![Ashwini Lakshminarayanan](https://profiles-cardiff.imgix.net/attachments/7806?w=200&h=200&auto=format&crop=faces&fit=crop&q=90")
Dr Ashwini Lakshminarayanan
Teams and roles for Ashwini Lakshminarayanan
Marie Curie Research Fellow
Overview
I work on Buddhist material culture in the Indian subcontinent dating from the ancient to medieval periods (c.1st century BCE to the 15th century CE). My main focus in recent years has been on the visual representation of gender and rituals in Buddhist art, particularly in the corpus of Gandhāran art.
My Marie-Curie research project at Cardiff University is GRAVE: Gandharan Relic rituals And Veneration Explored. This innovative project seeks to analyse the visual material from Gandhāra (present day Pakistan and Afghanistan between the 1st and the 4th centuries CE) in its socio-religious context by analysing contemporary Gandhari relic donative inscriptions and later Chinese accounts of relic veneration in the region.
Publication
2025
- Lakshminarayanan, A. 2025. Gender in Gandhāran art: Representations and interactions in the Buddhist context (1st – 4th centuries CE). Turnhout: Brepols.
2024
- Lakshminarayanan, A. 2024. The dream of Queen Māyā in Gandhāran art. In: Mendoza, M. and Antela-Bernadez, B. eds. Elite Women in Hellenistic History, Historiography, and Reception. Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols Publishers, pp. 141-161., (10.1484/m.wop-eb.5.137348)
- Lakshminarayanan, A. 2024. Towards identifying Bhikṣuṇīs in Gandhāra. In: Basu Masumdar, S. ed. Transcending Boundaries: Premodern Cultural Transactions Across Asia. Essays in Honour of Osmund Bopearachchi. New Delhi: Manohar
- Lakshminarayanan, A. 2024. A prolegomenon to the visual language of dance in Gandhāra. Religions 15(8), article number: 895. (10.3390/rel15080895)
- Lakshminarayanan, A. 2024. The dream of Queen Māyā in Gandhāran art. In: Mendoza, M. and Antela‑Bernárdez, B. eds. Elite Women in Hellenistic History, Historiography, and Reception. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 141-162.
- Lakshminarayanan, A. 2024. Exploring Gandhāran relic rituals and Veneration I: visualising relics. Acta Asiatica Varsoviensia 37, pp. 85-122. (https://doi.org/10.60018/AcAsVa.roao7752)
2023
- Lakshminarayanan, A. 2023. Globalization and Gandhāra art. In: Autiero, S. and Cobb, M. A. eds. Globalization and Transculturality from Antiquity to the Pre-Modern World. Abingdon and New York: Routledge, pp. 226-244.
- Lakshminarayanan, A. 2023. Female euergetism in Gandhāra: Investigating local evidence. Mediterraneo Antico. Economie Società Culture 26(1-2), pp. 213-231.
- Lakshminarayanan, A. 2023. Towards investigating the representation of Gandhāran female donors. Arts Asiatiques 78, pp. 5-26. (10.3406/arasi.2023.2227)
2021
- Lakshminarayanan, A. 2021. Dynamic encounters: use of a Hellenistic motif in the story of Aṅgulimāla in Gandhāran art.. Parthica: Incontri di culture nel mondo antico 23, pp. 97-109. (10.19272/202103501006)
2020
- Lakshminarayanan, A. 2020. The Greek Experience of India: From Alexander to the Indo-Greeks by Richard Stoneman [Book Review]. American Journal of Philology 141(1), pp. 133-134. (10.1353/ajp.2020.0007)
Articles
- Lakshminarayanan, A. 2024. A prolegomenon to the visual language of dance in Gandhāra. Religions 15(8), article number: 895. (10.3390/rel15080895)
- Lakshminarayanan, A. 2024. Exploring Gandhāran relic rituals and Veneration I: visualising relics. Acta Asiatica Varsoviensia 37, pp. 85-122. (https://doi.org/10.60018/AcAsVa.roao7752)
- Lakshminarayanan, A. 2023. Female euergetism in Gandhāra: Investigating local evidence. Mediterraneo Antico. Economie Società Culture 26(1-2), pp. 213-231.
- Lakshminarayanan, A. 2023. Towards investigating the representation of Gandhāran female donors. Arts Asiatiques 78, pp. 5-26. (10.3406/arasi.2023.2227)
- Lakshminarayanan, A. 2021. Dynamic encounters: use of a Hellenistic motif in the story of Aṅgulimāla in Gandhāran art.. Parthica: Incontri di culture nel mondo antico 23, pp. 97-109. (10.19272/202103501006)
- Lakshminarayanan, A. 2020. The Greek Experience of India: From Alexander to the Indo-Greeks by Richard Stoneman [Book Review]. American Journal of Philology 141(1), pp. 133-134. (10.1353/ajp.2020.0007)
Book sections
- Lakshminarayanan, A. 2024. The dream of Queen Māyā in Gandhāran art. In: Mendoza, M. and Antela-Bernadez, B. eds. Elite Women in Hellenistic History, Historiography, and Reception. Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols Publishers, pp. 141-161., (10.1484/m.wop-eb.5.137348)
- Lakshminarayanan, A. 2024. Towards identifying Bhikṣuṇīs in Gandhāra. In: Basu Masumdar, S. ed. Transcending Boundaries: Premodern Cultural Transactions Across Asia. Essays in Honour of Osmund Bopearachchi. New Delhi: Manohar
- Lakshminarayanan, A. 2024. The dream of Queen Māyā in Gandhāran art. In: Mendoza, M. and Antela‑Bernárdez, B. eds. Elite Women in Hellenistic History, Historiography, and Reception. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 141-162.
- Lakshminarayanan, A. 2023. Globalization and Gandhāra art. In: Autiero, S. and Cobb, M. A. eds. Globalization and Transculturality from Antiquity to the Pre-Modern World. Abingdon and New York: Routledge, pp. 226-244.
Books
- Lakshminarayanan, A. 2025. Gender in Gandhāran art: Representations and interactions in the Buddhist context (1st – 4th centuries CE). Turnhout: Brepols.
Teaching
I mainly teach lectures and seminars in art, archaeology, and religion in south and central Asia. I have in the past or currently contribute to the teaching in the following modules:
RT0329 Saviours and Salvation in the Religions of Asia
RT0227 Guided Study in Religion and Theology
HS3107 Ancient Objects Then and Now
RT0221 Visual History of Early South Asia
As an Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, I am trained to deliver teaching at all levels and support students in their education development using traditional as well as innovative methods based on reflection, pedagogical literature, and feedback.
Biography
After a BA in Ancient Indian Culture at St Xaviers College (Mumbai, India), I went on to complete a BA (Hons) in Classical and Archaeological Studies at the University of Kent (Canterbury, UK) and MA in Classical Studies and the Ancient History of Macedonia at the International Hellenic University (Thessaloniki, Greece). Combining my formation in both Classical archaeology and Indology, I completed my PhD at Sapienza University of Rome (Rome, Italy) with the project Gender in Gandhāran art (1st – 4th centuries CE). Before joining Cardiff University, I was a postdoctoral researcher at the École Française D'extrême-Orient (Paris, France). Simultaneously, I have also been part of several excavations and museum exhibitions in India, UK, Ireland, Greece, Italy and Spain.
Contact Details
John Percival Building, Floor 5, Room 5.47, Colum Drive, Cardiff, CF10 3EU
Research themes
Specialisms
- Art history
- Archaeology of Religion
- Gender
- Praxis