This year’s Vienna Summer School on the Cultural and Intellectual History of Asia will introduce the participants to the subject of mantras or “potent formulas” in South Asia. The Summer School consists of a one-week intensive seminar that comprises expert-led Sanskrit readings and lectures that provide a comprehensive overview of the most important research approaches and theories in Mantra Studies. Participants will engage intensively with Sanskrit texts from various periods and traditions, including the Vedic tradition, Mīmāṃsā, Āyurveda, and Tantra. To round off the seminar, participants will also be introduced to non-textual and modern aspects of mantras by staff from the ERC-Synergy Project MANTRAMS, whose main host is the University of Vienna.

During the seminar, we will discuss a variety of questions that are fundamental to Mantra Studies, based on key passages from original sources: What are mantras? How do mantras work? How are mantras used in rituals? In what other contexts are mantras used? Are mantras language? How do the different forms of mantras – oral, aural, written, and material – relate to each other?