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New publication: On Epidemics
Vitus Angermeier. “On Epidemics: A Preliminary Critical Edition and Annotated Translation of Carakasaṃhitā 3.3.” Asian Literature and Translation 13, 1 (2026): 1–41. doi.org/10.18573/alt.95. This is a preliminary critical edition and new annotated translation of the third chapter in the Vimānasthāna section of the Carakasaṃhitā. As the chapter’s title suggests, its primary subject is epidemics, a…
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New publication: Warfare, Droughts, Brahminicides: Crisis and Kingship in South Asian Antiquity
Angermeier, Vitus. “Warfare, Droughts, Brahminicides: Crisis and Kingship in South Asian Antiquity.” In: Melina Tamiolaki and Markus Zimmermann (eds.), The Concept of Crisis in Antiquity. Interdisciplinary and Cross-cultural Perspectives. Trends in Classics. De Gruyter, 2026. doi.org/10.1515/9783112217061-0. Author accepted manuscript available here: doi.org/10.17613/sysjf-zz388. This publication is part of the proceedings of a conference on “Conceptualizing Crisis…
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New hosting institution: ÖAW/IKGA
Since May 2025, epidemics project is no longer based at the University of Vienna, but has found a new home at the Institute for the Cultural and Intellectual History of Asia (Austrian Academy of Sciences). This change was necessary due to certain Austrian legal peculiarities introduced by the government in 2021. These provisions state that…
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A few takeaways from the calamities workshop
On 8–9 November we had our Workshop on “Calamities and Countermeasures in Pre-modern South Asia” here in Vienna. And, for a workshop on such a topic, it went surprisingly well. You can check out the programme here: https://epidemics.univie.ac.at/the-project/calamities-workshop-program/ As the aims of the event included the preparation of a collected volume, we agreed on several…
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New participant: Patrick Zeitlhuber
The epidemics project has a new employee: In the next months, Patrick Zeitlhuber will work on Buddhist Pāli sources on epidemics, focusing on stories about the plague in Vaiśālī/Vesāli. For more details, see the Team page.
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CfP: Workshop on “Calamities and Countermeasures in Pre-modern South Asia”
We are proud to announce an interdisciplinary hybrid workshop on “Calamities and Countermeasures in Pre-modern South Asia”, to be held in Vienna and online on November 8–9, 2024. Please find all details of the event on the Workshop site.
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New Publication: Dharma and the Physicians: Ethic Reflections in Early Ayurvedic Literature
Angermeier, Vitus. “Dharma and the Physicians: Ethic Reflections in Early Ayurvedic Literature.” In Visages Du Dharma, edited by Christèle Barois and Silvia D’Intino, 71–94. Puruṣārtha 39. Paris: éditions EHESS, 2023. http://editions.ehess.fr/ouvrages/ouvrage/visages-du-dharma/ Accepted manuscript available here: https://doi.org/10.17613/j0xc-4s48 This article is rather preliminary work than an outcome of this research project, but, due to some delays, was…
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Pandemics, Epidemics, Academics. Projects on the medical traditions in South Asia and Tibet
Besides the epidemics project, the Viennese Department of South Asian, Tibetan and Buddhist Studies (ISTB) houses two other research projects on medical traditions focusing on Āyurveda and Tibetan medicine: To highlight this research focus, we organize a one-day workshop introducing first findings by the involved scholars. June 23, 2023, physically at the University of Vienna,…
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Epidemiology in the Bhelasaṃhitā
The Carakasaṃhitā (CS) has its own chapter on epidemics (3.3) and the Suśrutasaṃhitā (SS) deals with collective suffering within the frame of its chapter on the seasons (1.6). But what about the Bhelasaṃhitā (BhS)? This poorly preserved early āyurvedic compilation, like the CS, belongs to the school of internal medicine, and could provide precious insights,…
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CfP: Panel on “Health, disease and epidemics”
As mentioned before, we will host a panel at the ECSAS 2023 in Torino. The full title is “Health, disease and epidemics: multidisciplinary perspectives on the socio-ecology of medicine in pre-modern South Asia” The call for papers in now open for all the panels at the conference: https://ecsas2023turin.eu/call-for-papers/. If you consider submitting a paper, either…
