Chakravarthi Ram-Prasad, FBA is the Distinguished Professor of Comparative Religion and Philosophy at Lancaster University. His research focuses on Indian religions – Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism – and comparative

phenomenology Phenomenology may refer to: Art * Phenomenology (architecture), based on the experience of building materials and their sensory properties Philosophy * Phenomenology (philosophy), a branch of philosophy which studies subjective experiences and a ...

, epistemology, metaphysics and philosophy of religion. His studies include the conceptual roots of contemporary beliefs, politics and conflict in religious context, and the religious identities of South Asian diaspora in the United Kingdom. He was elected as a Fellow of the British Academy in 2017.Professor Chakravarthi Ram-Prasad FBA
The British Academy, UK (2018)

Education

Ram-Prasad is an alumnus of Sri Sathya Sai Institute, and earned a masters and a doctorate in philosophy from the University of Oxford.

Career and Work

Ram-Prasad is the Professor of Comparative Religion and Philosophy in the Department of Politics, Philosophy and Religion at the

Lancaster University Lancaster University (legally The University of Lancaster) is a public university, public research university in Lancaster, Lancashire, Lancaster, Lancashire, England. The university was established in 1964 by royal charter, as one of several pla ...

. He was the Associate Dean for Research, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (2009–14), and a member of the Academic Advisory Council at the

Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies The Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies, founded in 1997, is a recognised independent centre of the University of Oxford, England. It develops academic programmes of education, research and publishing in Hindu studies. It aims to encourage the Hindu ...

. He has been a regular contributor to the BBC Radio 4's ''Beyond Belief and Sunday Programme'' in the United Kingdom. Ram-Prasad has published eight books and some fifty peer-reviewed articles on Indian religions, comparative religions (Hindu-Christian, Buddhism in India and China), contemporary Indian politics and religion, multiculturalism and British society, and comparative political philosophy. His studies have included religious literature in Sanskrit, Pali and Tamil. In a review of Ram-Prasad's award-winning book ''Divine Self, Human Self'' based on the ''

Bhagavad Gita The Bhagavad Gita (; sa, श्रीमद्भगवद्गीता, lit=The Song by God, translit=śrīmadbhagavadgītā;), often referred to as the Gita (), is a 700- verse Hindu scripture that is part of the epic ''Mahabharata'' (c ...

'', the Cambridge University scholar Ankur Barua states, "Ram-Prasad skilfully engages Śaṁkara and

Rāmānuja Ramanuja (Middle Tamil: Rāmāṉujam; Classical Sanskrit: Rāmanuja; 1017 CE – 1137 CE; ; ), also known as Ramanujacharya, was an Indian Hindu philosopher, guru and a social reformer. He is noted to be one of the most important exponents ...

in conversations over classical Vedantic themes of selfhood, being, and agency" to exegetically and hermeneutically explain how these two influential Hindu scholars interpreted the same text to reach two views of ''Self'' (Atman) in Hindu philosophy.

Honours

His book ''"Divine Self, Human Self"'' was the winner of the Best Book 2011–15, by the

Society for Hindu Christian Studies A society is a group of individuals involved in persistent social interaction, or a large social group sharing the same spatial or social territory, typically subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations. Societi ...

. In July 2017, Ram-Prasad was elected a

Fellow of the British Academy Fellowship of the British Academy (FBA) is an award granted by the British Academy to leading academics for their distinction in the humanities and social sciences. The categories are: # Fellows – scholars resident in the United Kingdom # C ...

(FBA), the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and social sciences.

Selected publications

;Books *
Knowledge and Liberation in Classical Indian Thought
' (Palgrave, 2001), *''Advaita Epistemology and Metaphysics: An outline of Indian non-realism'' (Routledge, 2002), *''Eastern Philosophy'' (Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 2005) * * *, which has been translated into French, Polish and Finnish * ;Journal articles and chapters * * * *

References

External links

* ''Lakshmi'', BBC Radio 4 In Our Time
link
Chakravarthi Ram-Prasad on the panel with Jessica Frazier and

Jacqueline Suthren-Hirst Jacqueline G. Suthren Hirst or Jackie Hirst is a senior lecturer in comparative religion and South Asian studies at Manchester University. She has an MA and PhD from Cambridge University and is a qualified teacher, and taught religious education i ...

. {{DEFAULTSORT:Ram-Prasad, Chakravarthi Academics of Lancaster University Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Fellows of the British Academy