International Seminar on “Indic and South East Asian Perspectives in Conceptualising World Literature” on Nov 17-18, 2023 organised by School of Languages and Literature/Humanities, Nalanda University
November 18, 2023
Report
The Seminar was inaugurated by the Hon’ble VC Prof. Abhay Kumar Singh and the Dean, SLLH, Prof. Panchan Mohanty welcomed all the delegates. Convener of the Seminar Prof. Sushant Kumar Mishra presented the theme of the Seminar.
In the first session, Prof. Ravinder Singh (Fellow, IIAS) presented his ideas and discussed on the Indic Dharma perspectives for conceptualising the notions of world literature in contemporary times. Dr. Priyanka Tripathi discussed about the dystopian in contemporary Indian English writings. Mr. Deepak Solanki presented his study on monotheistic European perspectives in lexicographical endeavours between Sanskrit and English giving examples from various dictionaries including that of Monier Williams. Dr. Heitmann presented her research related to an important Buddhist text. Prof. Rana Purushottam presented his researches on Ramayana in various parts of Asia and emphasised on an elaborate study of the influence of Ramayana and Mahabharata on the world literature.
In the second session, Dr. Pooja Dabral studied Heart Sutra and its contribution to the world. In the beginning of this session, Dr. Smita Singh presented her studies on the ideas of Universality in the poems of W.B. Yeats. There after Dr. Tosabanta Padhan presented his research on the history of Rajgir from various literary sources. The paper of Dr. Padhan was an example of the interaction between history and literature, an important aspect of textual understanding in contemporary times.
In the third and fourth sessions, various scholars from various nationalities presented their researches on the physical and conceptual traces from various parts of India and South East Asia. These sessions were innovative as the papers here tried to approach the themes in world literature from various cultural and civilizational points of views.
In the fifth session, three scholars presented their papers. The first paper by Dr. Brenda Ly was on her research based understanding of Buddhist ideas of wisdom and compassion and their influence on various Asian societies. Bhakti Joshi continued the study on societies and tried to understand the issues related to the governance of Ganas and Janapadas in India in earlier times. Mr. Sourajit Ghosh presented his meticulous researches on the women’s status Buddhist monastic traditions taking various data from various texts.
The sixth session was a plenary session addressed by Prof. Rajnish Kumar Mishra. While keeping his focus on Kalidasa’s text, he discussed in details about various aspects of Indian systems of thought that might help us in conceptualising the world literature.
Prof. Kapil Kapoor addressed the gathering in the seventh session of the Seminar. In his enamouring and enchanting scholarly address, he discussed various aspects of world literature and its conceptualisation stages in history. He further elaborated upon how a good syllabus for the world literature can be conceptualised – this idea can be very useful in deciding the future course of academic growth of the School. Hon’ble VC chaired this session and shared his valuable ideas on the themes and issues discussed by Prof. Kapil Kapoor.
At the end, Prof. Sushant Kumar Mishra presented a vote of thanks.
The Seminar was well attended by students, scholars and faculty members of the University. The online streaming of the Seminar had been viewed by more than one thousand people on the second day and by about nine hundred people on the first day, many of whom had actively participated during the proceedings.
The outcome of the Seminar is to understand the concepts of World Literature in the India-centric contexts along with the co-optative literary existence among the South East Asian cultures.
The Seminar Presentations can be viewed on the following links:
Day 1 : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tY3wYQxTJSw
Day 2 : https://www.youtube.com/live/c9iNauj8F5g?si=u4If1asB6ATlmS86