May 5, 2025 | 10:00 - 11:30 AM PDTAbout the event
About the event
Several recent authors have cast the classical Jain theory of non-one-sidedness (anekāntavāda) in modern terms as a basis for religious pluralism. Modern approaches to pluralism are generally too reliant either upon indifference between religions—presuming that there is some overriding common core between them—or else irreconcilable difference, such that privatization is the only way to insulate public discourse from the threat posed by disagreement. Dr. Mundra will argue that Jain philosophical tradition avoids both poles by integrating both commonality and particularity, seeking to retrieve agreement from the midst of disagreement by refusing a false dichotomy between absolute sameness and difference. This is an approach that does not prejudge the truth of other religions but rather seeks to engage and understand them in order to learn from the encounter with differences.
WELCOME ADDRESS: Christopher Jain Miller, Arihanta Institute
PRESIDING: Vikas Malhotra, Cal State University Northridge
SPEAKER: Anil Mundra, University of California, Santa Barbara
This is a collaborative speaker event brought to you by:
Cal State University Northridge | Arihanta Institute | University of California, Santa Barbara
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SPEAKER BIO
Anil Mundra is the Bhagvan Vimalnath Assistant Professor of Jain Studies and South Asian Religions in the Department of Religious Studies of the University of California, Santa Barbara. He was previously the Alka Siddhartha Dalal Postdoctoral Fellow for the study of Jainism at Rutgers University, New Brunswick. His research focuses on how South Asian philosophers navigate religious diversity, especially in Sanskrit texts on the classical Jain theory of non-one-sidedness (anekāntavāda).PRESIDER BIOS
Vikas Malhotra is the Bhagvan Ajitnath Assistant Professor of Jain Studies in the Department of Religious Studies at California State University, Northridge. He received his PhD from UC Santa Barbara and specializes in South Asian Religions, including Jainism, Hinduism and Buddhism.
Christopher Jain Miller, the co-founder and Vice President of Academic Affairs at Arihanta Institute, completed his PhD in the study of Religion at the University of California, Davis. He is a Visiting Researcher at the University of Zürich's Asien-Orient-Institut and Visiting Professor at Claremont School of Theology where he co-developed and co-runs a remotely available Masters Degree Program focusing on Engaged Jain Studies. His current research focuses on Engaged Jainism and Modern Yoga, and he is the author of a number of articles and book chapters concerned with Jainism and the practice of modern yoga. Christopher is the author of Embodying Transnational Yoga: Eating, Singing, and Breathing in Transformation (Routledge 2024), as well as co-editor of the volumes Engaged Jainism: Critical and Constructive Approaches to the Study of Jain Social Engagement (SUNY 2025) and Beacons of Dharma: Spiritual Exemplars for the Modern Age (Lexington 2020).