Faculty of Asian Studies, The Australian National University

Dr McComas Taylor

Head, South Asia Centre Senior Lecturer, Centre for Asian Societies and Histories Email: McComas.Taylor@anu.edu.au Phone: + 61 2 6125 3179 Room: e424 Baldessin Precinct Building

Contents 1 Awards and Nominations 2 Curriculum vitae 3 Research interests 4 Teaching responsibilities 5 Recent media 6 General Outreach 7 Committees 8 Recent publications 9 Conferences and Workshops Organised 10 Contributions to Innovation in Teaching and Learning at ANU 11 General Sanskrit Links 12 Documents Online 12.1 Sanskrit Documents 12.2 Tibetan Documents 13 The Experts discuss Spoken Sanskrit

Awards and Nominations

• ANU VC's 2008 Citation for Outstanding Contribution to Student Learning
• 2008 ANU Students' Award for Excellence in Teaching Distinguished dozen: Students name the best at Festival of Teaching
• 2008 College of Asia and the Pacific Award for Outstanding Contribution to Student Learning

• Vice-Chancellor's Excellence in Teaching Award, 2007 (two nominations)
• College of Asia and the Pacific Teaching Awards, 2007 (three nominations)
• Vice-Chancellor's Excellence in Teaching Award, 2006 (nomination)
• Nominated for ANU Dean of Student’s ‘Last lecture’, 2008
• Nominated for ANU Dean of Student’s ‘Last lecture’, 2007

Curriculum vitae

• August 2009

Research interests

• The construction of truth in the Sanskritic episteme
• The ideas of social division in Sanskrit narrative literature

Teaching responsibilities

• Sanskrit language and literature, Spoken Sanskrit
• Individual and Society in Asia (Read my Student evaluations for 1st Sem 2007 | 2nd Sem 2007 | 1st Semester 2008 | 2nd Sem 2008 | 1st Sem 2009)
• Religion and Politics in South Asia (Read our student evaluations 2nd Semester 2006)
• RPSA: 'Defining a Nation' (Read our student evaluations 2nd Semester 2008)
• Indian Epics ASIA2062 (Read our student evaluations: 1st Semester 2008)
• Blog on Simla Conference course | Read online report

Recent media

• Faculty teachers awarded Vice-Chancellor’s Citation (ANU Blog Aug 2009)
• Book review: 'The Hindus: An Atlernative History (Wendy Doniger) (South Asia Masala Blog 7 August 2009)
• 'And now, a passage from India' Interview, (Canberra Times, 22 March 2009)
• 'Hindi Teachers Loss Hurts Tongue' (The Australian 2 April 2008)
• 'Distinguished dozen: Students name the best at Festival of Teaching' (ANU News 2008)
• 'Ancient stories find new life' (ANU News 2008)
• 'Six Easy Lessons in Sanskrit' (ANU Reporter 2008)
• 'Simla Conference Re-enacted' (FAS News 16 Sept 2008)
• 'Friend in Asia' (The Australian 12 Sept 2007)
• 'Eye on South Asia's giants' (The Australian 12 Sept 2007)
• 'The Perfection of Sanskrit' - ABC Radio 'Linga Franca' (8 December 2007)
• ‘First National Sanskrit festival’ ABC Radio National (Canberra), 17 November 2007
• ‘Funding for Asian Studies’, ABC Radio National, 8 March 2007
• 'Sanskrit, the language of life' (Canberra Times 22 May 2006)

General Outreach

• Narrabundah College Hindi Students visit ANU (June 2009)
• ANU at Dickson College (May 2009)
• Public Performance by Dr Ananth Rao: 'Rama's Grains' (March 2008)
• Beep Honk, Clatter: The sounds of Outdor Hindi (FAS Bhinneka May 2007)

Committees

• 2007,Faculty of Asian Studies Education Committee (Tutor liaison)
• 2007, Faculty of Asian Studies Workloads Committee
• 2006-07, Asian Studies Graduate Affairs Committee
• 2006--, Asian Studies Library Advisory Committee
• 2006–07, Faculty of Asian Studies Heads of Centres Committee
• 2007–, Faculty of Asian Studies Dean’s Advisory Group/Faculty Management Group
• 2008-09, ANU LMS selection committee
• 2008 Academic Skills job selection committee
• 2009--, ANU Wattle Reference Committee
• 2009-, FAS Schools and Community Outreach Program

Recent publications

• The Fall of the Indigo Jackal: The Discourse of Division in Purnabhadra's Pancatantra (SUNY Press, June 2007)

'McComas Taylor’s study has provided us with a new angle for methodology that will ensure the continuous progression of our field of study' IJAS review - see link below.

