Categorie: Nieuws

10 June 2025 | Guest lecture by Prof Lewis Doney, University of Bonn

On 10 June 2025, the Ghent Centre for South Asian Studies (GCSAS) and the Ghent Centre for Buddhist Studies (GCBS) will co-host a lecture by Prof Lewis Doney (University of Bonn) titled “A Corpus of Ritual Literature from Dunhuang and its Links Further West“.

 

This event is part of The Gandhāra Corpora Project Lecture Series.
All are welcome: The Gandhāra Corpora Lecture Series is in-person and hybrid online.

Time & venue

  • Tuesday, 10 June 2025, 17:00 (5pm) CET
  • Location: Faculteitszaal, Faculteit Letteren en Wijsbegeerte, Blandijnberg 2, 9000 Gent

Abstract

The wealth of texts from the famous “Library Cave” or Cave 17 from Mogao near Dunhuang, which was closed around the turn of the eleventh century, offers scholars a time-capsule from the social and cultural world of first-millennium CE Dunhuang, a melting pot with connections to China and places farther west along the so-called Silk Road. It can also be used, with caution, to compare religious practice there with what we know of Buddhism at the court of the Tibetan emperors in the eighth and ninth centuries especially. One aspect of this is what Arthur Waley termed “Dhāraṇī Buddhism” in his 1931 work, A Catalogue of Paintings Recovered from Tun-Huang by Sir Aurel Stein. This presentation will bring recent advances in the study of the importance and changing nature of prayer in Indic- and Chinese-language sources to bear on Pelliot tibétain 45, a stitched concertina Tibetan-language manuscript from Dunhuang that consists of a corpus of rituals dating to between the imperial and early post-imperial period. In this presentation, I will identify some of the dhāraṇīs and prayer texts found in this manuscript, with correlates provided (in somewhat different forms) in the later Tibetan canons, discuss the ritual uses of these texts evidenced in the manuscript’s marginalia, and connect the literary and artistic additions in it to central Tibet, Gilgit and South Asia during the first millennium.

Bio

Lewis Doney is Professor of Tibetan Studies at the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn. He received his PhD (Study of Religions) from SOAS, University of London, in 2011 and was then engaged in postdoctoral research on early Tibetan life writing, empire and religion, Tibetan relations with South Asia and their impact on social and labour dependencies within Sino-Tibetan communities around Dunhuang, and later southern Tibetan Buddhist historiography and ritual and their relations to cultural identities and ecologies in the Himalayas. His publications include a solo-authored monograph titled The Zangs gling ma: The First Padmasambhava Biography (International Institute for Tibetan and Buddhist Studies, 2014), an edited volume, Bringing Buddhism to Tibet: History and Narrative in the dBa’ bzhed Manuscript (De Gruyter, 2021) and a monograph co-authored with Brandon Dotson: Producing Buddhist Sutras in Ninth-Century Tibet: The Sutra of Limitless Life and its Dunhuang Copies Kept at the British Library (De Gruyter, 2025).

5 June 2025 | Guest lecture by Dr Ashwini Lakshminarayanan, Cardiff University

On 5 June 2025, the Ghent Centre for South Asian Studies (GCSAS) and the Ghent Centre for Buddhist Studies (GCBS) will co-host a lecture by Dr. Ashwini Lakshminarayanan (Cardiff University) titled “Visualising Rituals in Gandhāra”.

 

This event is part of The Gandhāra Corpora Project Lecture Series.
All are welcome: The Gandhāra Corpora Lecture Series is in-person and hybrid online.

Time & venue

  • Thursday, 5 June 2025, 16:00 (4pm)
  • Location: Faculteitszaal, Faculteit Letteren en Wijsbegeerte, Blandijnberg 2, 9000 Gent

Abstract

It has long been recognised that the bases of Buddha and Bodhisattva schist statues from the ancient region of Gandhāra depict to some extent scenes that echo ritual practices that were normative for the region. While they have been the focus of sporadic assessments in the last decades, this paper is a systematic analysis of statue bases coming from ancient Gandhāra, a region located in the Northwest part of the Indic subcontinent, within the wider context of Gāndhārī donative inscriptions and Chinese travelogues. Dating broadly from the second century CE onwards, the statues bases, this paper argues, were a new venue to visually reinforce the ritual efficacy. As part of the systematic analysis, this talk showcases a work in progress, shedding light on the conventions used on statue bases and the actions of figures represented within them.

Bio

Dr Ashwini Lakshminarayanan is a Maria Skłodowska-Curie Research Fellow at Cardiff University leading the project ‘GRAVE: Gandharan Relic rituals and Veneration Explored’. This project analyses the visual material from Gandhāra (present day Pakistan and Afghanistan between the 1st and the 4th centuries CE) in its socio-religious context, focussing on contemporary Gandhari relic donative inscriptions and later Chinese accounts of relic veneration in the region. Besides rituals, Ashwini Lakshminarayanan’s work also focuses on gender, multi-cultural and multi-religious interactions within the Kushan kingdom.

 

30 – 31 July 2025 | International Graduate Conference: “Forgotten Mosques: Locale, Polycentric Pasts, and the Fabric of Kerala Islam”

The Kerala Mosques Project team is thrilled to announce the International Graduate Conference “Forgotten Mosques: Locale, Polycentric Pasts, and the Fabric of Kerala Islam” which will take place at the University of Calicut, Kerala (India) on 30 and 31 July 2025.

 

The call to apply is open until 30 May 2025: more information on how to participate in the poster below.

