Rajeshwari V. Pandharipande is Professor of Linguistics, Religious Studies, Sanskrit and Comparative Literature, Campus Honors program at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Professor Pandharipande holds two Ph.D. degrees – one in Sanskrit Literature,and the other in Linguistics. The primary focus of her research and teaching has been South Asian languages, Asian Mythology, Sociolinguistics, Sociolinguistic Methodology, Language of Religion, and Hinduism in India and in Diaspora. The three major languages of her research and teaching are Hindi, Marathi, and Sanskrit. She has taught Hindi language and literature and coordinated the Hindi Program at UIUC (from 1986-2002).

She has published a textbook, Intermediate Hindi, Volumes I and II (co-authored with Y. Kachru, Motilal Banarsidass Publications, 1982, 1988), and her new text manuscript, Advanced Hindi (co-authored with Rajesh Kumar and Mithilesh Mishra), which is funded by the ACDS, is in its final stages of completion. Professor Pandhripande has also published a book of Hindi poetry, Never is a Long Time aur anya Kavitayen (Nagpur, India: Banhatti Prakashan, 1987). Professor Pandharipande has additionally published scholarly articles (over 65) in various scholarly journals, books, and encyclopedias and has delivered over 150 talks at scholarly meetings. She was invited to teach Hindi Literature at the University of Chicago in 1999 and 2001. Additionally, she has published extensively on Marathi: (a) Marathi: A grammar of the Marathi Language (London: Routledge, 1997); (b) Sociolinguistic Dimensions of Marathi: Multilingualiam in Central India (Munich: Lincom, 2003); and (c) Prarambhik Marathi: An Intensive Marathi Course book (Manuscript, funded by ACDS, UIUC, 2002).

She has guided research at M.A. and Ph.D. levels in Sociolinguistics, Sanskrit, and Hindi at UIUC. Her research on South Asian languages is embedded in her research on the larger cultural/religious context of South Asia. She has published a book, The Eternal Self and the Cycle of Samsara: Introduction to Asian Mythology and Religion (4 editions, Massachusetts: Ginn Press) and she is currently preparing the final version of the manuscript, Language of Religion in South Asia: Theory and Practice (accepted for publication by Macmillan-Palgrave, London). Currently she is working on the research project "Transformation and Authentication of Hinduism: Language of Religion in US Diaspora," for which she has been awarded a senior Associateship at the Center for Advanced Study at UIUC.

Professor Pandharipande received the title "University Scholar" from the Chancellor for her outstanding research at the University of Illinois, the Harriet and Charles Luckman All Campus Distinguished Undergraduate Teaching Award, and the William Prokasy Award for outstanding excellence in undergraduate teaching in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. In 2008, she received the prestigious "University Distinguished Teacher Scholar" award for her outstanding record of teaching and research at UIUC.

Courses Taught Recently
RLST 104 Asian Mythology
RLST 286 Intro to Hinduism