Bettina Bäumer | |
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| Born | Bettina Bäumer (1940-04-12)12 April 1940 (age 85) Salzburg, Austria |
| Other names | Bettina Sharada Bäumer |
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| Occupation | Indologist |
| Awards | Austrian Decoration for Science and Art (2012) Padma Shri (2015) Ulrich Winkler Award (2023) |
| Education | |
| Alma mater | University of Salzburg University of Munich (Ph.D) |
| Philosophical work | |
| Main interests | Kashmir Shaivism |
| Website | www |
Bettina Sharada Bäumer (born 12 April 1940) is an Austrian-born Indianscholar of religion.[1][2] Bäumer has been described by Vandana Parthasarathy, writing inThe Hindu, as a "renownedIndologist, one of the foremost expounders ofKashmir Saivism and a well-known figure in the field of inter-religious dialogue".[3] She was awarded theAustrian Decoration for Science and Art by Government of Austria in 2012 andPadma Shri by Government of India in 2015 for her contribution to Literature and Education.[4] She was awarded the Ulrich Winkler Award for Comparative Theology and Study of Religions in 2023.[5]
She was born inSalzburg on 12 April 1940 to Prof. Eduard Bäumer and Valerie Bäumer and secured her High School Leaving Certificate (Matura) inSalzburg in 1959. She pursued higher studies in Philosophy, Religion, Theology and Music at the Universities of Salzburg,Wien,Zurich,Rome andMunich between 1959 and 1967. Her Ph.D. thesisCreation as Play: The concept of Lila in Hinduism, its Philosophical and Theological Significance was presented the University of Munich where she secured her doctorate of philosophy in 1967.[6] Bäumer took the Indian name "Sharada" while applying for citizenship,[1] and became an Indian citizen in 2011.[7]
She was appointed a professor at the Institute for the Study of Religions, University of Vienna in 1997 and in 2002 gained a doctoratehonoris causa from the University of Salzburg, the first to do so from the university's Faculty of Theology.[6]
She has lived in India for over four decades, having found "belonging in Hinduism" and is quoted as emphasising that; "getting to know another religion does not permit using it as a quarry to be mined"[8] She conducted post-doctoral research in Indian philosophy andSanskrit atBanaras Hindu University (Varanasi),where she worked as an assistant and lecturer, under a reciprocal scholarship from the government of India.[9] She has done field work inOdisha.[10]
She worked in theUniversity of Vienna (Indology) and as director of the Research of theAlice Bonner Foundation for Fundamental Research in Indian Art and has been a visiting professor atUniversity of Vienna,University of Salzburg and theUniversity of Berne.[9] She has been honorary co-ordinator of the Kalatattvakosa programme, and editor ofKalatattvakosa: a Lexicon of Fundamental Concepts of the Indian Arts, respectively conducted and published by the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts.[11] She has been a fellow at theHarvard University[12] and at theIndian Institute of Advanced Study,Shimla. In 2009 she was director ofSamvidalaya at the Abhinavagupta Research Library, Varanasi. She was the co-chairperson of the fifteenthWorld Sanskrit Conference, held inNew Delhi in 2012.[13]: 24
Surekha Dhaleta, in an article in theTimes of India, described her as passionate about Kashmir Shaivism, as manifest in the commentaries of its leading commentatorAbhinavagupta. She quotes Dr. Bäumer thus; "There is a lot of misrepresentation and misunderstanding abouttantra, which forms the core of Kashmir Shaivism and has been generally misunderstood as black magic or witchcraft. Tantra is fascinating and is very rich and beautiful and related to practical life. It speaks about cosmic energies. The bookAbhinavagupta's Hermeneutics of the Absolute: Annutraprakriya, an interpretation of his Paratrisika Vivarana aims to present tantra and its interpretation in a scholarly way. I would appeal to youngsters to not see Hindu philosophy with dry speculation as it is very rich in knowledge and a great repository of traditions". The book provides extensive translations, commentary and in-depth interpretation of Abhinavgupta's theories.[14]
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