I am a graduate research scholar in the Department of History. My project examines approaches to anti-caste Buddhist ideas and movements in 19th and 20th-century South Asia. For this, I study the annals of Buddhist monks who played a role in shaping the vernacular anti-caste Buddhist public sphere across different parts of the South Asian subcontinent. Beyond the specific focus of my proposed research, I am interested in the social and cultural aspects of religious movements and their complex connections to vernacular and anti-colonial political projects. During my time at ICGC, as an IDF fellow, I plan to work on the role of Buddhist monasteries in fostering a sense of anti-caste fraternity within the nascent Dalit-Buddhist communities in the United Provinces, 1850-1950.
Mukund is in residence with ICGC during the 2025-26 academic year.