Birks Lecture Series: Kudiyattam: The Last Living Sanskrit Theater
David Shulman is regarded as one of the world鈥檚 foremost authorities on the听languages and literatures of India. He received his Ph.D. in 1976 at the School of Oriental and African Studies, London, in Tamil literature.听His research embraces many fields, including the听history of religion听in听South India, Indian听poetics,听Tamil听Islam,听Dravidian linguistics, and听Karnatak music. He is also a published听poet听in听Hebrew, a听literary critic, a听cultural anthropologist, and a听peace activist. He was formerly Professor听of听Indian Studies听and听Comparative Religion听at The听Hebrew University, Jerusalem, and professor in the Department of Indian,听Iranian听and听Armenian听Studies, and now holds an appointment as听Renee Lang Professor of听Humanistic Studies听at the听Hebrew University听in Jerusalem. He has authored or co-authored more than 20 books on various subjects ranging from听temple听myths听and temple poems to essays that cover a wide spectrum of the cultural history of South India. Among these are the monographs Tamil Temple Myths: Sacrifice and Divine Marriage in the South Indian Saiva Tradition (Princeton, 1980); The King and the Clown in South Indian Myth and Poetry (Princeton, 1985); The Hungry God: Hindu Tales of Filicide and Devotion (Chicago, 1993); and More than Real: A History of the Imagination in South India (Harvard, 2012); and the co-authored works, with Velcheru Narayana Rao and Sanjay Subrahmanyam Symbols of Substance (Oxford, 1993); and Textures of Time: Writing History in South India (2002).
Bilingual in Hebrew and English, he works in听Sanskrit,听Hindi,听Tamil, Telugu, and Malayalam and reads听Greek,听Russian,听French,听German,听Persian,听and Arabic. He has a passion for classical Karnatak (South Indian) music, though he has also studied Hindustani (North Indian) Dhrupad singing.
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