Name: Shriya Bandyopadhyay
Email: shriya@iisermohali.ac.in
Research Focus: South Asian History, History in Vernacular, History of History writing, historicity of Religious and Oral traditions/ rituals with focus on the class/caste background of their followers/patrons. I study religiosity and literary culture and try to investigate their socio-cultural and economic contexts. My MPhil/PhD, touch upon agrarian society, caste, gender, rituals and their interrelation with oral and written Bengali vernacular in the context of Eighteenth Century Bengal.
Education: PhD in History, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi
M.Phil. in History, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi
M.A. Medieval Indian History, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi
B.A. Honours History, Presidency College, University of Calcutta
Title of the doctoral thesis : The Making of the Divine: A Study of Lok-Dharma in Eighteenth Century Bengal.
Selected Publications:
“Women’s Voices from Within: A Study of Pati-Ninda and Jamaai- Ninda from Bengali Mangalkabyas.” (Prof. J. S. Grewal Memorial Prized Paper, Best Paper in Medieval History), The Proceedings Of Indian History Congress, 2016, ISSN NO, 2249-1937, pp. 279-287
“The Cult of Dharma and its Brahmanical Incorporation- A Study of ‘Lower Class/ Caste’ Religiosity in Early Modern Bengal”, in The Idea of Caste, Ed, Vulli Dhanaraju, Dominant Publishers, Delhi, 2016, ISBN NO. 978-93-84207-06-9, pp. 75-95
“God’s Adultery and King’s Fidelity: A Study of Bengali Maṅgalkābyas.” (Prof. Nasreen Ahmad Memorial Prized Paper, Best Paper in Gender History), The Proceedings of Indian History Congress, 2017, ISSN NO. 2249-1937, pp.243-250
“Ritual Pain and Divine Healing: Historically Locating Dharma-mangals in 18th Century Bengal”, The Proceedings of Indian History Congress, 2018, ISSN NO. 2249-1937, pp.409-416
“Sourcing the Vernacular – Mangalkabyas as Primary Sources”, in India Unbound: A Collection of Essays, Ed. Uma Chakraborty, Basupurna Mukherjee, Levant Books, Creek Row, Sarat Book Distributers, Kolkata, ISBN: 978-93-88069-65-6, pp.31-38
“The Stone Quarry workers: Bonded Labour in Northern India”, in Organizing the Unorganized, co-authoring with Dr. Gunasekaran Soundararajan, Asst. Prof., JNU, CHS (Forthcoming)
Achievements: Foreign Travel Grant by EASAS, for Zurich ECSAS 2014. (Conference Participation and Presentation of paper)
Have been Doctoral Junior Research Fellow at The Indian Council For Historical Research (2015-2016)