Alexis G. J. S. Sanderson (born 1948) is an indologist and Emeritus Fellow of All Souls College at the University of Oxford.

Early life

After taking undergraduate degrees in Classics and Sanskrit at Balliol College from 1968 to 1971, Alexis Sanderson spent six years in Kashmir studying with the scholar and Śaiva guru Swami Lakshman Joo. From 1971-1974 he was a Senior Scholar at Merton College, Oxford, and from 1974-1977 he held a Junior Research Fellowship at Brasenose College, Oxford. From 1977 to 1992 he was University Lecturer in Sanskrit and a Fellow of Wolfson College.

Career

In 1992 he was appointed to the Spalding Chair of Eastern Religions and Ethics and became a Fellow of All Souls. He retired in 2015. Sanderson is a scholar of Sanskrit and of Indian religions, especially of Shaivism and esoteric Śaiva Tantra, commonly (but not quite correctly) known as Kashmir Shaivism. He has written as an authority on this subject and many of his studies are publicly available through his personal website. Sanderson's published articles, resting on a critical reading of the Sanskrit sources, especially in manuscript, are well regarded and often cited by European and American scholars.

Selected publications