Podcast 18

In this episode of the Engaged Jain Studies Podcast, Assistant Professor Cogen Bohanec, MA, PhD interviews Anil Mundra, PhD, Assistant Professor in the Department of Religious Studies and holder of the Bhagvan Vimalnath Endowed Chair in Jain Studies and South Asian Religions at the University of California Santa Barbara. During their conversation, the professors delve into the significant contributions of Haribhadrasūri, a polymath and influential figure in the Jain tradition. They discuss his works, including commentaries on the Śvetāmbara āgamas, and his role in promoting cosmopolitanism and interfaith acceptance. The conversation also explores the concept of anekānta-vāda, a philosophy of non-one-sidedness that acknowledges the complexity and multifaceted nature of truth. Dr. Mundra clarifies the distinction between anekānta-vāda and relativism, highlighting the importance of recognizing the objective truth by considering various aspects and perspectives. This episode offers a fascinating glimpse into the rich intellectual history of Jainism and the relevance of anekānta-vāda in today's polarized discourse.

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS

• Introduction to Haribhadrasūri's life and works (5:00)
• Discussion of anekānta-vāda and its significance (15:00)
• Clarifying the distinction between anekānta-vāda and relativism (30:00)
• Exploring the relevance of anekānta-vāda in contemporary issues (40:00)

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES & LINKS

• Cal State Uni. Northridge Online Jain Symposium, Dept. of Religious Studies - Jain Non-One-Sidedness (Anekāntavāda): Religious Pluralism and Learning Across Differences
• Arihanta Institute | Ancient Wisdom for Modern Living
• Subscribe to the Arihanta Institute Newsletter

ABOUT OUR PODCAST GUEST

Anil Mundra is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Religious Studies and holder of the Bhagvan Vimalnath Endowed Chair in Jain Studies and South Asian Religions at the University of California Santa Barbara. He completed his PhD at the University of Chicago in 2022 and after that held the Alka Siddhartha Dalal Postdoctoral Fellowship for the study of Jainism in the Department of Religion at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey. His research looks at how religious diversity is confronted and navigated in classical Jain philosophy, especially in anekantavada, the theory of non-one-sidedness. His dissertation was on the writing attributed to the great Shvetambar polymath Haribhadrasūri. Some of his recent work has brought this research to bear on questions of religious pluralism, comparison, toleration, and universalism.

ABOUT OUR PODCAST HOST

Cogen Bohanec, MA, PhD, Assistant Professor at Arihanta Institute

Cogen Bohanec currently holds the position of Assistant Professor in Sanskrit and Jain Studies at Arihanta Institute where he teaches various courses on Jain philosophy and its applications. In addition, he is a Visiting Assistant Professor at Claremont School of Theology (CST) where he teaches Sanskrit and Gujarati, and he has taught numerous classes on South Asian Culture & Religions and Sanskrit language at the Graduate Theological Union (GTU) in Berkeley. Dr. Bohanec specializes in the Jain and Hindu traditions, comparative dharma traditions, philosophy of religion, theo-ethics (virtue ethics, and environmental and animal ethics in particular), and Sanskrit language and literature, and has numerous publications in those areas, particularly in the fields of Jain and Hindu Studies amongst other disciplines. He has a PhD in “Historical and Cultural Studies of Religion” with an emphasis in Hindu Studies from GTU, where his research emphasized ancient Indian languages, literature, and philosophical systems. He also holds an MA in Buddhist Studies from the Institute of Buddhist Studies at GTU where his research primarily involved translations of Pāli Buddhist scriptures in conversation with the philology of the Hindu Upaniṣads. He is the author of “Bhakti Ethics, Emotions and Love in Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava Metaethics” (Lexington, 2024), an interdisciplinary study that frames traditional Hindu themes of ecotheology, ecofeminist theology, feminist care ethics, within a framework of virtue ethics in conversation with a bhakti-based psychology of emotions. Currently he is largely engaged in publication and research on various aspects of the Jain tradition, emphasizing translations and analyses of Jain Sanskrit, Prakrit, and Gujarati texts, but is also publishing academic works on various topics within the Hindu tradition.

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