Hamsa Stainton

Hamsa Stainton examines the intersection of poetry and prayer in the Sanskrit hymns of Kashmir, with a particular focus on the stotra — the genre of devotional praise poetry — as it developed from the eighth century onward. His book, published by Oxford University Press in 2019, offers the first sustained study of the Stutikusumāñjali and traces the trajectory of Sanskrit literary culture in Kashmir. Stainton holds a Ph.D. from Columbia University and is based at McGill University's School of Religious Studies.