Professor
Biography
Ph.D. Asian Languages and Literature, University of Washington, 1994
M.A. Eastern Philology and History: Indo-Iranistics, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium, 1986
B.A. Eastern Philology and History: Indo-Iranistics, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium, 1983
Current Research Projects:
- Edition and translation of selected works by Nagridas, alias Savant Singh of Kishangarh (1699-1764) and his concubine Rasik Bihari alias Bani Thani ("the Indian Mona Lisa"). Confluence of classical Hindi devotional and Indo-Persian and Rajasthani court idiom (sponsored by a NEH and Guggenheim Fellowship).
- Revisiting the birth of Urdu: the reception of "the father of Urdu," Vali, in eighteenth-century Delhi salons, an interdisciplinary project with Purnima Dhavan (History, UW) (sponsored by an NEH Collaborative grant).
- An edited volume on Vernaculars, Memory construction and Emotion: Giant Jinas and Warrior Epics in Gwalior together with Eva De Clercq (Gent University, Belgium).