Rishi Mahendran Nair

Rishi Mahendran Nair (姓名: 江智源) joined ASU, in 2024, as a Master's student in the East Asian Languages & Civilizations (Chinese) Program. He received his Bachelor's degree in East Asian Studies at Western Washington University where he chiefly studied under advisors Dr. Julian Siyuan Wu (Chinese Literature) and Dr. Ethan Bushelle (East Asian Buddhism).

Rishi’s scholarship seeks to mediate meaningful dialogues between the poetic and the religious, enriching our understanding of the impact religion has on the creation, product, evaluation, and culture of poetry, and the impact that poetry has on the language, practice, and experience of religion in Medieval China. His current projects seek to further contextualize the role of poetry in Chinese Buddhist society from both lay and monastic perspectives.

Rishi also investigates matters of Chinese literary encounter with India specifically by way of cultural adaption, scripture, translation and literary genres.

Besides his research, he is a passionate lifelong musician of Indian Classical Music and now specializes in the Santoor, a 100-stringed instrument from Kashmir, to which he has dedicated 11 years in counting.