Abhishek Amar, assistant professor of religious studies, organized a panel titled "Reconfiguring Buddhism: Sites, Objects and Heritage in Modern South Asia" at the 43rd Annual Conference on South Asia, at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, on Oct. 18.
He also presented a paper titled "Bodhgaya's Reconstruction in the Colonial India," which examined the links between British colonial understanding of South Asian religions, especially Buddhism and Hinduism, and the reconstruction of Buddhist sacred sites in the nineteenth and early twentieth century. The paper analyzed how the colonial conservation and preservation policies were based upon their understanding of religions and religious boundaries, which continues to shape the conservation policies of Archaeological Survey of India.
