Events Archives
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Talk on Trika Saivism of Kashmir; The Non-Dual Tantric Spiritual Tradition with Well-Developed Metaphysics by Dr Alka Tyagi
Date: 25th July 2023
Time: 4.30 pm
Location: Multipurpose Hall, INTACH, New Delhi
Live Streaming: YouTube(No registration is required for the event.)
Dear Friends,
We are delighted to invite you to the talk of 25th July 2023 at INTACH, New Delhi. The talk will also be streamed live on
https://youtube.com/live/yHQULcG89Ao?feature=share
Trika Saivism of Kashmir popularly known as Kashmir Saivism, is a non-dual school of Indian philosophy and spiritual tradition. This philosophy has its scriptural base in non-dual tantras that fall under the Bhairavāgamas known from the 5th century onwards. This ancient tantric religious tradition evolved into an impenetrable philosophical system with its own epistemology, metaphysics and cosmogony while retaining logical assimilation of tantric-ritual and spiritual paradigms under the Kashmiri Trika scholars and spiritual masters like Somānanda, Utpaladeva, Abhinavagupta and Kṣhemarāja between 9th and 13th centuries.
Dr Alka Tyagi, an Associate Professor at the Department of English, Dyal Singh College, University of Delhi, is a scholar of ancient Indian literature in Sanskrit with a specialized focus on Kashmiri Trika Saiva Tantra-s, Upanishads, and Yogic Studies. She holds a doctoral degree from the School of Arts and Aesthetics, JNU on Devotional Studies in Medieval India. Her publications include: From Feminity to Divinity, Reconstructing Narada Bhakti Sutras, Whispers at the Ganga Ghat, Amaltas, and so on. As a writer, she contributes to The Hindu and Indian Literature, the Sahitya Academy Literary Journal.
Her academic trajectory encompasses a fellowship at the Indian Institute of Advanced Study (IIAS), Shimla, where she contributed to the institute’s research activities and advanced her research project Bhavana, Creative Contemplation and Bhairava, Supreme Reality in Trika Philosophy. She initiated the Satyananda Yoga Tradition.
Please join us for tea after the event.
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Talk on Women Saints of India and the Roots of Their Spiritual Audacity by K. Jayakumar
Date: 29 September 2023
Time: 4.30 pm
Location: Multipurpose Hall, INTACH, New Delhi
Live Streaming: YouTube(No registration is required for the event.)
Dear Friends,
We are delighted to invite you to the talk Women Saints of India and the Roots of Their Spiritual Audacity by K. Jayakumar (IAS) on 29 September 2023 at 4.30pm in the Multipurpose Hall, INTACH, New Delhi.
The talk will also be streamed live on
https://youtube.com/live/-bztDbnnF88?feature=share
Women Saints like Meera, Lal Ded, Akka Mahadevi, Andals, and Buddhist women Saints have been spiritually and socially rebellious and poetic. In their effusive expression of the experiential spiritual truth, the women saints show an undeniable indifference to social norms. In their childlike innocence, they find the accepted rituals meaningless. What accounts for this audacity? Is it an assertion and declaration of a new freedom that as ordinary women they were forced to suppress? Are there new lessons for our times in the area of gender equality and women’s rights? The talk will delve into the roots of this heightened sense of freedom and emancipation and its significance.
Shri K. Jayakumar (IAS) is a former Chief Secretary, Government of Kerala and founding Vice-Chancellor of Malayalam University. He has represented India in the UNESCO Convention on Cultural Diversity and has been a sensitive cultural administrator. He is a poet, writer, artist and a translator. He has authored 45 books and writes poetry in both Malayalam and English. Presently, he is the President of the Poetry Society (India).
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Lecture: Multi-Cultural Worlds in Indian Court Paintings – 7 November 2023 by Dr Vishakha N. Desai
Date: 7 November 2023
Time: 4.30 pm
Location: Auditorium, Alliance Francaise de Delhi, 72, Lodhi Estate, New Delhi
Live Streaming: YouTube(No registration is required for the event.)
Dear Friends,
We are delighted to invite you to the lecture by Dr Vishakha N. Desai in the Auditorium, 72, Lodhi Estate, New Delhi. The lecture will also be streamed live on
https://youtube.com/live/lS0jJzynU9E?feature=share
The ancient Sanskrit phrase, Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam (treating the world as family) is ubiquitous on the Indian landscape and was the guiding philosophy in this year of G-20 leadership of India. This age-old wisdom has permeated Indian culture from the beginning of time and the consequent openness of Indian culture has been witnessed by travelers, philosophers, and conquerors alike.
