Dr Finn Moore Gerety Awarded Landmark ERC Synergy Grant for Global Study of Mantras

28 January 2025

The Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies (AMES) at the University of Oxford is delighted to announce that Dr. Finnian Moore Gerety, Senior Research Fellow, Indologist, and historian of Asian religions, will lead Oxford’s contribution to a major new research initiative, “Mantras in Religion, Media, and Society in Global Southern Asia” (MANTRAMS). The project, supported by a €9.65 million Synergy Grant from the European Research Council (ERC), is a pioneering effort to develop the first comprehensive global study of mantras—sacred utterances, formulas, and powerful syllables used in rituals, meditation, yoga, and healing.

The ERC Synergy Grant is among the most prestigious and competitive research funding schemes in the world, with only 37 projects funded in 2024 and an overall success rate of just 9%. Of the funded projects, the overwhelming majority was in STEM disciplines, marking this as a major win for the humanities. MANTRAMS brings the first-ever Synergy Grant to the Humanities Division at Oxford and represents one of the largest single awards ever made to humanities research globally. The funding will support numerous Oxford-based research activities over the six-year project, which commenced in September 2024.

A Global Collaboration Across Institutions and Disciplines

The MANTRAMS project is a joint effort hosted by the University of Oxford, the University of Vienna, and the University of Tübingen, with additional hosting at the École Pratique des Hautes Études. It is led by three Principal Investigators: Dr. Gerety (University of Oxford), Jun. Prof. Carola Lorea (University of Tübingen), and Prof. Borayin Larios (University of Vienna). The team also includes Prof. Andrea Acri (École Pratique des Hautes Études, Paris) and Prof. Gudrun Bühnemann (University of Wisconsin, Madison) as senior collaborators.

The project’s interdisciplinary approach integrates expertise in South Asian religions, Sanskrit and Indology, anthropology, media studies, and textual history, offering a holistic understanding of mantras across time and space.

Revealing the Many Dimensions of Mantras

Mantras, originating in early Indian religious traditions, are articulated in Sanskrit and other Indic languages. They have spread widely through inscriptions, manuscripts, iconography, and practices across Asia and into global spiritualities. Beyond their role as sacred sound, mantras manifest in various material forms: they may be inscribed on surfaces, written in manuscripts, printed on posters, encoded in diagrams, or even worn as amulets and textiles. Today, they circulate globally through digital media, continuing to shape spiritual practices for millions.

For the first time, MANTRAMS will provide an extensive history and anthropology of mantras, creating extensive sonic, visual, and textual archives. The project will investigate their roots in the Indian subcontinent, their migration across South and Southeast Asia, and their transformation in contemporary global contexts.

Impact and Deliverables

MANTRAMS promises to deliver a range of high-impact outputs, including:

  • Books, articles, and teaching resources on mantras

  • Digital archives documenting the sonic, visual, and textual dimensions of mantras

  • A podcast series to engage wider audiences in the project’s findings

  • A museum exhibition to showcase the material culture of mantras

  • Over a dozen international workshops fostering scholarly collaboration

  • Support for postdoctoral fellows and doctoral students at Oxford, Vienna, and Tübingen.

Dr. Finn Moore Gerety, who holds a PhD from Harvard and previously held positions at Yale University and Brown University, is widely recognised as a leading scholar in the study of South Asian religion. His forthcoming book, All This is OM: Mantra, Yoga, and the History of the Sacred Syllable in Early India (Oxford University Press, 2025), is the first scholarly monograph dedicated to the preeminent mantra OM.

Reflecting on the project, Dr. Gerety stated, “Mantras are a fascinating lens through which to study the interplay of sound, text, and ritual across cultures and histories. With this unprecedented support from the ERC, we can bring together cutting-edge methodologies and diverse expertise to illuminate the enduring power of mantras in the past and present.”

The Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies at Oxford is honoured to host this transformative project and looks forward to its contributions to scholarship, public engagement, and the wider understanding of the world’s religious traditions.

 

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