Shivdasani Lectures and Seminars

The Shivdasani Visiting Fellowship is offered to support study in any area of the arts, humanities, or social sciences relevant to the study of Hinduism. It is kindly sponsored by Mr Azad Shivdasani. The Shivdasani Fellowship is by invitation only.

Each term lectures and seminars are given by the Shivdasani fellows. What follows is a list of all the Shivdasani lectures and seminars.

2020 Shivdasani lectures were:
‘The philosophy and world-view of the women of Ṛg-veda’
by Prof. Mau Das Gupta

‘How did unmarried women live in the Ṛg-vedic age?’
by Prof. Mau Das Gupta

The Tantrāloka of Abhinavagupta: Introduction and Readings’
by Prof. Alexis Sanderson

2019 Shivdasani lectures were:
‘From Temple to Museum: Colonial Collections and Uma Mahesvara Icons in the Middle Ganga Valley’
by Dr Salila Kulshreshtha.

‘The Spiral Conch, Home, and Body: An Everyday Phenomenology of Sonic Metaphysics in Hindu Bengal’
by Prof. Sukanya Sarbadhikary.

2018 Shivdasani lectures were:
‘Was the Muluki Ain of 1854 the first codification of Nepal a strategy of Hinduisation?’
by Dr Rajan Khatiwoda.

‘Conceptual Nuances of ‘Reform’ and ‘Revival’: The Hindus of British India’
by Prof. Amiya P. Sen.

‘Battle of the Gods: A Comparative Study of Narrative Techniques in Nepali Painting’
by Dr Neeraja Poddar.

2017 Shivdasani lectures were:
‘The monastic/ascetic tradition of India and its rami- fication towards the west’
by Prof. G. C. Tripathi.

‘Influence of Kashmir on the Tantric traditions of Orissa’
by Prof. G. C. Tripathi.

‘Moral Reasoning through Narratives: dharma and exegesis in medieval Advaita Vedānta’
by Dr James Madaio.

‘Narratives selves and embodied conditioning: Advai- tin techniques for waking up within the saṃsāric story’
by Dr James Madaio.

‘Rādhā Tantra and the agonies and ecstasies of stud- ying obscure texts’
by Dr Måns Broo.

‘Haribhaktivilāsa as the meeting of Vedic, Tantric and Puranic ritualism’
by Dr Måns Broo.

2016 Shivdasani lectures were:
‘What is Still Living in the Life and Work of Gandhi?. The Contested Legacy of Swami Vivekananda’
by Prof. Joseph Prabhu.

‘A Comparative Study of Some Classical Causal Proofs of the Existence of God. Are Cognitive States Self-Revealing?’
by Prof. Kisor Kumar Chaktrabarty.

‘The Ritual Culture and Materiality of Sacred Images in the Vaisnava Temple Tradition’
by Prof. Prabhavati C. Reddy.

‘The Vaisnava Appropriation of Vedic Fires in the Vaikhanasa Tradition: A New Ritual System for Image Worship’
by Prof. Prabhavati C. Reddy.

2016 Shivdasani seminars were:
‘Hegel and Hinduism: How not to do Cross-Cultural Hermeneutics. Raimon Panikkar and Hindu-Christian theology’
by Prof. Joseph Prabhu.

‘Cartesian and Nyaya Psycho-Physical Dualism: Nyaya Ethics’
by Prof. Kisor Kumar Chaktrabarty.

‘The Tantric Mandala of Srisailam Temple and the Religious World of Saivas and Saktas’
by Prof. Prabhavati C. Reddy.

‘Nath Siddhas and Hatha Yoga Practices in South India’
by Prof. Prabhavati C. Reddy.

2015 Shivdasani lectures were:
‘Vedism and Brahmanism in Buddhist Literature: An Overview’
by Prof. Shrikant Bahulkar.

‘From Myth to Ritual: The Horse of Pedu and the Remedy for Removing Snake’s Poison’
by Prof. Shrikant Bahulkar.

2015 Shivdasani seminars were:

‘Attempts towards Preservation and Revival of Atharvaveda’
by Prof. Shrikant Bahulkar.

‘Medical Ritual in the Veda and Ayurveda’
by Prof. Shrikant Bahulkar.

2014 Shivdasani lectures were:
‘Conceptions of Liberation in Classical Indian Philosophy’
by Prof. Harunaga Isaacson.

‘Hinduism and Peacebuilding’
by Prof. Sushil Mittal.

‘Gandhian Technique for Conflict Resolution: Satyagraha’
by Prof. Sushil Mittal.

