Age of Empires, edited by Valerie Stoker. London: Bloomsbury Press.


• 2024  -  “Somnath and the Rhetoric of ‘the Shrine Eternal’” in Pilgrimage, Place, and Pluralism: Essays in Conversation with Diana Eck. New York: Red Elixir.


• 2023  -  “Bhakti and its Songs: Hindu Devotion as a Gateway to Religious Harmony” in Freedom of Religion and Religious Pluralism, edited by Bhuiyan, M. J. H., & M. Zoethout, C. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill Nijhoff. doi:https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004504967


• 2021  -  “Straddling the Sacred and the Secular: Presence and Absence of the Goddess in Contemporary Garbo, the Navaratri Dance of Gujarat” in The Navaratri Festival: Devi, Dolls, and Darbar, edited by Vasudha Narayan and Ute Husken. Albany: SUNY Press.


• 2021  -  Bibliography for Gujarati section for Bhakti Virtual Archives (Bhava) with Bhakti Mamtora (compiled by Jon Keune and Gil Ben-Herut of the Regional Bhakti Network). https://www.regionalbhakti.org/bhavahome/interface/


• 2018  -  “The One in the Many in the Songs of the Poet-Saints of Medieval India: A Cultural Stance on Toleration” in Toleration in Comparative Perspective, edited by Vicki Spencer, pp. 141-158. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books.


• 2018  -  “Songs on the Move: Mira in Gujarat, Narasinha Mehta in Rajasthan” in A Multilingual Nation: Translation in the Indian Context, edited by Rita Kothari, pp. 70-93. Delhi: Oxford University Press.


• 2017  -  “Making Gujarat Vaishnava, Introduction” in The Journal of Hindu Studies (Oxford Academics), 10: 1-17. Editor for special issue on “Vaishnavism in Gujarat.”


• 2017  -  Review of “I am Malala” by Malala Yousufzai in Avalokan Vishva (Gujarati, “The World of Reviews”), edited by Raman Soni, pp. 228-232. Vadodara, India: Pratyaksha.


• 2016  -  “Celebrating Materiality: Garbo, a Festival Image of the Goddess in Gujarat” in Sacred Matters: Material Religion in South Asian Traditions, edited by Tracy Pintchman and Corinne Dempsey, pp. 89-113. Albany: SUNY Press.


• 2014  -  “Gandhi’s Anthem for Moral Inspiration” in Experiments with Truth: Gandhi and Images of Non-Violence, edited by Josef Helfenstein and Joseph Newland, pp. 248-252. Translation of lyrics from Gujarati on pp. 246-247. Houston, TX: Menil Collection.


• 2014  -  “Leap of the Limping Goddess: Ai Khodiyar of Gujarat” in Inventing and Reinventing the Goddess: Contemporary Iterations of Hindu Deities on the Move, edited by Sree Padma, pp. 171-197. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books.


• 2012  -  “Narasinh Mehta” in Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Vol. 3, edited by Knut Jacobsen. Leiden: Brill.


• 2012  -  “The Pluralism Project” in Encyclopedia of Diversity in Education, edited by James A. Banks, pp. 1666-1668. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.


• 2012  -  “World’s Parliament of Religions, 1893” in Encyclopedia of Diversity in Education, edited by James A. Banks, pp. 2319-2320. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.


• 2010  -  “A Divine Auction,” published in Sightings, online journal of The Martin Marty Center, The University of Chicago Divinity School (May 6 Issue).


• 2009  -  “A Reflection on the Challenges for Hindu Women in the Twenty-first Century” in The Journal of Oriental Studies (Tokyo, Japan), 19: 61-70.


• 2008  -  “Media of Miracles, Miracle of Media: Clairvoyants and Commercials on South Asian Television in the Diaspora” in Miracle as Modern Conundrum in South Asian Religious Traditions, edited by Corinne Dempsey and Selva Raj, pp. 187-209. Albany: SUNY Press.


• 2007  -  “Govinda’s Glory: Krishna-Lila in the Songs of Narasinha Mehta” in Krishna, A Source Book, edited by Edwin Bryant, pp. 255-284. New York: Oxford University Press.


• 2007  -  “Performance as Translation, Mira in Gujarat” in International Journal of Hindu Studies, 11: 273-298 (December 2007).


