About the Author

Jayant Bapat holds doctorates in Organic Chemistry and Indology and is an adjunct research fellow at the Monash Asia Institute. His research interests include Hinduism, Goddess cults, the Fisher community of Mumbai, and Jainism, and he has published widely in these areas. He is co-editor of The Iconic Female: Goddesses of India, Nepal and Tibet (Monash University Press, 2008) with Ian Mabbett, and The Indian Diaspora: Hindus and Sikhs in Australia (DK Printworld, 2015). For his work in education and for the Indian community, Jayant was awarded the Order of Australia Medal (OAM) in 2011. Ian Mabbett, an adjunct research fellow at Monash University, has taught there since 1965 in courses on Asian history and conducted teaching and research in Singapore, Princeton and Nagoya. His main research interests are in ancient Indian history, Buddhist philosophy and history, and the comparative study of Asian religions. He is co-editor of The Iconic Female: Goddesses of India, Nepal and Tibet (Monash University Press, 2008) with Jayant Bapat. Ian is also the co-author of The Sociology of Indian Buddhism with Greg Bailey (2003) and editor of Pracyaprajñapradipa (2012), a volume that felicitates Professor Samaresh Bandyopadhyay.