About
University of VirginiaProf. Richard J. Cohen became interested in the languages, literatures and cultures of South Asia while studying at the Maharaja Sayajirao University in India. He also lived in a village in Rajasthan for about two years as a Peace Corps volunteer.
Later, he specialized in the classical & medieval languages, Sanskrit, Prakrit and Apabhramsa in graduate school at the University of Pennsylvania. In addition to his research and teaching activities, he administered South Asian centers at several universities. He also directed a research library for a couple of years in Hyderabad, India as a Fulbright scholar.
His intellectual interests lie primarily in the medieval era's transitional languages and literatures of north India such as Apabhramsa, early Hindavi and Awadhi.
He developed an interest and specialization in Jainism through his work in Prakrit and Apabhramsa. He was also intrigued by early South Asian Sufism through a study of its literature.