• 2007  -  Book Review: Three Bhakti Voices: Mirabai, Surdas, and Kabir in Their Times and Ours by John Stratton Hawley. International Journal of Hindu Studies, Vol. 11: 329-332 (December 2007).

Conference Presentations & Invited Talks

• Jul 2025  -  “Leap of the Limping Goddess: Ai Khodiyar of Gujarat.” European Academy of Religion, Eighth Annual Conference, Vienna, Austria.


• Jul 2025  -  “Significance of Academic Study of Religion in India.” Conference on Academic Study of Religion, FLAME University, Pune, India.


• Jun 2023  -  “Hindu Devotional Songs: A Cultural Channel Fostering Interfaith Harmony.” European Academy of Religion, Sixth Annual Conference, St. Andrews University, St. Andrews, Scotland, U.K.


• Jun 2023  -  “Abolition of Sati: Hindu Women in Colonial Records – Intervention and Control” in Symposium on Women, Religion, and Records, Salt Lake City, Utah.


• Oct 2022  -  “Commerce and Community in Contemporary Garba.” Karnavati University, Ahmedabad, India (online, by invitation).


• Sep 2021  -  “Religion, Ethics, and Everyday Business.” Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee, India (online, by invitation).


• Mar 2021  -  “Unpacking Hate: Religion, Fear, and the Cost of Ignorance.” Online symposium organized by Rutgers University, Newark, NJ.


• Mar 2021  -  “Alternate Satis: Women Saints in Mahapanth” in the online symposium Gender in Global Medieval Mysticism, Ashoka University, India.


• Feb 2021  -  “Meera, God’s Darling” with The Kabir Project, India (online, by invitation).
  
  
  
  • Excerpts:
    
    
    
    • http://ajabshahar.com/reflections/details/100/To-truly-know-Meera,-you-must-sing-her
    
    
    • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibz-d1rf3n4
      
    
    
    
    
  
  
  
  


• Oct 2020  -  “Hinduism, an Introduction.” Glasgow University, Ireland (online, by invitation).


• Oct 2020  -  “Nature and Mysticism in Lyrics of Narasinha Mehta” in the panel Nature and the Spiritual in Indian Poetry organized by Sahapedia, New Delhi, India (online). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTd_yqWsuYY


• Oct 2020  -  Invited participant in a 3-day online national symposium on “Mapping the Fields of Religious Literacy Today,” Aspen Institute, Washington D.C.


• Jan 2020  -  “A Rasātmak Journey: Aesthetics and Moral Fervor in Gandhi’s Quest” at the International Conference on Gandhi in his 150th birth year at UCLA, Los Angeles, California.


• Jun 2019  -  “Vaishanava Jana to” - a 3-part interview for Indian Cultural Forum, an online journal, on Gandhi’s favorite hymn (by invitation).


• Jan 2019  -  “Voices of Harmony: Saint-Poets of India” (by invitation), Indian Institute of Technology, Gandhinagar, India.


• Mar 2018  -  “Narasinha Mehta, Vyakti ane Parikaplana: Gujarat ni Sanskrutik Dharohar” (Gujarati: “Narasinha Mehta Person and Icon: A Cultural Heritage of Gujarat”) at Narasinha Parva-2 Conference, Rupayatan, Junagadh, India (by invitation).


• Sep 2016  -  “The Campus Crucible: Learning from Our Students.” The Pluralism Project 25th Anniversary Conference, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA.


• Aug 2015  -  “Toleration in Comparative Perspective” – Symposium, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand.


• Nov 2014  -  “Alternate Satis: Women Saints in the Mahapanth Tradition of Gujarat.” American Academy of Religion Annual Conference, San Diego, CA.


• Oct 2013  -  “Making Gujarat Vaishnava” – Introduction and Response to Presentations. South Asia Annual Conference, Madison, Wisconsin.


• Jun 2013  -  “From Partial Goddess to Parameshvari: Ai Khodiyar of Gujarat.” Conference on Study of Religion in India, Drew University, NJ.


• May 2013  -  “Gandhi’s Narasinha Mehta: Vaishnavajana and Harijana.” École Française d'Extrême-Orient, Paris (by invitation).


• Apr 2010  -  “Whither are the gods traveling: Divine Figures in Gond and Hindu Sacred Narratives” in the Symposium on Gond Art, Wellesley College, MA.

Awards and Honors