Societies divide themselves on the basis of class, race, gender, religion, occupation, ethnicity and nationality, and ascribe certain sets of behaviours to individuals in those groups. The discourses that legitimise such divisions and behaviours are often so ingrained in the fabric of society that the divisions appear normal, natural or common sense. I am examining the ways in which such a `discourse of division' is articulated in the Pancatantra, a collection of didactic tales compiled in Sanskrit in the twelfth century CE. Further details and ordering information view online

Read a review: International Journal of Asian Studies, July 2009

• Taylor, M. 2008. ‘What enables canonical literature to function as “true”? The case of the Hindu purāṇas’. International Journal of Hindu Studies 12(3): 309-328. online version

• Taylor, M. 2008. “This is the truth—the truth without doubt”: Textual authority and the enabling of “true” discourse in the Hindu narrative tradition of the Śivapurāṇa. Religions of South Asia 2.1: 65-82. online version

• Taylor M. 2007. "Perfumed by golden lotuses: literary place and textual authority in the Brahma- and Bhāgatavapurāṇas". Acta Orientalia Vilnensia 8(1): 69-81. online version

• Taylor M. Under review. ‘Textual strategies, empowerment and ‘true’ discourse in the Bhāgavatapurāna’. DICSEP 5. read draft version

• Taylor, M. 2004. Social division and ‘true’ discourse in the Pancatantra. Proceedings. 15th Biennial Conference of the ASAA. online version

• Taylor, M. and Lama Choedak Yuthok (translators). 1996. The Clear Mirror: A Traditional Account of Tibet's Golden Age. Snow Lion. order online

Conferences and Workshops Organised

• Sanskrit Winter Refresher Workshop 20-24 July 2009
• Second National Australian Sanskrit Conference, Canberra, July 2010 *** Watch this space
• First National Sanskrit Conference November 2007
• Second Spoken Sanskrit Summer School, Feb 2009
• First Spoken Sanskrit Summer School, Feb 2006

Contributions to Innovation in Teaching and Learning at ANU

• Tutorial participation - ASLC Podcast, (2009)
• Innovative pedagogy: How far can you go at ANU (May 2009)
• Student use of Digitally recorded lectures (2008)
• ANU Digital Lecture Delivery Project (2009)
• Podcast: Studying First Year in the Asian Studies Program (2008)
• Faculty Members at 3rd CLaSIC Conference, Singapore (Dec 2008)

General Sanskrit Links

• Listen to the Daily News in Sanskrit
• ANU Faculty of Asian Studies Sanskrit Studies page
• Sanskrit teaching and research news page.
• A fable in Sanskrit: पक्षिणो वानरश्च
• About my Family (Spoken Sanskrit) मम कुलस्य वृत्तान्तः

Documents Online

Sanskrit Documents

• Little Red Book of Sanskrit Paradigms, 6th ed.

• Kalidasa's Meghaduta

• Nala and Damayanti, from Mahabharata

• Bhagavadgita (Sanskrit-English version)

• The Heart Sutra

• The Laws of Manu (Sanskrit-English version) Part 1

• The Laws of Manu (Sanskrit-English version) Part 2

Tibetan Documents

• The Precious Key: An introduction to literary Tibetan for Dharma Students, by McComas Taylor and Lama Choedrak Yuthok Rinpoche (draft)

• Tibetan alphabet worksheets

• Tibetan dictorionary order

• Thirty-seven Practices of the Bodhisattva (Tibetan)

• Thirty-seven Practices of the Bodhisattva (Tibetan-English bilingual)

• The Bodhicaryavatara of Shantideva

• The Heart Sutra

The Experts discuss Spoken Sanskrit