Meera Nanda

Meera Nanda
Born	1954
Occupation	Writer, academic
Nationality	Indian

Meera Nanda (born 1954) is an Indian writer, historian and philosopher of science based in the United States, who has authored several works on religion and Hindu nationalism.

Nanda was educated in science and philosophy with a PhD in biotechnology from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi and a PhD in science studies from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

She was a John Templeton Foundation Fellow in Religion and Science (2005–2007). In January 2009, she was a Fellow at the Jawaharlal Nehru Institute for Advanced Study, in the Jawaharlal Nehru University for research in Science, Post-Modernism and Culture. Currently, she is a visiting faculty of history and philosophy of science at Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Mohali.

Nanda has authored several works on religion, most notably Prophets Facing Backward: Postmodern Critiques of Science and Hindu Nationalism in India (2004), and her 2009 book The God Market which examines how India is experiencing a rising tide of popular Hinduism, including Government of India financing of Hinduism despite the nation's secular characteristic. The book was also reviewed by William Dalrymple in Outlook Magazine.

Nanda notes the popularity of yoga exercises in the west, and the discomfort of Indians with this popularisation, who "blame Americans and other 'decadent' Westerners for reducing their spiritually rich tradition to mere calisthenics." Yet, she questions the idea that yoga is a "timeless" and "eternal" practice, which lies at the heart of Hinduism. She has criticised the Hindu American Foundation (HAF) for

The purist Hindu position [...] that all yoga, including its physical or hatha yoga component, is rooted in the Hindu religion/way of life that goes all the way back to the Vedic sages and yogis.

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