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istb-univienna.bsky.social
ISTB University of Vienna, Austria
@istb-univienna.bsky.social
The Department of South Asian, Tibetan and Buddhist Studies (Institut für Südasien-, Tibet- und Buddhismuskunde), University of Vienna.
On November 30th from 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. Markus Viehbeck will do a lecture as part of a symposium. To join the lecture as well as the symposium click here: toyo-bunko.or.jp/en/event/2031/
November 21, 2025 at 10:51 AM
Unfurling with a Song: Ecological Themes and the Question of Creative Labour in Contemporary Scroll-Paintings:

Tomorrow at 17:30 p.m

Join on site or online: univienna.zoom.us/j/6395063435.... (688384)
Or in the seminar room 1 of the ISTB (Spitalgasse 2, Hof 2.7)

stb.univie.ac.at/news-events/...
November 19, 2025 at 12:01 PM
“Embodied Energies: Mantra, Gesture, and the Poetics of Bharata-nāṭyam Repertoires”:
Tomorrow, Nov. 13th, 5:30 p.m., public talk and performance by Géraldine-Nalini Margnac at the ISTB.

Join us on site or online: univienna.zoom.us/j/6976904692... (Code 806110)

stb.univie.ac.at/news-events/...
November 12, 2025 at 2:21 PM
Austrian Decoration for Science and Art for Ernst Steinkellner

@istb-univienna.bsky.social is proud to announce that Emer. O. Univ.-Prof. Dr. Ernst Steinkellner has been awarded the Austrian Decoration for Science and Art by Austria’s President Alexander van der Bellen.

© Peter Lechner/HBF
November 10, 2025 at 11:08 AM
This Thursday, Oct. 30th, 5 pm @ISTB in Vienna: “Existence and Emptiness in Late Medieval Latin Semantics” by Graziana Ciola (Radboud University). Respondent: Birgit Kellner (IKGA).

Attend in person or online:
univienna.zoom.us/j/6860921736..., Code 989509.

stb.univie.ac.at/news-events/...
October 28, 2025 at 8:58 AM
Fresh off the press: Dr Cristina Pecchia (ISTB, University of Vienna) “Ayurveda and Philosophy” in Alex Broadbent (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Medicine. Oxford University Press, Oxford 2025, pp. 46-59. [DOI: 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780197625835.013.0003]

univie.academia.edu/CristinaPecc...
October 23, 2025 at 3:00 PM
Joyful Diwali to all who celebrate! 🪔

This 18th-cent. Rajasthani miniature depicts Lakṣmī who is especially venerated during Diwali (Dīpāvalī) celebrating the victory of light over darkness and knowledge over ignorance.

📸 The Trustees of the British Museum. Shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 licence.
October 20, 2025 at 7:44 AM
ISTB Research Day 2025: Ethics in Research

Presentations by Borayin Larios, Barbara Gerke (both @istb-univienna.bsky.social) and Edda Schwarzkopf (University of Tübingen) addressed ethical questions in fieldwork, cross-cultural collaboration in interdisciplinary environments and data management.
October 13, 2025 at 3:24 PM
@istb-univienna.bsky.social is hiring (again): 

We are offering a six-year PostDoc Position in in the field of Cultural and Intellectual History of Premodern South Asia (Indology)

Details and application: jobs.univie.ac.at/job/Universi...

Deadline: Sept 12, 2025.
August 18, 2025 at 1:28 PM
@istb-univienna.bsky.social is hiring:
Job Opportunity (University Assistant – Praedoc) in Pre-modern South Asian Studies (Indology) with Prof. Nina Mirnig, focussing on early Śaiva traditions and Sanskrit epigraphy.

Application: jobs.univie.ac.at/job/Universi...

Deadline: Sept 5, 2025.
August 13, 2025 at 9:57 AM
New WSTB publication by Mingyuan Gao:
The Buddhist Concept of Vāsanā. A Genealogical Study.
2025, 314 p.

wstb.univie.ac.at/product/wstb...

The book presents a genealogical study of the Buddhist concept of vāsanā, tracing its diverse origins and exploring the main ideas it conveys in context.
August 5, 2025 at 12:06 PM
A joint interest in 'Writing about Calamities in Cross-Cultural Contexts: Epidemics, End-of-Life Crises & Climate Disasters in Tibet and South Asia' brought together international scholars, PhD students, early career researchers and seasoned academics for a workshop at @istb-univienna.bsky.social.
July 30, 2025 at 7:59 PM
IABS 2025 in Leipzig is coming up soon. Several members of @istb-univienna.bsky.social will be sharing their research there, and look forward to meeting colleagues and friends.

