I study changing ideas and practices of Buddhist sovereignty, mainly in second millennium Lanka but with connections to South India and Southeast Asia. I'm particularly interested in the relationship(s) between sovereigns and monastic institutions; texts about and inscribed in royal/religious landscapes; and gendered performances of both kingship and monastic propriety. I'm convinced that the intellectual history of Buddhist sovereignty is far more nuanced, less stable and less androcentric than our textual sources alone might suggest, and that by considering a wider variety of evidence we can better see the cracks and fissures between competing visions of sovereignty. In particular, I'm interested in the physical space of the Buddhist kingdom, and how exactly landscape interventions can “make manifest royal splendour” (rājalakkhiṃ vijambhitum; Mahāvaṃsa 73:55-56).
You can read things I've written here.
I'm a graduate student in the Department of Asian Studies at Cornell University, where I am a member of the South and Southeast Asia Area Programmes. I am also a research associate in Religious Studies at Victoria University of Wellington. You can find me on Twitter, or contact me by email at brunomshirley [at] gmail [dot] com.
You can read things I've written here.
I'm a graduate student in the Department of Asian Studies at Cornell University, where I am a member of the South and Southeast Asia Area Programmes. I am also a research associate in Religious Studies at Victoria University of Wellington. You can find me on Twitter, or contact me by email at brunomshirley [at] gmail [dot] com.