{"id":43456,"date":"2017-03-02T12:52:46","date_gmt":"2017-03-02T07:22:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/globalpress.hinduismnow.org\/?p=43456"},"modified":"2017-03-02T12:52:46","modified_gmt":"2017-03-02T07:22:46","slug":"second-swadeshi-indology-conference-global-perceptions-indian-heritage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/?p=43456","title":{"rendered":"The second Swadeshi Indology Conference : Global Perceptions of Indian Heritage"},"content":{"rendered":"

The conference had six components:<\/strong> an inaugural function, \u00a0a few plenary sessions, paper presentations,\u00a0Vaky\u0101rtha Sadas\u00a0sessions, release of monographs, and a valediction. Everything went on as planned, except that the sessions extended up to almost\u00a07.30 pm\u00a0in the evenings, owing to extended discussions.
\nIGNCA<\/strong> (Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts) played a key role<\/strong> providing the venue (3 halls) as well as local hospitality and other benefactions.
\nIn all, 35 papers<\/strong> were presented on ten themes<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 in three simultaneous tracks<\/strong> in 3 halls; the topics pertained to the extraordinary claims of Prof. Sheldon Pollock, purporting consciously (or at best ostensibly unconsciously) to misinterpret our heritage.
\nThe focus on Pollock<\/strong> (as with SI-1) was on grounds of<\/strong> his being the most influential scholar \u2013 in academic circles (also through his students who are well placed in celebrated academia), firstly, and secondly, in his reach on the general public, especially Indian (by virtue of his editorship in leading publishing houses); but even more importantly on grounds of the complex and complicated intellectual maze he has conjured, aimed at confounding and bamboozling the reading public by an ostentation of scholarship: in width, depth, or impact, or even the novelty of ideas or interpretations \u2013 in short, in terms of the Neo-orientalism<\/strong> he has sought to bring about in a copiously camouflaged and convoluted language \u2013 he has added new negative dimensions to Indology (and hence totally incomparable to some of the earlier Orientalist Indologists, the damage caused by whom pales into the background in quality and quantity). So much for the\u00a0raison d\u2019\u00eatre\u00a0of the themes of the conference.
\nInaugural Session:<\/strong> The conference was inaugurated by Sri Ravishankar Prasad, the Hon\u2019ble Minister for Law and Information.\u00a0 Dr Subramanian Swamy, Rajya Sabha MP, gave the key-note address.\u00a0 Prof R Vaidyanathan (Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore) and General GD Bakshi gave the Special Invitee addresses. Sri Rajiv Malhotra (Founder, Infinity Foundation) gave the Welcome Address, and Dr Sachchidananda Joshi, Member Secretary of IGNCA tendered a vote of thanks. Earlier, Dr Sudhir Lall of IGNCA, welcomed the guests onto the stage.
\nThere were four Plenary Sessions<\/strong> \u2013 addressed by Prof R. Nagaswamy (renowned archaeologist), Ms Meenakshi Jain (Former Fellow, Nehru Memorial Museum and Library), Dr. Pappu Venugopala Rao, D Litt (reputed musicologist , dance theoretician, and\u00a0a\u1e63\u1e6d\u0101vadh\u0101nin<\/em>\u00a0), and Dr Lokesh Chandra (President, Indian Council of Cultural Research, and Director, International Academy of Indian Culture).
\nThere were 10 Academic Sessions<\/strong>, presided over by 10 Chairpersons. Among them figure Padma Vibhushan Dr Sonal Mansingh (Trustee, IGNCA), Prof Korada Subrahmanyam (Centre for Applied Linguistics and Translation Studies), and Dr Amarjiv Lochan (Member, International Association for the History of Religions, and International Association of Sanskrit Studies)
\nOf the 35 papers presented, 4 were presented on skype, and one was a recorded video. Among some important participants were Dr Shrinivas Tilak from Canada, Dr. Koenraad Elst from Belgium,\u00a0Dr.\u00a0Naresh Cuntoor from USA, Dr. Charu Uppal from Sweden,\u00a0\u015aat\u0101vadh\u0101nin<\/em>\u00a0Dr. R Ganesh (independent scholar of repute) and Prof K Gopinath (of Indian Institute of Science) from Bangalore. Among the papers presented were 9 on the\u00a0Rasa\u00a0Theory, 6 on\u00a0M\u012bm\u0101\u1e41s\u0101 ,\u00a0and \u00a05 on Buddhism; others were on other topics such as\u00a0\u015a\u0101stra, Philology and Desacralisation. 6 lady scholars also contributed papers. About 15 of the scholars were below\u00a040 years of age. Over 15 were from the fields of Science\/Technology, but backed by a sound knowledge of Sanskrit.\u00a0 There were participants from half a dozen States of our country. A few papers were in Sanskrit.
