Sumeet Kumar is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of South and Southeast Asian Studies at
the University of California, Berkeley, with a focus on Indian and Buddhist traditions. His
research engages deeply with classical languages, tantric traditions, and the socio-political
dimensions of Buddhism. Prior to joining Berkeley, he earned a master’s degree from the
Department for the Study of Religion at the University of Toronto, Canada, where he specialized
in Hindu religion and Buddhist Tantra, and actively participated in departmental service
committees.
Sumeet brings a strong interdisciplinary background to his graduate work. He holds an M.A. in
Buddhist and Tibetan Studies from Panjab University, Chandigarh, where he was awarded a gold
medal. He also completed a Postgraduate Diploma in Buddhist Studies, submitting a thesis on
Dr. B.R. Ambedkar’s Navayāna Buddhism.
He has studied over a dozen languages, including Sanskrit, Tibetan, French, Chinese, and
Persian, with both academic and field-level training across India, Canada, and the United States.
He has also served as a teaching assistant at the University of Toronto.
Sumeet’s research combines philological depth with critical inquiry into religious practices,
translation studies, and trans-regional Buddhist networks. He is especially interested in how
textual traditions intersect with lived experience in South and Inner Asia.
