Dr. Shakuntala Gawde is an Associate Professor and former Head of the Department of Sanskrit at the University of Mumbai, India. Her research and teaching engage with Sanskrit intellectual traditions through interdisciplinary perspectives, with particular interests in Vedānta, Purāṇa Studies, Religious Studies, Comparative Philosophy, and Aesthetics.
She completed her B.A. and M.A. in Sanskrit (Vedānta) from the University of Mumbai, securing First Rank and Gold Medal in both programmes. She subsequently earned an M.Phil. in Sanskrit with specialization in Eastern and Western Philosophy, followed by a PhD in Sanskrit from the University of Mumbai. Her doctoral research, Eschatology in Vedic Literature Compared with Western Philosophy, examined concepts of death, afterlife, and liberation through a comparative philosophical framework.
Dr. Gawde has over fifteen years of teaching and research experience in higher education. She has guided postgraduate and doctoral research and has actively contributed to curriculum development, research supervision, and academic administration. As Head of the Department, she played a significant role in implementing the National Education Policy (NEP 2020), introducing new postgraduate programmes and interdisciplinary academic initiatives.
Her research explores Sanskrit philosophical and religious literature using both traditional and contemporary methodologies. She has published more than sixty scholarly works, including books, peer-reviewed research articles, book chapters, and encyclopedia entries. Her monograph Narrative Analysis of the Bhāgavata Purāṇa (2023) examines the text through contemporary narrative theory. She has edited or co-edited academic volumes, including Myths of Creation, Bhakti in Vaiṣṇava Traditions, Dimensions of Indo-Iranian Literary and Cultural Traditions, Bhaktimañjarī, Drumavicitrikaraṇam: Plant Biotechnology in Ancient India, and Chayanirjharinī. She has also contributed entries to the Encyclopaedia of Hinduism and Tribal Religion published by Springer.
Dr. Gawde has completed three funded research projects and two consultancy projects. She received a Doctoral Fellowship from the Heras Institute of Indian History and Culture, St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai, and the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust for her research project on the interpretation of the Bhāgavata Purāṇa through narrative analysis. She has also undertaken a University of Mumbai-funded research project on Govardhanamāhātmya.
She has presented research papers at numerous national and international conferences, including the World Sanskrit Conference and the University of Oxford, where she presented her work on bhakti mysticism in the Rāsapañcādhyāyī of the Bhāgavata Purāṇa. She has also delivered invited lectures and served as a resource person on subjects including Vedānta, Upaniṣads, Indian philosophy, aesthetics, and research methodology. In 2017, she was invited as a Visiting Fellow at the University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka.
Beyond research and teaching, Dr. Gawde has contributed to several academic and reference projects. She served as Coordinator for the World Religion and Philosophy section (Jāgatik Dharma āṇi Tattvajñāna) of the Marathi Vishwakosha, a Government of Maharashtra initiative. She has also contributed to the development of Sanskrit technical terminology and has participated in curriculum design, editorial work, and interdisciplinary academic collaborations.
Her contributions to teaching were recognised with the Academisthan Best Teacher of the Year Award in 2021. Through her research, publications, and academic leadership, Dr. Gawde continues to contribute to the study of Sanskrit philosophy, religious traditions, and Purāṇic literature within contemporary interdisciplinary scholarship.
Academic Biography
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