About this episode

This episode features real-time conversations from the AAS Conference in Vancouver, focusing on the complexities of Buddhism's return to modern India and its implications for Burma.

Episode #570: The AAS Conference in Vancouver brought together thousands of scholars and practitioners from around the world, creating a dense, fast-moving environment of panels, conversations, and informal exchange across the full breadth of Asian studies. Within that wider landscape, Burma surfaced as one of several pressing areas of focus, shaped by the realities of its ongoing crisis. Insight Myanmar Podcast was invited by the organizers to work from within the conference itself, setting up an on-site recording space and speaking with participants as they moved between sessions. The result is a series of short, real-time conversations—captured in the midst of the event rather than in hindsight—now shared with a wider global audience. This is the first of a four-part series. Gita reconstructs the return of Buddhism to modern India not as a simple story of rediscovery, but as a struggle over ownership, identity, and political meaning. Beginning with Anagarika Dharmapala’s late nineteenth-century campaign to reclaim the Mahabodhi Temple at Bodh Gaya, she follows the networks that linked India to Sri Lanka, Burma, Japan, and other Buddhist worlds across the Bay of Bengal. The…

People in this episode

Guest: Gita

Topics covered

• Buddhism
• Asian studies
• Crisis in Burma
• Cultural exchange
• Modern Indian Buddhism
• Historical narratives

Keywords

• AAS Conference
• Buddhism
• Burma
• Gita
• Anagarika Dharmapala
• Mahabodhi Temple
• Cultural exchange
• Modern Indian Buddhism

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: AAS Conference

Places: Vancouver, Burma, Mahabodhi Temple, Bodh Gaya, India, Sri Lanka, Japan, Bay of Bengal

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