Ph.D. Student Anna Scarabel

Anna completed her Bachelor's degree in Indology at Ca' Foscari University of Venice in 2014. She went on to earn a Master's degree in South Asian Studies, with a specialization in the Cultural and Religious History of South Asia, from the South Asia Institute at Heidelberg University in 2018. She is currently pursuing her doctoral studies at Heidelberg University. 

Her dissertation focuses on the debate over icon worship between the Ārya Samāja and the Sanātana Dharmīs, with particular attention to the work of Svāmī Karapātrī (1907–1982). The working title of her thesis is The Night Jasmine Tree of Vedic Meanings: Two Opposing Ways of Retaining the Meanings of the Veda — Svāmī Karapātrī’s and Dayānanda Sarasvatī’s Ideologies, and her supervisors are Prof. Dr. Ute Hüsken and Prof. Dr. Antonio Rigopoulos (Ca’ Foscari University of Venice).

Since 2024, she has also been working as a Wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiterin at the Lehrstuhl für Indologie, University of Würzburg. Her research interests include postcolonial studies on Hindu India and the philosophical schools of Pūrva and Uttara Mīmāṃsā.