Anjali Kanojia, Ph.D.
Founder
Dr. Kanojia, a seasoned academic, author, researcher, and certified yoga practitioner, holds a graduate degree in Public Policy and Public Administration from the University of Houston, complemented by yoga certification from VYASA Yoga University in India. Her academic focus spans Indian and American politics, public opinion assessment, general health policy, and comparative health modalities like yoga and meditation. In the fall of 2022, Dr. Kanojia released her debut solo book, “The Politics and Promise of Yoga: Contemporary Relevance of an Ancient Practice” (Lexington Books; an Imprint of Rowman and Littlefield), shedding light on the contemporary significance of yoga within the socio-political landscape.
Koenraad Elst, Ph.D.
Dr. Elst studied at the KU Leuven, obtaining MA degrees in Sinology, Indology, and Philosophy. After a research stay at Banaras Hindu University Dr. Elst did original fieldwork for a doctorate on Hindu nationalism, which he obtained magna cum laude in 1998. As an independent researcher, he earned laurels and ostracism with his scholarship on Islam, multiculturalism, and the secular state, the roots of Indo-European, the Ayodhya temple/mosque dispute, and Mahatma Gandhi’s legacy. He also published on the interface of religion and politics, correlative cosmologies, the dark side of Buddhism, the reinvention of Hinduism, technical points of Indian and Chinese philosophies, various language policy issues, Maoism, the renewed relevance of Confucius in conservatism, the increasing Asian stamp on integrating world civilization, direct democracy, the defense of threatened freedoms, and the Belgian question.
B.R Mani, Ph.D.
Dr. Mani is a renowned archeologist and public intellectual. His graduate degree is from Banaras Hindu University (BHU) and he’s taught at BHU and at Sarnath. He is the Former Director-General of the National Museum; Former Vice Chancellor, of the National Museum Institute; and Former Additional Director General of the Archeological Survey of India, New Delhi. Dr. Mani has authored numerous books and articles on archeology, culture, civilization, and beyond. He continues to serve the field in various capacities and is excited about the new, scientific advances in the field of archeology and currently serves as the Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Indology. Dr. Mani believes that knowledge about the past can contribute much to the future of the world.
Rana P.B. Singh, Ph.D.
Dr. Singh is a proud resident of Kashi and has completed his M.A. and Ph.D. from Banaras Hindu University and served as the department head and Professor of Cultural Landscapes & Heritage Studies, B.H.U. He is currently affiliated with various academic institutions in India, Japan, Italy and Korea and serves on various committees around the globe. He is the author of over 340 papers and 43 books and anthologies including Banaras, Making of India’s Heritage City, Sacred Geography of Goddesses in South Asia, and Hindu Tradition of Pilgrimage: Sacred Space and System. His other works include topics on Kashi/Varanasi/Banaras, sacred geography, heritage planning, pilgrimage, cultural sustainability, and related aspects, can be accessed via his academia.edu page.
Priyanka Tripathi, Ph.D.
Dr. Tripathi has graduate degrees in History and Museology and a Ph.D. in History from Banaras Hindu University. She has her Project Fellowship from the Center for Women’s Studies and Development and a Junior Research Fellowship from the Indira Gandhi National Center for the Arts, New Delhi. Tripathi has also been awarded the Junior Research Fellowship from the Indian Council for Historical Research. Her academic training and interests are in the areas of ancient Indian history, art and culture, museology, and women’s studies. She is the author of many books and articles and continues to serve as invited faculty in many Delhi University colleges and in Banaras Hindu University.
Minal Bhadane, Ph.D.
Dr. Bhadane holds a graduate degree in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Toledo, Ohio and she is a Faculty Affiliate at the Indology Academy. Her graduate and undergraduate work focused on Instrumentation and Control Engineering and Biomedical Engineering. Dr. Bhadane’s Post Doc fellowship was with the University of Texas Health/TIRR Health She has experience as a Research Manager and Coordinator and has worked with the University of Texas and the University of Houston systems. Her teaching experience has been with the Baylor College of Medicine and her Yoga Certification course is from VYASA Yoga University, India.
Sarath Menon-Chembottil, Ph.D.
Dr. Menon is an Indian-born social scientist by academic training and holds academic appointments in Houston, Texas, USA. His area of particular interest is the sociology of religion. He has an earned doctorate with a specialization in the sociology of education, and master’s degrees in both anthropology and sociology. Dr. Menon’s current research focuses on the social, cultural, and economic consequences of globalization in India and religious social movements. He is working on a book about religious social movements in the Indian state of Kerala. He serves on the Board of the Institute for Spirituality & Health at the Texas Medical Center in Houston, Nesti Center for Faith & Culture, and also as the academic advisor to IHAR (Indian History Awareness & Research, a think tank based in Houston, Texas, USA.
Laul Jadu-Singh, Ph.D.
Dr. Singh was born in Kingston, Jamaica, W.I., and emigrated to the U.S. In the late 1960s. He attended the University of Massachusetts and Boston University (Linguistics and Philosophy); Harvard University (Sanskrit and Indian Studies, Buddhist Studies); UC Berkeley (Buddhist Studies). His publications include Three Treatises on the Six Yogas of Naropa, The Three Bhavanakramas of Kamalashlila, The Two Bhavanakramas of Vimalamitra, The Pericarp of Yoga: The Yogakarnika of Aghoranandanatha, The Perfection of Desire as the Path: Three Early Vajrayana Treatises and The Five Stages (Pancakrama) and Condensed Stage (Pindikrama) of (Mahasiddha) Nagarjunapada. He has presented at numerous Indology conferences and is currently preparing the second volume of comparative Indological-Western philosophy topics.
