Classical South Asian philosophy significantly relates to religion. Utilising increasingly systematised theories and practices of argumentation, philosophers in the late medieval period justified and defended specific visions of reality that relate to human bondage and liberation and support Vedic ritualism or Buddhist soteriology. Narratives of public debates between renowned philosophers suggest a milieu of clearly defined boundaries – especially between Buddhists and Brahmanical systems – and depict an atmosphere of politically charged religious competition (Bronkhorst 2007, Cabezón 2008). Eltschinger argued that the formation of two influential pan-Buddhist movements – the philosophical school of logic and epistemology as well as esoteric Buddhism – was a historical response to increasing anti-Buddhist hostility on the part of Brahmanism (Eltschinger 2014). However, philosophical literature has also been found to reveal more nuanced attitudes to the views of others (e.g. Watson 2006) that are less confrontational. We consequently need to study modes of argumentative interaction and their significance for religious identification more closely. This case study accordingly proposes cross-readings of a wider range of philosophical literature and debate narratives in order to flesh out how argumentation and discourse contribute to religious identification. It crucially builds on first-time scholarly editions and modern translations of significant Sanskrit works from within a long-standing research focus at the AAS, as well as on studies of inter- and intra-religious polemics (Steckel ed. 2018) that it aims to continue within the context of TWG 3.