2014 Shivdasani seminars were:
‘How Widespread Was Skepticism in Ancient India? Did the Materialists Really Exist, or Were They Just Straw Men?’
by Prof. Wendy Doniger.

‘Communalism, Nationalism and the Limits of Secularism in India’
by Prof. Sushil Mittal.

‘Comparative Religion: Its Failures and Its Challenges’
by Prof. Sushil Mittal.

2013 Shivdasani lectures were:
‘Inscribing Hindu Religion in the CulturalNationalist Programme of the Hindu Mela’
by Dr Swarupa Gupta.

‘No Night Like This: Female Longing in Nammalvar’s Tiruviruttam’
by Dr Archana Venkatesan.

2013 Shivdasani seminars were:
‘The Sacred and the Secular: Hindu Ideology and Imagery in Extremist Politics’
by Dr Swarupa Gupta.

‘The Other Trinity: Saurashtra Histories of Karnatak Music’
by Dr Archana Venkatesan.

‘Legends of the Goddess: Antal Stories in the Shrivaishnava Traditions’
by Dr Archana Venkatesan.

‘From Under the Tamarind Tree: Hereditary Performance and Sectarian Identity in South India’
by Dr Archana Venkatesan.

2012 Shivdasani lectures were:
‘The Problem of Evil and Western Theodicy: But what says Indian Theism and Non-theism to the challenge?’
by Prof. Purushottama Bilimoria.

‘The Logical Illumination of Mīmāṃsā and Nyāya (to Navyanyāya): evolution of thinking, metaphysics and theology (apauruṣeya, apūrva, padārthas, Īśvara, vādavivāda, hetutarka)’
by Prof. Purushottama Bilimoria.

‘Buddhists and Brahmins at Vikramaśīla’
by Prof. Parimal Patil.

‘Why Argue About Mokṣa’
by Prof. Parimal Patil.

2012 Shivdasani seminars were:
‘Hinduism’s Transnational Diasaporias (aporias of diaspora): the view from Oceania’
by Prof. Purushottama Bilimoria.

‘Indian Practical Ethics: Law, Gender, Justice, Ecological and Bioethical Challenges’
by Prof. Purushottama Bilimoria.

‘Motivation to the Means in the Philosopher’s Stone’
by Prof. Parimal Patil.

2011 Shivdasani lectures were:
‘Pauṣkarāgama: The Śaivasiddhānta Doctrinal Base in its Later Developments –Two commentators, Umāpati and Jñānaprakāśa of Śālivāṭi, Jaffna’
by Dr T. Ganeshan.

‘Ñāṉāmirtam: The first available Tamil systematisation of Śaivāgama doctrines’
by Dr T. Ganeshan.

‘Parallel Systematisation of Śaivism based on the Veda and the Purāṇa: Haradatta, Appayadīkṣita and Nīlakaṇṭhadīkṣita’
by Dr T. Ganeshan.

‘Development and elaboration of Śaivasiddhānta doctrines in the Tamil country: Śivāgrayogī’s contribution in the middle of 16th century CE’
by Dr T. Ganeshan.

‘How Can Religion Be Studied in South Asian Universities? Or Should It Be?’
by Prof. J. O’Connell.

‘Krishnadasa Kaviraja’s Caitanya-caritamrta: Its characteristics as a sacred biography’
by Prof. J. O’Connell.

‘Krishna-Chaitanya Bhakti and Rabindranath’s Religion of Man: Their resonance and dissonance’
by Prof. J. O’Connell.

‘Krishnadasa Kaviraja’s Caitanya-caritamrta: Its value as a witness to historical events’
by Prof. J. O’Connell.

‘Krishnadasa Kaviraja’s Caitanya-caritamrta: Its characteristics as a sacred biography’
by Prof. J. O’Connell.

‘Debatable Devotion: Candravati’s Ramayana’
by Prof. Mandakranta Bose.

2010 Shivdasani lectures were:
‘The Death of Gandhi’
by Dr Makarand Paranjape.

‘The ‘Sanatani’ Mahatma’
by Dr Makarand Paranjape.

‘Early Vaiṣṇava Texts from Nepal’
by Dr Diwakar Acharya.

‘Negative Flashes of Néti Néti and Realisation of Brahman’
by Dr Diwakar Acharya.

2010 Shivdasani seminars were:
‘Hind Swaraj in Our Times’
by Dr Makarand Paranjape.

‘Gandhigiri vs. Gandhiism: The Afterlife of the Mahatma in Lage Raho Munna Bhai’
by Dr Makarand Paranjape.

‘Readings in the Jayottaratantra’
by Dr Diwakar Acharya.

‘Islamic mystical traditions – Sufis in India’
by Dr Talib Muhammad.

