Dominik A. Haas obtained his PhD in South Asian Studies from the University of Vienna in 2022 with a dissertation on the Gāyatrī-Mantra. His publications deal with various aspects of Sanskrit literature and the cultural and religious history of South Asia, in particular Vedic texts, mantras, and yoga. Adopting an interdisciplinary approach, he combines philological and historical research with methods and insights from various fields, ranging from text linguistics to religious studies. His research has been supported by the Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW), the Austrian Science Fund (FWF), the Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences (KNAW), the International Institute for Asian Studies (IIAS), and the University of Vienna. In addition, he has also gained teaching experience as a freelance instructor (2015–2020), as well as at the University of Vienna (2014–2018, 2023, 2025). He has contributed to various FWF-funded projects. As a co-founder of the Initiative for Fair Open Access Publishing in South Asian Studies (FOASAS), he is also involved in promoting innovative forms of scholarly communication and fair working conditions in the academic and publishing sector.
Since the beginning of his dissertation project in 2018, Haas’s research has focused on mantras. In 2022, he co-organized an international workshop in preparation for the ERC project “MANTRAMS” together with Carola Lorea, Borayin Larios, Finnian Gerety, and Gudrun Bühnemann (https://doi.org/10.11588/fid4sarep.00004603). In 2023, his dissertation was published by the Austrian Academy of Sciences Press and awarded the Roland Atefie Prize, which recognizes outstanding doctoral theses in the fields of philosophy, theology, and Indology. In the same year, he obtained third-party funding for developing a research agenda that focuses on the principle of mantra repetition. Within the framework of the Cluster of Excellence “Eurasian Transformations,” he is doing research on the history of mantra repetition practices and the role they played in the formation of religious and social identity.
Haas has published several peer-reviewed articles in internationally recognized journals and regularly presents the results of his research at international conferences. His first monograph, which is based on his dissertation, reconstructs the early history of the Gāyatrī-Mantra, one of the most frequently recited formulas of Hinduism, with the help of philological-historical methods, while also drawing upon perspectives and insights from the field of religious studies (https://doi.org/10.1553/978oeaw93906). His second monograph offers an annotated translation of the Kaṭha-Upaniṣad and introduces text linguistics as a useful hermeneutical tool in the study of heterogeneous and compiled Sanskrit sources (https://doi.org/10.11588/hasp.1329). Together with Vitus Angermeier, Christian Ferstl, and Channa Li, he has co-edited the proceedings of the International Indology Graduate Research Symposium 2021 (https://doi.org/10.11588/hasp.1133). Since 2024, he is also member of the Steering Committee of this conference series.
Supervisors: Marion Rastelli (IKGA and ISTB)
Phone: +43-1 51581-6413
Address: Institute for the Cultural and Intellectual History of Asia | Institut für Kultur und Geistesgeschichte Asiens
Austrian Academy of Sciences | Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften
Dominikanerbastei 16
1010 Wien, Österreich
Since the beginning of his dissertation project in 2018, Haas’s research has focused on mantras. In 2022, he co-organized an international workshop in preparation for the ERC project “MANTRAMS” together with Carola Lorea, Borayin Larios, Finnian Gerety, and Gudrun Bühnemann (https://doi.org/10.11588/fid4sarep.00004603). In 2023, his dissertation was published by the Austrian Academy of Sciences Press and awarded the Roland Atefie Prize, which recognizes outstanding doctoral theses in the fields of philosophy, theology, and Indology. In the same year, he obtained third-party funding for developing a research agenda that focuses on the principle of mantra repetition. Within the framework of the Cluster of Excellence “Eurasian Transformations,” he is doing research on the history of mantra repetition practices and the role they played in the formation of religious and social identity.
Haas has published several peer-reviewed articles in internationally recognized journals and regularly presents the results of his research at international conferences. His first monograph, which is based on his dissertation, reconstructs the early history of the Gāyatrī-Mantra, one of the most frequently recited formulas of Hinduism, with the help of philological-historical methods, while also drawing upon perspectives and insights from the field of religious studies (https://doi.org/10.1553/978oeaw93906). His second monograph offers an annotated translation of the Kaṭha-Upaniṣad and introduces text linguistics as a useful hermeneutical tool in the study of heterogeneous and compiled Sanskrit sources (https://doi.org/10.11588/hasp.1329). Together with Vitus Angermeier, Christian Ferstl, and Channa Li, he has co-edited the proceedings of the International Indology Graduate Research Symposium 2021 (https://doi.org/10.11588/hasp.1133). Since 2024, he is also member of the Steering Committee of this conference series.