In this illustrated lecture the focus will be on the ways that the multicultural worlds of Rajput, Mughal, and Deccani courts interacted with one another, created partnerships, and negotiated their differences. The ease with which the different groups accommodated each other was a perfect example of the Indian cultural trait of treating outsiders with an unusual degree of openness.
Focusing on paintings done for Jain Merchants, Hindu Maharajas, Mughal Emperors, and Deccan Rulers, from the 15th through the 19th century, the lecture will not only show the connections between courts in terms of stylistic choices but also in terms of the historical framework and selection of subjects. Thus, from the discussion of the illustrated Razm Nama and Hari Vamsha done at the Mughal Court, the lecture will also focus on the complex relationship between rulers of Mewar and Bikaner with the Mughal Emperors Akbar, Jahangir, Shah Jahan, and Aurangzeb. The early presence of European officials, religious figures, and art forms in the 17th century will be complemented by the later insistent presence of British colonial aspirants at the Mughal court.
By focusing on the detailed processes and specific historical contexts as evidenced in the north Indian court paintings from the 16th through the early 19th centuries, the lecture will highlight one of the most destructive colonial legacies: tearing apart complex and subtle accommodations made by the diverse multi-cultural communities of India.
Dr. Vishakha N. Desai has been at Columbia University in various capacities, including as Senior Advisor for Global Affairs to the President, Chair of the Committee on Global Thought, and Senior Research Scholar in Global Studies at its School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA).
Prior to joining Columbia in 2013, Dr. Desai served as President and CEO of Asia Society for eight years, and Senior Vice President and Director of the Museum since 1990. In 2012, in recognition of Dr. Desai’s leadership in the museum field, President Barack Obama appointed her to serve on the National Museums and Library Services Board. Her professional career spanning the last four decades includes positions at the Cleveland Museum, Brooklyn Museum, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Along with her scholarship on pre-modern art, she is well known for organizing groundbreaking exhibitions of Asian and Asian-American art in the U.S.
Dr. Desai has published several major art catalogues and has lectured extensively on the intersection of traditional and contemporary arts in diverse countries of Asia. Her most recent publication, World as Family: A Journey of Multi-Rooted Belongings (Columbia University Press, 2021) received the Nautilus Book Award for Memoir in 2022. A recipient of five honorary degrees, Dr. Desai holds a B.A. in Political Science from Bombay University and an M.A. and Ph.D. in Asian Art History from the University of Michigan.
Please join us for tea after the event.
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An illustrated Talk and Book Discussion on ‘Science in Sanskrit Scriptures’ by Dr Yash Gupta
Date: 19 February 2024
Time: 5.00 pm
Location: Auditorium, Alliance Francaise de Delhi, 72, Lodhi Estate, New Delhi
Live Streaming: YouTube(No registration is required for the event.)
Dear Friends,
We are delighted to invite you to the illustrated talk and book discussion at the Auditorium, 72 Lodhi Estate. Dr Yash Gupta will be in discussion with Dr. Shruti Nada Poddar and Dr (Prof.) Alka Tyagi.
The discussion will be streamed live on YouTube. The link for it is given below.
https://youtube.com/live/OGQusKfKdsg?feature=share
This book presents the author’s decade long study and research of Sanskrit Scriptures which contain the scientific descriptions of Astronomy, Medicine and Surgery, Atoms, Mathematics and Theoretical Physics described within their vast narratives.
The author has quoted various Sanskrit verses – majority of which are over 1500 years old. Surprisingly, many concepts described in these scriptures only came to be known to modern science as recent as a 100 year ago! The book shares a multitude of authentic illustrations and diagrams and follows an easy to understand narrative.
Dr Yash Gupta lives in London. After obtaining his MBBS degree from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in New Delhi, he went to London and become one of the youngest doctors to achieve the Fellowships of Royal College of Surgeons (FRCS). Trained in Plastic and Trauma Surgery at Oxford and London, Dr Gupta has been a practicing Consultant Surgeon in the United Kingdom and internationally. He is credited with several international scientific publications, presentations and has a keen interest in teaching and training. He has been a Visiting Faculty all over the world including the United States and Australia. Dr Gupta is an Alumnus of the prestigious Harvard Leadership Programme.
Please join us for tea after the event.
