Welcome to Dr. Marion Rastelli - ERASMUS Guest

Dr. Marion Rastelli will visit the Cultural and Religious History of South Asia Department from January 11 to January 18 in the context of the vibrant Erasmus exchange between Heidelberg and Vienna Universities. Dr. Rastelli will join the Block Seminar Kolloquium during which PhD, MA and BA candidates of the department will present their work. She will also will read sections from the Padma Purana with Sanskrit students of the department. In addition, she will give a presentation in Prof. Hüsken’s Seminar “South Indian Temple Cultures”  on the history of branding as identity marker of South Indian Vaishnavas.

Marion Rastelli is a Sanskritist. She works as a senior researcher and deputy director at the Institute for the Cultural and Intellectual History of Asia of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, and also teaches at the Institute for South Asian, Tibetan and Buddhist Studies of the University of Vienna. Her main field of research is the Vaiṣṇava tradition of Pāñcarātra in all its aspects, including teachings, rituals and historical development. She is co-editor of the renowned Tāntrikābhidhānakośa, a dictionary of technical terms from Hindu Tantric literature.