Supervisors: Marion Rastelli (IKGA and ISTB)
Phone: +43-1 51581-6413
Address: Institute for the Cultural and Intellectual History of Asia | Institut für Kultur und Geistesgeschichte Asiens
Austrian Academy of Sciences | Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften
Dominikanerbastei 16
1010 Wien, Österreich
less
Related Authors
Interests
Uploads
Mantra Repetition (2023–) by Dominik A . Haas
Gāyatrī Project (2018–2022) by Dominik A . Haas
–––
The mantra known as Gāyatrī or Sāvitrī (Ṛgveda III 62.10) is one of the most frequently recited texts of mankind. Over the course of time it has not only been personified as the mother of the Vedas – the oldest religious literature of South Asia –, but has even come to be venerated as a goddess. Today many consider it the most important, most efficacious, or holiest mantra of all.
In Gāyatrī: Mantra and Mother of the Vedas, Dominik A. Haas reconstructs the history of the Gāyatrī-Mantra for the first time, tracing it from 1000 BCE to 1000 CE. He shows how an inconspicuous verse became an emblem of Brahminical Hinduism and presents the processes that led to its deification. To this end, he not only subjects passages from more than one hundred source texts in Vedic and Sanskrit to philological-historical analysis, but also draws upon perspectives and insights from religious studies.
The Gāyatrī-Mantra plays an important role in contemporary Hinduism as well as in modern yoga and alternative spiritual currents around the globe. This book therefore not only contributes to South Asian studies and religious studies, but is also of interest to a wider readership.
Reviewers' quotes:
“The project stands out as it will, for the first time, provide an extensive study on the various (and partly divergent) understandings, applications and contexts of Gayatri. This holistic approach is unique in itself and will enable the academic community to much better grasp the overall importance, role and function of the mantra and goddess Gayatri, and their interrelation. But, the study will additionally stand out as it delivers detailed information on historic dimensions including transformation processes of ritual practices in Hindu (and Tantric) traditions and the role of certain groups in these. The study, if realized, will be a very valuable contribution to the international research in the field.” 4th review (2020, Austrian Academy of Sciences)
“Der Antrag hat mich inhaltlich, in seiner Zielführung und Originalität völlig überzeugt. [...] Nicht nur für die Indologie ist eine kritische Auseinandersetzung und Analyse der Frühgeschichte der „Wieder- / Weiterverwendung“ eines der weltweit bekanntesten und bedeutendsten Mantren ein vielversprechender Ansatz, er kann beispielhaft für ähnliche Entwicklungen in anderen Gebieten stehen.” 3rd review (2020, Austrian Academy of Sciences)
“Die Relevanz des Projekts für moderne und gegenwärtige Deutungen des Hinduismus ist hoch.” 2nd review (2019, Austrian Academy of Sciences)
“Das Forschungsdesign hat mich überzeugt und die Untersuchung ist seit langem ein Desideratum für die Indologie, aber auch die indische Religionsgeschichte.” 1st review (2019, Austrian Academy of Sciences)
KU Project (2016–2018, 2024) by Dominik A . Haas
In this study, Dominik A. Haas offers a new annotated German translation of the text and analysis using text-linguistic methods. He argues that, from the beginning, the Kaṭha-Upaniṣad was conceived as a compilation intended to combine new contemplative and yogic teachings with the ritual mysticism of the famous Vedic fire altar.
Eine textlinguistische Analyse soll zeigen, wie der Text verfasst wurde. Die Kaṭha-Upaniṣad wird zu diesem Zweck vollständig übersetzt und auf ihre Kohäsion und Kohärenz hin untersucht. Die Arbeit stellt die oft vertretene Auffassung, dass sich auf Basis des überlieferten Textes eine kohärente und widerspruchsfreie Urfassung der Upaniṣad rekonstruieren lässt, in Frage. Sie soll vielmehr zeigen, dass die Kompilation bereits bestehenden Textmaterials von Anfang zur Kaṭha-Upaniṣad gehörte und dass diese konzipiert wurde, um unterschiedliche Heilswege und -ziele miteinander zu verbinden. Um zu klären, auf welche Weise diese miteinander in Beziehung gesetzt werden konnten, werden die zu Grunde liegenden religiösen Konzepte vor dem Hintergrund ähnlicher Texte eingehend behandelt.
Eine textlinguistische Analyse soll zeigen, wie der Text verfasst wurde. Die Kaṭha-Upaniṣad wird zu diesem Zweck vollständig übersetzt und auf ihre Kohäsion und Kohärenz hin untersucht. Die Arbeit stellt die oft vertretene Auffassung, dass sich auf Basis des überlieferten Textes eine kohärente und widerspruchsfreie Urfassung der Upaniṣad rekonstruieren lässt, in Frage. Sie soll vielmehr zeigen, dass die Kompilation bereits bestehenden Textmaterials von Anfang zur Kaṭha-Upaniṣad gehörte und dass diese konzipiert wurde, um unterschiedliche Heilswege und -ziele miteinander zu verbinden. Um zu klären, auf welche Weise diese miteinander in Beziehung gesetzt werden konnten, werden die zu Grunde liegenden religiösen Konzepte vor dem Hintergrund ähnlicher Texte eingehend behandelt.