‘Buddhist Meditation’
by Dr Sarah Shaw.

‘Christian mystical traditions 1 – The Relevance of Christian Mysticism’
by Prof. Oliver Davies.

‘Christian mystical traditions 2 – Understanding Apophaticism’
by Prof. George Pattison.

‘The Jewish Roots of Christian Mysticism’
by Prof. Guy Stroumsa.

‘Creation and Chaos in the Bhagavata Purana (two lectures)’
Dr Ravi Gupta.

2009 Shivdasani seminars were:
‘Ontological Issues in Samhita’
by Dr Piyali Palit.

‘Ontology of Bhartrhari’s Shabdadvaita’
by Dr Piyali Palit.

2008 Shivdasani lectures were:
‘Maps, mother goddess, and martyrdom in modern India’
by Prof. Sumathi Ramaswamy.

‘Of gods and globes: The territorialisation of Hindu deities in popular visual culture’
by Prof. Sumathi Ramaswamy.

2007 Shivdasani lectures were:
‘Neurons, Experience, and Being: A Discussion on Consciousness’
by Dr Sangeetha Menon.

‘The Dance of Emotions: Faces, Gestures, and Movements’
by Dr Sangeetha Menon.

‘The Concept of Dharma in Vaisesika’ by Prof. Shashiprabha Kumar.

‘Twentieth-Century Sanskrit Commentaries on the Vaisesikasutras’
by Prof. Shashiprabha Kumar.

2007 Shivdasani seminars were:
‘Consciousness and Cognition in Vaisesika’
by Prof. Shashiprabha Kumar.

‘Sabda as Pramana in Vaisesika’
by Prof. Shashiprabha Kumar.

‘Beyond Love and Love Beyond: Hindu and Western Ideas of Love’
by Dr Sangeetha Menon.

‘The Concept of Hindu Philosophy’
by Dr Sangeetha Menon.

2006 Shivdasani lectures were:
‘Colonial knowledge, archaeological reconstructions: The discovery of the Hindu temple in nineteenth–twentieth-century India’
by Dr Himanshu Prabha Ray.

‘The shrine in early Hinduism: The changing sacred landscape’
by Dr Himanshu Prabha Ray.

2006 Shivdasani seminars were:
‘Images and ideas of the Goddess in the Hindu tradition’
by Prof. Mandakranta Bose.

‘Value ethics in the early Upanishads: A hermeneutic exercise’
by Prof. T. S. Rukmani.

‘Women poets of Hinduism’
by Prof. Mandakranta Bose.

‘How much of Yoga did Shankara accept in his formulation of Advaita Vedanta’
by Prof. T. S. Rukmani.

2005 Shivdasani lectures were:
‘Advaita: Vedantic and materialistic’
by Prof. K. Maheswaran Nair.

‘The dvaita–advaita controversy’
by Prof. K. Maheswaran Nair.

‘Advaita‐tattvam’
(delivered in Sanskrit) by Prof. K. Maheswaran Nair.

‘Lewis Carroll’s Jabberwocky and Sanskrit’
by Prof. Ashok Aklujkar.

‘Philosophy’s linguistic turn: The case of Naagaarjuna and Bhartrihari’
by Prof. Ashok Aklujkar.

‘Colonial knowledge, archaeological reconstructions: The discovery of the Hindu temple in 19th –20th century India’
by Dr Himanshu Prabha Ray.

‘The shrine in early Hinduism: The changing sacred landscape’
by Dr Himanshu Prabha Ray.

2004 Shivdasani lectures were:
‘Board games a metaphor for spiritual growth’
by Vasantha Rangachar.

‘Do games and play have a religious character’
by Vasantha Rangachar.

2004 Shivdasani seminars were:
‘Kavya, (literature as an art form) and Bhakti’
by Dr. Daniela Rossella.

‘Devised Lineages and Pliant Biographies: A Study of Shiva and his Retinue’
by Dr. Nilima Chitgopekar.

‘Christian nuptial mysticism and parallels with Indian mystical trends’
by Dr. Daniela Rossella.

‘The Abundance and Vicissitudes of Multiplicity: The Case of ‘Chaunsatha’ Yoginis’
by Dr. Nilima Chitgopekar.

‘Funerals and Life after Death: Some Hindu Perspectives’
by S. Ramaratnam.

2003 Shivdasani lectures were:
‘Bhagavata Purana, Skandha X, Chapters 29, 31-33’
by Prof. M. Narasimhachary.

‘Sankara’s, Upadesa Sahasri’
by Dr Godavarisha Mishra.

Shivdasani Lectures and Seminars

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