Lecture on Mahabharata at Hyderabad

[Nagaraj Paturi]

Indic Academy presents 

Knowledge and Devotion in the Mahābhārata

The Mahābhārata calls itself the fifth Veda and an Upaniṣad. It stands at the beginning of the Purāṇic tradition. In this text, the unique relationship of knowledge and devotion (jñāna and bhakti) are carefully laid out through an elaborate philosophical and literary project. We shall trace how the Mahābhārata transforms our understanding of yajña and links pravṛtti dharma with mokṣa dharma. 

A lecture by

Vishwa Adluri

Professor of Philosophy, Religion and Art History

Hunter College, New York

When:  At 6:30 PM on July 22nd 2017

Where: Conference Hall, Hotel Daspalla, Road# 37, Hi-tech City Road, Jubilee Hills, Hyderabad

This lecture is part of a series in July-August by Prof. Adluri traveling in India -- IGNCA (Delhi), JNU (Delhi), IIC (Delhi), Hyderabad, NIAS (Bangalore), Chinmaya University (Kochi), International Convention Centre (Pune), MIT ADT University (Pune). Prof. Adluri is also conducting two courses in Mahabharata -- one at IGNCA (New Delhi) July 27-30th and one at National Institute of Advanced Studies - NIAS (Bangalore) July 24-25th. 

PROFILE OF THE SPEAKER

Prof. Vishwa Adluri is a well known Mahabharata scholar who speaks of how the Mahabharata, though ancient, appears surprisingly contemporary; a text which continues to have enduring meaning for humanity beyond ethnic, cultural, and religious boundaries. He is an accomplished philosopher and author of the well acclaimed book "The Nay Science: A History of German Indology, New York: Oxford University Press (2014)" which is a devastating criticism of Indology and the "critical" methods which result in devaluation of texts of Indian tradition. Prof. Adluri studied the Western philosophical tradition and ancient Greek classics (Heidegger, Nietzsche, Homer and the Pre-Socratics) from great teachers within that tradition. Together with his student Dr. Joydeep Bagchee, Prof. Adluri mapped the Western reception of the Mahābhārata, showing how a pseudoscience called “Indology” was created to replace Indian notions of time, history, and personhood with concepts borrowed from Christianity. 

Dr. Adluri holds three PhDs (in Philosophy, Indology and Sanskrit Lexicography) and has published numerous books, edited volumes, and articles on Greek and twentieth-century philosophy, the Mahābhārata, Orientalism, and the Western reception of Indian texts, working in Sanskrit, English, German, French and ancient Greek languages.