About
Centre for the Study of ReligionUniversity of Toronto, Canada
His ongoing project is on the transmission of learning and the literary history of texts relevant for Tamil Digambara Jaina temple ritual in North and South Arcot (Tamil Nadu, India), addressing questions of assimilation and resistance within a predominantly non-Jaina culture, the connections between text and place as well as the role of women in the transmission of literary traditions. Professor Emmrich’s previous work has been on Theravāda Buddhist and Digambara Jaina literature dealing with experience of time and salvation, on the reception and reinterpretation of Pāli sources by B.R. Ambedkar, on Newar Buddhist manuscript culture, particularly conservation and re-consecration practices, and on the historical recording of accidents during ritual performances such as urban processions in the Kathmandu Valley.