Dr. Slouber is Associate Professor of South Asia at Western Washington University in the Department of Liberal Studies. He is the author of Early Tantric Medicine: Snakebite, Mantras, and Healing in the Gāruḍa Tantras.
Education
- Ph.D., UC Berkeley 2012 [Abstract]
- MA in Indologie, Universität Hamburg, Germany, 2011 [PDF]
- MA in South and Southeast Asian Studies, UC Berkeley 2007 [PDF]
- BA in Religious Studies (magna cum laude), UC Davis 2005
Teaching
- HNRS 105: India: Politics, Passion, and Disenchantment
- LBRL 231: Intro to the Study of Religion
- LBRL 271: Humanities of India
- LBRL 303: Theories and Methods in the Study of Religion
- LBRL 345: Fierce Goddesses of India
- LBRL 378: Religion and Society in India
- LBRL 421: Traditional Indian Medicine
- LBRL 437: Study Abroad
Current Project
- Garland of Goddesses (edited sourcebook of goddess narratives for classroom analysis and general readership)
Publications
- “Ferocity and Violence in the Bhūta Tantras.” In Serbaeva, Olga. (ed.) Transgression and Encounters with the Terrible in Buddhist and Śaiva Tantras. (accepted for publication)
- Dictionary entries “Bhūta Tantra,” “Bāla Tantra,” “rakṣā,” “rasa,” “rasāyana,” “rasāyanasiddhi” in Goodall, D. and Rastelli, M. (ed.) Tāntrikābhidhānakośa IV. Wien: VÖAW (forthcoming).
- “Vulnerability and Protection in the Śaiva Tantras.” In Goodall and Filliozat (eds.) Mélanges tantriques à la mémoire d’N.R. Bhatt (forthcoming)
- Two translations in Salguero, Pierce (ed.) Buddhism and Medicine: An Anthology of Premodern Sources, Columbia University Press (2017): “The Buddha’s Past Life as a Snakebite Doctor (Visavantajātaka)” and “Tantric Medicine in a Buddhist Proto-Tantra (Mañjuśriyamūlakalpa 40)”
- Early Tantric Medicine: Snakebite, Mantras, and Healing in the Gāruḍa Tantras. New York: Oxford University Press (2017)
- Book review of Well-mannered Medicine by Dagmar Wujastyk. International Journal of Hindu Studies 21, 1: 138–139 (2017)
- “The Herbal Arsenal and Fetid Foods: The Power of Plants in Early Tantric Exorcism Rituals” in Ferrari, F. and Dahnhardt, T. Roots of Wisdom, Branches of Devotion: Plant Life in South Asian Religions and Culture. London: Equinox 145–164 (2016)
- Book review of Lord Śiva’s Song by Andrew Nicholson. International Journal of Hindu Studies 19, 3: 352–354 (2015)
- “Snakebite Goddesses in the Shakta Traditions: Roots and Incorporations of Tvaritā, Bheruṇḍā, and Kurukullā.” In Flood and Olesen (eds.) Goddesses in Tantric Hinduism: History, Doctrine, and Practice. London: Routledge (2015).
- “Carrying God: Merely a Mount or Independent Deity?” Journal of Vaishnava Studies, Vol. 21, No.1 (Fall 2012).
- “The Manuscripts of the Kriyākālaguṇottara.” NGMCP Newsletter #5 2007
Other Academic Output
- Doctoral Thesis, Gāruḍa Medicine: A History of Snakebite and Religious Healing in South Asia, 2012.
- Etext of Bhairavapadmāvatīkalpa 2012
- MA thesis, “Śaṅkuka’s Saṃhitāsāra” 2011
- Etext of Viṣavaidyasārasamuccaya 2011
- Etext of Nārāyaṇīya TSS 2009
- Etext of Kāśyapa Saṃhitā 2008
- MA thesis, “The Cult of Khaḍgarāvaṇa” 2007
Hey there! As promised a year ago, I am completing the transcription of Jvālāmālinīkalpa. I finished the text transcription last year, but I am now adding the rendered mantras to the etext. I hope to complete it very soon, and I will send it to you. I have misplaced your email when UC cancelled my account; do send me your new email address to the email address specified above.
Prof. Slouber – I am with the National Library of Medicine. I have tried to reach you via Brown University and Saint Mary’s College email addresses to no avail. I wanted to invite you to contribute a chapter to a book I am doing, as an independent project, on Toxicology in Antiquity for Elsevier. For more information please reply with a valid e-mail address. Many thanks. – Phil Wexler
I understand that you have studied at University of California, Berkeley. I happen to know Mr. Kurt Keutzer during couple personal encounters. In view of your work like The Cult of Khadgaravana in which a subject matter of physical and mental illness seems to be addressed, I thought of making this first contact.
If you are willing to take the matters of common interests further, please revert.
By the way, the whole interest evolved due to your blog on fortifications of Gingee.
All the best,
Shridhar Alurkar, Kolhapur, Maharashtra, India