Stuart Gray to Headline Second Beyond the Page Event The associate professor of politics will discuss his monograph “The Political Theory of the Bhagavad-Gita.”

By Brian Laubscher
October 7, 2025

Stu Gray, associate professor of politics at Washington and Lee University, will discuss his new monograph “The Political Theory of the Bhagavad-Gita,” as part of the Beyond the Page: Milestone Works by Faculty series at 5 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 21 in the Lemon Room located in Tucker Hall.

The series, open exclusively to the university community, celebrates significant scholarly and creative achievements by faculty members across disciplines. Gray will be introduced by Rob Straughan, dean of the Williams School of Commerce, Economics and Politics, and will then discuss his monograph.  A monograph is a detailed written scholarly work focused on a single subject, often presenting original research or a comprehensive analysis by a single author or small group of authors.

Gray’s talk will be followed by a reception and book exhibit organized by the W&L University Store, and copies of the book will be available for purchase. Additionally, the full text of “The Political Theory of the Bhagavad-Gita” is accessible as a free pdf via open access on the publisher’s website. Online open access for this publication was made possible through the generous support of the George Frederick Marshall Endowment and the Class of 1956 Provost’s Development Endowment.

“This series provides an excellent opportunity for me to share my work with colleagues and community members,” Gray said. “Ideas never develop in isolation, and many members of the W&L community — especially former students in classes, summer research assistants and supportive colleagues and administrators over the years — have helped me bring this project to completion. Hopefully this lecture sufficiently symbolizes my gratitude to all these generous individuals.”

Published in March by De Gruyter Brill, Gray’s book provides the first systematic analysis and interpretation of the Bhagavad-Gita as a work of political theory. The Bhagavad-Gita, often translated as “The Song of God,” is a Hindu scripture of Indian religious thought that dates to the first or second century BCE.

Gray identifies a lack of understanding of pre-modern Indian political thought and explores the narrative and characters of the Bhagavad-Gita to fill this gap. The book examines key text themes including monarchy, pluralism and power, analyzing their influence on Hindu nationalism and their enduring impact on political rhetoric today. Through his work, Gray seeks to develop Indian political theory on its own terms by using its own texts.

“This book also locates a hitherto unnoticed form of political ideology, what I call ‘deep ideology,’ that was designed to instantiate and preserve the interests and religious-philosophical position of brahmins in Indian society,” said Gray. “Specifically, this deep ideology was intended to be a perpetual resource for preserving Brahmanical power over time by constructing a worldview that included theories of time, reality, selfhood and politics within a totalizing cosmological vision.”

Gray has been a member of the W&L faculty since 2015. He earned a Bachelor of Arts in political science from the University of California, Davis and both a Master of Arts and Ph.D. in political science from the University of California, Santa Barbara.