Doctoral Candidate (GPTS) Devaki Sapkota

Devaki Sapkota
Karl Jaspers Centre
Voßstraße 2, Building 4400
Room 400.00.17
69115 Heidelberg
Germany

+49 (0) 6221 54 4314
devaki.sapkota@hcts.uni-heidelberg.de

Devaki Sapkota is a DADD scholarship-funded PhD student in South Asian Studies (Classical Indology) at Heidelberg University, affiliated with the Heidelberg Centre for Transcultural Studies (HCTS). Under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Axel Michaels, her doctoral research focuses on the evolving religious landscape of Muktinath, Nepal. Her work in general engages with Purāṇic studies, Vaiṣṇava hagiographical literature, and the methodologies of philology and manuscriptology, offering a nuanced exploration of South Asian textual traditions within transcultural contexts.
Devaki completed her M.A. in South Asian Studies at the University of Hamburg in 2019, earning honours for her thesis titled ‘The hagiography of Bhaktisāra as contained in the second and third chapters of the Divyasūricaritam: A Critical Edition and Annotated Translation’, under the guidance of Prof. Dr. Harunaga Isaacson and Prof. Dr. Eva Wilden. She holds a B.A. in classical Indology from Nepal Sanskrit University, where she focused on Purāṇic literature and the Mahābhārata.
Devaki’s academic background includes working as a Research Assistant at the EFEO Centre de Pondichéry on the ERC-funded NETamil project (2015–2016). She also worked as a researcher at Leiden University Library on the Kern Collection (2016) and contributed as a researcher to the Nepal-German Manuscript Cataloguing Project (2013–2014), focusing on Sanskrit manuscripts. Additionally, Devaki taught Sanskrit at the Śrī-Muktinātha-Kanyā Sanskrit Gurukulam in Kathmandu, further demonstrating her commitment to preserving and transmitting South Asian knowledge systems.
Fluent in Sanskrit, Nepali, Hindi, and English, with a working knowledge of Tamil, Devaki has presented at international conferences and workshops, including the Śivadharma Workshop at Leiden University and the NETamil Workshop on Multilingualism in Pondichéry.
Alongside her academic pursuits, Devaki is a passionate performer of Indian classical music and a former yoga instructor. These activities complement her scholarly work, demonstrating her dedication to cultural exchange and the preservation of artistic traditions.
As an HCTS scholarship holder, Devaki integrates her Indological expertise with transcultural approaches, enriching Heidelberg University's vibrant intellectual community.