Religion in India

Varuni Bhatia is a historian of religion, specializing in modern Hinduism and Bhakti traditions. Her first book, Unforgetting Chaitanya: Vaishnavism and Cultures of Devotion in Colonial Bengal (Oxford University Press, 2017), explored how Bengali Vaishnava traditions were transformed and integrated into middle-class, cultural nationalist frameworks. Her ongoing research looks at the emergence of Hindu esotericism as an integral aspect of Hindu modernity, with a focus on Hindu nationalism and anti-colonial movements from the same period. She has also published articles on digital Hinduism, especially how popular beliefs and practices continue to proliferate over social media platforms and influence everyday religious practices.