Research and Teaching Interests:
AB's intellectual interests are in literary theory and comparative religions, and he writes on Sufi narrative poetry, religious ideology in Mughal India, and the cultural and literary history of Islamic India.
His courses are of three types:

•	Genre-based courses in Hindi and Urdu literature.
•	Graduate courses in critical theory, usually focused on issues like translation or religious conversion.
•	Undergraduate courses on general topics like Indian romances, travel literature, devotional poetry, and religious identities.

Courses for this term and next term:
Fall 07: On Leave
Spring 2007:The Politics of Hindi and Urdu

Selected Awards:

•	James Bowdoin Scholar, Bowdoin College — 1984-1988
•	Nathan Goold Prize, best standing in Greek and Latin, Bowdoin College — 1988
•	Forbes Rickard Jr. Poetry Prize, Bowdoin College — 1988
•	Phi Beta Kappa — 1988
•	A. K. Ramanujan Translation Award, Katha Foundation, New Delhi — 1993
•	Katha Awards for Translation, Urdu and Hindi — 1993

Education:

Bowdoin College:	Classics	Undergraduate Degree	1988
University of Chicago:	Religious Studies	Master’s Degree	1989
University of Chicago:	History of Religions	Ph.D.	1995

•	His monograph on the Hindavi Sufi romances, Shadows of Paradise: An Indian Islamic Literary Tradition, 1379–1545, is forthcoming.
•	He has translated fiction and poetry from Hindi, Urdu, and Panjabi into English, notably Shaikh Manjhan’s Madhumalati: An Indian Sufi Romance (2000).
•	He is also the editor of The Penguin New Writing in India (1994).

•	South Asia Regional Studies
•	Religious Studies
•	History