Namrata Narula

Visions of Unicity and Legacies of Difference: Inequality in the Works of Śaṃkara, Madhusūdana Sarasvatī, and Swami Vivekananda.

Supervisor: Professor Ankur Barua (Faculty of Divinity, University of Cambridge)

Abstract:

My dissertation seeks to make sense of a conceptual gap between ontological and ethical views of the subject (jīva) within the Indic tradition of Advaita Vedānta by using the works of three of its influential figures, namely, Śaṅkara (c.750 CE), Madhusūdana Sarasvatī (c.1540–1640), and Swami Vivekananda (1863–1902).  Advaita thinkers argue that all qualities of embodiment — including all intentional mental states — are ontologically non-dual with completely unqualified being-itself (brahman).  This Advaita vision, of the ultimate unicity of all individualised beings, has often been invoked as a defining factor of contemporary Hindu worldviews.

Part of the reason for this perceived contemporary relevance of Advaita is the closely held idea that, in affirming the ultimately shared self of all beings, Advaita is also additionally committed to a kind of radical worldly equality among them.  However, this dissertation conversely argues that, despite asserting the ultimately unreal nature of all differences, Advaita thinkers also frequently engage in complex justifications of why these unreal embodied differences are nevertheless righteously hierarchically ordered. Using the works of these three figures as theoretical vignettes on this conjunction, I seek to illustrate some of the ways in which worldly inequality, far from being resisted, has, in fact, been deeply rationalised as part and parcel of many Advaita conceptual frameworks.  While these rationalisations are often shaped in response to various temporally-bound social and intellectual concerns, they can nevertheless be demonstrated as exhibiting certain long-range continuities.  The hope is that identifying such continuities will contribute vital resources towards visibilising and challenging the Hindu afterlives of these Advaita taxonomies, particularly with respect to contemporary Indic visions of caste and gender difference.

Research Interests:

My research interests include Indic Philosophy, Philosophy of Religion, Feminist and Critical Theory, and Decolonial Philosophy.

Academic Background:

I completed an undergraduate degree in Philosophy at St. Stephen’s College, University of Delhi before pursuing my MPhil and PhD at the University of Cambridge Centre for Gender Studies.

Publications: 

Narula, N. (2025). Dharma and Identity in Śaṃkara’s Advaita. University of Süleyman Demirel Faculty of Theology Journal (54), 57-70. https://doi.org/10.59149/sduifd.1591853.

Narula, N. (2026). Gender Non-Realism: Rereading Judith Butler’s Performativity in Dialogue with Śaṅkara’s Advaita. International Journal of Hindu Studies. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11407-026-09432-0.