\nA novel feature of the conference was 3 sessions of\u00a0V\u0101ky\u0101rtha Sadas<\/em><\/strong>. 3 young students trained by\u00a0Mahamahop\u0101dhy\u0101ya Brahma\u015br\u012b\u00a0Mani Dravida Sastrigal<\/em> debated\u00a0in Sanskrit<\/strong>\u00a0in the traditional style of \u015b\u0101str\u0101rtha<\/em>,\u00a0key themes\u00a0gleaned from the theories of Sheldon Pollock. The purport of the discussions was presented in English at the end of each session.
\nWe will be continuing to engage with these scholars and will strive to make their voice heard in the larger mainstream discourse.\u00a0V\u0101ky\u0101rtha\u00a0Sadas, the traditional form of Purvapaksha<\/em> and Uttarapaksha<\/em> debate will slowly be revived and restored to its rightful position as a scientific and rigorous form of debate that has been the cornerstone of our intellectual tradition.
\n2 monographs written by two young scholars were also released on the last day. While one was on Pollockian Philology, the other was on the politics of Sanskrit Studies.\u00a0The two monograph writers have been supported by Vellayan Chettiar Foundation<\/strong> based in Chennai and the awards for the monographs were given away by FICS (Foundation for Indian Civilisation Studies)<\/strong> instituted by Sri. Mohandas Pai.
\nThe details of the monograph writers and their work are as follows:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Manjushree Hegde is the author of the monograph titled \u201cPolitics of Sanskrit Studies: A Critical Appraisal of Sheldon Pollock\u2019s Ramayana\u201d.<\/li>\n
  2. T M Narendran is the author of the monograph titled \u201cA Pariksa of Sheldon Pollock\u2019s Three Dimensional Philology\u201d .<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    The Valedictory function<\/strong> had an address by Dr Sachchidananda Joshi, Sri Rajiv Malhotra, Dr K Aravinda Rao (Trustee, IGNCA, and Member, Indian Council of Philosophical Research), Dr Sudhir Lall, and Prof K S Kannan (Academic Director).
    \nBest Paper Awards<\/strong> of Rs.70,000\/= each, instituted by Sri T V Mohandas Pai (academician and philanthropist of repute) of the Foundation for Indian Civilization Studies, were presented to 7 best papers.
    \nThe awards were conferred on \u2013<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Prof. K Gopinath for his paper on Rasa titled \u201cA computational Theory for Rasa\u201d.<\/li>\n
    2. Megh Kalyanasundaram and Manogna Sastry for their paper on Chronology titled \u201cPurvapaksha of Sheldon Pollock\u2019s use of Chronology\u201d.<\/li>\n
    3. \u00a0Nilesh Oak for his paper on Chronology titled \u201cA cririque of Pollock\u2019s \u201cself-evident claims\u201d for the chronology of Mahabharata and Ramayana AND Assertion for the dating of Mahabharata and Ramayana events based on the internal astronomy evidence\u201d.<\/li>\n
    4. \u00a0Dr. Shrinivas Tilak for his paper on Mimamsa titled \u201cProfessor Sheldon Pollock on History in India: A critique from the perspective of Mimamsa\u201d.<\/li>\n
    5. \u00a0Sowmya Krishnapur for her paper in Sanskrit titled \u201cSheldon Pollock Pratipaditasya Vyakarana Sastra \u2013 Prabhutvayoha Sambandhasya Yuktiyuktatva Pariksha<\/em>\u201c.<\/li>\n
    6. \u00a0Subhodeep Mukhopadhyay for his paper on Sastra titled \u201cPractice versus Theory: Ganita Sastra and Western Mathematics\u201d.<\/li>\n
    7. \u00a0Sudarshan Therani for his paper on Philology titled \u201cThe Science of Meaning\u201d.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      In addition,\u00a0Lifetime achievement Award<\/strong> was conferred upon Dr. Nagaswamy by Foundation for Indian Civilisation Studies for his contribution to the field of swadeshi perspectives in Indology.
      \nPublication<\/strong> : A total of 5 volumes (including the 2 monographs released, and selected papers presented at the two conferences) would be published in a few months time. They are being edited by me.
      \nProspect<\/strong> : A conference on the Aryan-Dravidian Theory\u00a0with focus on Tamil Nadu\u00a0is being planned next, in the latter half of 2017. A Call for Papers will also be announced in the coming months.<\/p>\n

      Prof. K S Kannan,
      \nAcademic Director,
      \nSwadeshi Indology.<\/h6>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      The conference had six components: an inaugural function, \u00a0a few plenary sessions, paper presentations,\u00a0Vaky\u0101rtha Sadas\u00a0sessions, release of monographs, and a valediction. Everything went on as planned, except that the sessions extended up to almost\u00a07.30 pm\u00a0in the evenings, owing to extended discussions. IGNCA (Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts) played a key role providing the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43456"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=43456"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43456\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=43456"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=43456"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=43456"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}