The Hindu philosophy of karma is more interesting than the version of it widely available in the media. It begins in the Upanishads, where it is already quite complex, and undergoes many further elaborations as it develops through Indian history. This workshop will begin with a few key Upanishadic texts and trace the doctrine of karma through narratives in Hindu epics and mythological texts.
Wendy Doniger [O’Flaherty] first trained as a dancer under George Balanchine and Martha Graham and then went on to complete two doctorates in Sanskrit and Indian Studies (from Harvard and Oxford). She has been a full professor in the Divinity School at the University of Chicago since 1978 and is the author of many translations of Sanskrit texts as well as books about Hindu mythology and cross-cultural mythology, particularly about illusion, animals, gender, and sex, most recently The Bedtrick: Tales of Sex and Masquerade and The Woman Who Pretended to Be Who She Was, and The indus: An Alternative History.