For details of the academic program, please go to conference.uni-leipzig.de/iabs2025/aca...
See you in Leipzig!
July 25, 2025 at 12:56 PM
The 'Vienna Summer School on the History and Cultures of Asia', co-hosted by @istb-univienna.bsky.social and IKGA, brought together scholars and students in an intensive exploration of epistemology in South Asian philosophical traditions, based on guided readings of Sanskrit texts.
July 17, 2025 at 12:22 PM
Now available: Reprint of Markus Viehbeck's (@istb-univienna.bsky.social) collected volume "Transcultural Encounters in the Himalayan Borderlands", studying borderland Kalimpong as "Contact Zone":

vajrabookshop.com/product/tran...

Open Acess: library.oapen.org/handle/20.50...
July 8, 2025 at 9:40 AM
Book Launch: "Studies on Indian Philosophy and on Buddhism" by Tilmann Vetter (eds. Lambert Schmidthausen and Jonathan A. Silk)

IKGA and ISTB honored the late Tilmann Vetter, Professor of Buddhist Studies at the Rijksuniversiteit Leiden from 1975 until his retirement in 2000, yesterday evening.
July 1, 2025 at 11:30 AM
Spot on: "Tilopā’s Two Mahāmudrā Songs: A Comparative Study Including Critical Editions of the Dohākośa Within the Sārārthapañjikā and the Gaṅgāma with Rang byung rdo rje’s Commentary"
(article by Jim Rheingans and Julian Schott, both @istb-univienna.bsky.social)

rdcu.be/efFdO
June 26, 2025 at 1:07 PM
@istb-univienna.bsky.social is hiring: We are offering a three-year 50% Postdoc Position in the field of Indology and Himalayan Studies at the ISTB in Vienna. Please circulate this advertisement among qualified candidates.

Closing date for applications: June 26

jobs.univie.ac.at/job/Universi...
June 20, 2025 at 12:23 PM
The Nepali translation of the late anthropologist Dr. Hanna Rauber's "Salt and Rice" was recently launched in Kathmandu. Translated by Dr. Alaka Chudal (@istb-univienna.bsky.social) the nuanced portrait of Himalayan cultural landscapes and trade practices reaches a broader Nepali audience.
June 17, 2025 at 11:11 AM
Join us tomorrow at 5:30 pm for a public talk by Prof. Francesco Sferra @istb-univienna.bsky.social:
"Texts in Context. An Inquiry into the Social and Religious Context in which the Kālacakra Buddhist Tradition originated"

stb.univie.ac.at/news-events/...
June 11, 2025 at 2:47 PM
A Tibetan typewriter and a historic set of movable Tibetan types

Jo de Baerdemaeker, expert in Tibetan typography, and Élie Roux, technical lead at BDRC, visited @istb-univienna.bsky.social to examine two fascinating items: a 1970s Tibetan typewriter and a historic set of movable Tibetan types.
June 6, 2025 at 4:53 AM
Next Wednesday, June 11, 5:30 - 7:00 p.m. Kiyotaka Yoshimizu (University of Tohoku) will offer a public talk on Paul Hacker's 'Two Accounts of Cosmogony' in the Manusmṛti, Vedic Myth and Preclassical Sāṅkhya Theory of Emanation @istb-univienna.bsky.social:

stb.univie.ac.at/news-events/...
June 4, 2025 at 8:13 PM
An inaugural workshop recently brought the MANTRAMS team @istb-univienna.bsky.social together with project task forces from Oxford and Tübingen.

"Mantras in Religion, Media, and Society in Global Southern Asia” (MANTRAMS) is funded by an ERC Synergy Grant.
mantrams.univie.ac.at

📸 Prema Goet
June 2, 2025 at 12:09 PM
Here’s to the next 50+ years of Tibetology at the University of Vienna!
Many thanks to Prof. em. Ernst Steinkellner, Prof. Klaus-Dieter Mathes, Prof. Jim Rheingans, Dr. Hildegard Diemberger for their inspiring contributions to the jubilee event @istb-univienna.bsky.social

stb.univie.ac.at/en/
May 23, 2025 at 12:43 PM
Time to celebrate: 50+ years of Tibetan and Buddhist Studies at the University of Vienna

Join us TOMORROW on site @istb-univienna.bsky.social:

stb.univie.ac.at/news-events/...

Contributing: Prof. em. Ernst Steinkellner, Prof. Klaus-Dieter Mathes, Prof. Jim Rheingans, Dr. Hildegard Diemberger
May 21, 2025 at 3:57 PM