Salila Kulshreshtha
Visiting Assistant Professor of History and Art and Art History
Affiliation: Visiting
Education: BA Lady Shri Ram College; MA Jawaharlal Nehru University; MPhil Jawaharlal Nehru University; PhD Jawaharlal Nehru University
Research Areas: Art and archaeology of South Asia, Religion in the Indian Ocean world, Museums and Heritage studies
Salila Kulshreshtha is a Visiting Assistant Professor of History and Art and Art History at New York University Abu Dhabi. Trained as a historian, Salila teaches history, art, and art history with a special focus on South Asia. She received her PhD in History from the Centre for Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. Her doctoral research focuses on tracing how the spatial relocation of sacred sculptures brings about a change in their identity and ritual purpose. Salila has been a Shivdasani Fellow at the Oxford Centre of Hindu Studies (OCHS), University of Oxford (2018). She has also taught at undergraduate levels in India and the USA. Salila has also worked as the Assistant Keeper at the Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Mumbai City Museum, Mumbai. She has worked on issues of urban heritage and heritage education with the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH).
Salila is the author of the book, From Temple to Museum: Colonial Collection and Uma Mahesvara Icon in Middle Ganga Valley (Routledge: 2018). Some of her other publications include Removable Heritage: Nalanda Beyond the Mahavihara; Between Shrines and Monuments: Heritage of Sacred Spaces in South Bihar, and Practices of Faith: Shrines of Ancient South Arabia. She has also published with the online journal wire.in.
Salila's research interests include religious iconography and temple spaces in South Asia, colonial archeology, history of museums, material culture, and religious history of the Indian Ocean. Her current research project studies shrines and ancient sailing routes in the western Indian Ocean.