September 29, 2026
Arvind Sharma, Birks Professor of Comparative Religion at McGill University, passed away
on September 29, 2026. Over a distinguished scholarly career spanning five decades, he
made wide-ranging contributions to the study of Hindu thought, comparative religion,
women and religion, religious pluralism, and human rights.
Born in Varanasi on 13 January 1940, Arvind received his BA from Allahabad University
before joining the Indian Administrative Service in 1962. After six years in government
service in Gujarat, he undertook graduate study in the United States, where he received an
MA in Economics from Syracuse University in 1971, completing a thesis on the “Hindu
Scriptural Value System and India’s Economic Development.” He then completed a Master
of Theological Studies (1974) and PhD (1978) from the Department of Sanskrit and Indian
Studies of Harvard University. Arvind’s doctoral research at Harvard examined
Abhinavagupta’s commentary on the Bhagavadgītā, which he later translated into English.
His first academic postings were in Australia, at the University of Queensland (1976–1980)
and the University of Sydney (1980–1987). In 1987, Arvind joined the Faculty of Religious
Studies of McGill University, becoming Birks Professor of Comparative Religion in 1994, a
position he held until his passing.
An exceptionally prolific scholar, Arvind published more than 50 books as well as dozens
of edited and co-edited volumes and hundreds of scholarly articles throughout his career.
One of his final publications, Hindutva for Our Times (2025), was based on a lecture series
delivered as recently as 2023. A consistent feature of Arvind’s work was its
phenomenological and ethical focus on Hindu traditions and their contributions with a
broader framework of comparative world religions. His edited volume, Our Religions:
The Seven World Religions Introduced by Preeminent Scholars from Each Tradition (1994),
brought scholars affiliated with the traditions under discussion into a comparative
conversation, while Feminism and World Religions (1999), co-edited with Katherine K.
Young, became a widely used text on women and gender in comparative religious studies.
Along with this book, another edited volume, Women in World Religions (1987), and
Hinduism and Human Rights: A Conceptual Approach (2004), were among his most widely
cited publications. Arvind sought to extend academic scholarship into wider interreligious
and international conversations, notably through the global congress “World’s Religions
After September 11,” first convened in Montreal in 2006. His later work increasingly
addressed religious freedom, equality, human rights, and the place of Hindu traditions
within global ethical discourse. In 2025, Arvind’s contributions to literature and education
were recognized with the conferral of the Padma Shri, India’s fourth-highest civilian honor.