Preserving Ancient Wisdom: Naropa & Muktabodha Launch Chair of Yoga Studies

BOULDER, COLORADO—July 23, 2025—Naropa University, in collaboration with the Muktabodha Indological Research Institute, has created a new academic position, which began on July 1 of 2025: the Muktabodha Chair of Yoga Studies. This new chair will be held for a three-year term by Dr. Ben Williams, an associate professor who helped launch and currently leads Naropa’s MA Yoga Studies program.

The Muktabodha Indological Research Institute is a nonprofit organization dedicated to digitizing, transcribing, and translating rare and historically significant Sanskrit manuscripts. The Muktabodha Digital Library project, a pioneering endeavor in the digital humanities, has preserved and made freely available thousands of Sanskrit sources in digital form. This collection has become a pivotal resource for scholars working on the history of Śaiva and Śākta literature, the main focus of Muktabodha’s online digital catalogue. Muktabodha’s primary imperative is the digital preservation of manuscripts that are in danger of being lost forever through physical deterioration, particularly in the harsh equatorial climate of South Asia, or destruction due to neglect.

The Muktabodha Chair of Yoga Studies will allow Williams to devote half of his time to seek out and help preserve manuscripts of texts that have never been photographed or digitized and also pursue a number of research projects as Muktabodha’s first Research Scholar-in-Residence. In this capacity, Williams  will offer academic oversight for the discovery, preservation, and digitization of new collections of rare and endangered Sanskrit manuscripts in collaboration with libraries, universities, and archival institutions in India, Europe, and America.

In addition, the creation of the Muktabodha Chair of Yoga Studies will support the translation and study of unpublished texts, and the important work of charting their history. To further support this endeavor, the position includes research funds for Naropa students in the Yoga Studies program to help transcribe and edit Sanskrit manuscripts, contribute to publications, and learn how to engage in archival research.

“I am inspired by this extraordinary opportunity to engage in a host of preservation and research projects, including the translation of rare Sanskrit texts. I am also grateful for the inclusion of funding for Naropa students and alumni to contribute to this initiative. This chair will meaningfully enrich Naropa’s MA program in Yoga Studies,” said Williams.

The creation of the Muktabodha Chair of Yoga Studies is made possible by a generous grant from a donor dedicated to making the knowledge embodied in Sanskrit texts and traditions available for future generations. This new academic position represents a tangible contribution to education and research in the fields of yoga studies and religious studies at Naropa University, in Colorado, and internationally. The study of unpublished Sanskrit manuscripts that Williams will be leading is collaborative, including a community of scholars from the US, Canada, Europe, and India.