Dominik A. Haas obtained his PhD in South Asian Studies from the University of Vienna in 2022 with a dissertation on the Gāyatrī-Mantra. His research focuses on the cultural, religious, and linguistic history of South Asia, particularly on Vedic and Sanskrit texts, mantras, and yoga. Adopting an interdisciplinary approach, he combines philological and historical research with methods and insights from fields ranging from religious studies to linguistics.

Haas has been conducting research in the field of South Asian studies since 2018. His research has been supported by the Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW), the Austrian Science Fund (FWF), the Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences (KNAW), the International Institute for Asian Studies (IIAS), the European Research Council (ERC), and the University of Vienna. He has taught as a freelance instructor (2015–2020) and at the University of Vienna (2014–2018, 2023).

Haas’s first monograph reconstructs the early history of the Gāyatrī-Mantra (2023), one of the most frequently recited formulas in Hinduism, using philological-historical methods and perspectives from religious studies (https://doi.org/10.1553/978oeaw93906). The book received the Roland Atefie Award and was shortlisted for the Best Publication Award of the Austrian Academy of Sciences. His second monograph (2024) offers an annotated translation of the Kaṭha-Upaniṣad and introduces text linguistics as a hermeneutic tool for studying heterogeneous and compiled Sanskrit sources (https://doi.org/10.11588/hasp.1329). He regularly publishes not only in South Asian studies but also in religious studies and linguistics journals, serves as an editor, and speaks at a wide range of events.

Haas is currently chair of the Junior Eurasia Researchers Network (2025–), co-editor of the series Puṣpikā (2025–), steering committee member of the International Indology Graduate Research Symposium (since 2025), board member of the Sammlung De Nobili Association (2026–), and co-organizer of the Initiative for Fair Open Access in South Asian Studies (2020–). Within the Cluster of Excellence “Eurasian Transformations,” he conducts research on religion and identity in premodern South Asia, focusing, among other things, on the history of individual mantras, the emergence of repetitive and meditative recitation practices, and the development of devotional bead strings or “rosaries.” In addition, he is an external collaborator on the ERC Synergy-project MANTRAMS.

All publications for download at https://oeaw.academia.edu/DominikAHaas

Current information on https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8505-6112

The Initiative for Fair Open Access Publishing in South Asian Studies (FOASAS): https://foasas.org