Department of History hosts book release by Dr. Matthew Robertson

MURRAY, Ky. – The Department of History at Murray State University will host a book release talk in honor of Dr. Matthew Robertson’s new book, “Puruṣa: Personhood in Ancient India,” on Wednesday, March 6 at 3:30 p.m.  in Faculty Hall, Room 208, on the Murray State main campus. The event is free and open to the public.

Robertson is a scholar of the religions of Asia. An instructor in Murray State’s Department of History, Robertson earned his doctorate from the University of California, Santa Barbara, Master of Arts from St. John’s College, Santa Fe, and bachelor’s degree from Truman State University. He has taught at Murray State since 2019. 

His new book, “Puruṣa: Personhood in Ancient India,” is a study of ancient Indian theories of personhood. It relies on an extensive textual analysis to trace the development of Indian thinking about persons (puruṣas) over the first 2,000 years of India’s recorded history. Spanning works of religion, politics, literature, and medicine, “Puruṣa” reveals a sustained cultural belief that persons are deeply confluent with the natural world—that personhood is worldhood. A king is equal to the extent of his realm; a sacrificer fills the world with his rite; a yogi touches all of creation by the reach of his mastered senses. Worldly, expansive thinking about personhood runs through ancient India’s traditions, sparking intellectual, technical and cultural revolutions. “Puruṣa” is the story of these revolutions. It challenges the reader to re-examine the goals of ancient Indian religions, and yields new insights into the interrelated natures of religious persons and the worlds in which they live.

Renowned scholar of Yoga and Tantra, David White, said, “This magnificent, groundbreaking study of the ancient Indian category of puruṣa, the Indian ‘person,’ sweeps us into a world where the dimensions of inner and outer, and body and cosmos, collapse. Also collapsing are several received notions concerning Indian metaphysics.”

For more information about the event, please contact Murray State University’s Department of History at 270-809-2231 or visit murraystate.edu/history.