This is the second of two events organized as part of the project for this summer, the first being the Summer School “History, Material Culture and Heritage of Kerala Muslims”, 21-27 July 2025 (Kodungallur, Kerala).

“The mosques of Kerala. Artistic vocabularies in the identity-building of Muslim communities” is is a project based at the Ghent Centre for South Asian Studies with a FWO Odysseus Type II.

21 – 27 July 2025 | Summer School: “History, Material Culture and Heritage of Kerala Muslims”

The Kerala Mosques Project team is excited and happy to announce the Summer School “History, Material Culture and Heritage of Kerala Muslims” which will take place in Kodungallur, Kerala (India) from 21 to 27 July.

 

We look forward to receiving applications by 30 May 2025: more information on the flyers attached.

 

This is the first of two events organized as part of the project for this summer, the second being the International Graduate Conference “Forgotten Mosques Locale, Polycentric Pasts, and the Fabric of Kerala Islam”, 30-31 July 2025, University of Calicut (India).

 

“The mosques of Kerala. Artistic vocabularies in the identity-building of Muslim communities” is is a project based at the Ghent Centre for South Asian Studies with a FWO Odysseus Type II.

 

27 February – 8 May 2025 | GCSAS lecture series: “Ascetiscapes: Studies at the Intersection of Asceticism and Space”

The annual online lecture series organised by the Ghent Centre for South Asian Studies (GCSAS) is dedicated this year to the theme “Ascetiscapes: Studies at the Intersection of Asceticism and Space”.

Ascetics before the shrine of the Goddess. Folio from Kēdāra Kalpa. India, Himachal Pradesh, Kangra, ca. 1815. The Walters Art Museum

 

Asceticism, as a set of psycho-physical practices aimed at redefining, transforming, perfecting or obliterating the self, stretches beyond the purely bodily and spiritual dimensions of the practitioner. Both on the individual and the community level, it influences and is constantly influenced by physical and non-physical space.
This online lecture series invites reflection on the various ways in which ascetic practitioners in South Asia have engaged with abstract, physical, social and embodied space. We will explore different traditions from various disciplinary angles, collectively interrogating the relationship between ascetic paths and the transformation of conceptual and material space.

 

All our presenters can be followed online (registration required); three lectures will also be available on campus.

Everyone is warmly invited to join: follow the links in the programme below to register!

 

PROGRAMME & REGISTRATION

Thursday 27 February, from 4pm CET

Akshara Ravishankar [Ghent University]

Even the Wise Grieve: Narrative and Renunciation in the late Advaita Bhagavad Gītā

Hybrid – Camelot Blandijn 3.30

Registration: https://events.teams.microsoft.com/event/030ec090-87e7-4880-837d-0f248e5de73f@d7811cde-ecef-496c-8f91-a1786241b99c

 

Thursday 13 March, from 4pm CET

Justin Henry [University of South Florida]

Echoes of Sri Lanka’s Lion Rock: Ascetic and Erotic Buddhist Poetry from the Sigiri Graffiti

Hybrid – Camelot Blandijn 3.30

Registration: https://events.teams.microsoft.com/event/78fae3b8-2c77-42ed-9d9c-176eea720d19@d7811cde-ecef-496c-8f91-a1786241b99c

 

Thursday 27 March, from 4pm CET

Amen Jaffer [Lahore University of Management Sciences]

Rethinking the location of Spirituality: Social Space in Pakistan’s Sufi Shrines

Online Only

Registration: https://events.teams.microsoft.com/event/bd94b34f-f91b-4861-9838-41a3f89aa16c@d7811cde-ecef-496c-8f91-a1786241b99c

 

Thursday 17 April, from 4pm CET

Christoph Emmrich [University of Toronto]

A Place for Jainism. Jīvapantu T.S. Śrīpāl, Camaṇar Hill, and the Creation of the Contemporary Tamil Jain Landscape

Online Only

Registration: https://events.teams.microsoft.com/event/cc74bded-cc09-4976-b967-5de01128bedd@d7811cde-ecef-496c-8f91-a1786241b99c

 

Thursday 24 April, from 4pm CET

Heleen De Jonckheere [SOAS]

Cemented Gods and Butterfly Gardens: Wondrous Re-use of Jain Temple Sites in Madhya Pradesh

Hybrid – Simon Stevin, Plateau VGZ 0.1

Registration: https://events.teams.microsoft.com/event/79d1321c-38f9-4038-a1d1-a3571c737c53@d7811cde-ecef-496c-8f91-a1786241b99c

 

Thursday 8 May, from 4pm CET

Daniela Bevilacqua [University Institute Lisbon, ISCTE-IUL]

Tapobhūmi: Ascetic Landscapes and the Transformation of Self and Space in India

Online Only

Registration: https://events.teams.microsoft.com/event/705c66d5-b358-49ce-a773-ea95ff2ceaee@d7811cde-ecef-496c-8f91-a1786241b99c

24 February 2025 | Guest lecture by Barbara Čurda, Université Clermont Auvergne and French Institute of Pondicherry

On 24 February, Dr Barbara Čurda (Marie Curie fellow, University Clermont Auvergne and French Institute of Pondicherry) will deliver a talk titled “Feminine agency and social value in shifting urban environments: the transmission of Odissi dance in Bhubaneswar”.

This talk is organised by the Ghent Centre for South Asian Studies (GCSAS) and the Center for Research on Culture and Gender (CRCG). It can be followed both in person and online.

Details

  • Monday 24 February, 12:00 – 13:30 (CET)
  • on-campus: Faculteitszaal (first floor), Campus Boekentoren, Blandijnberg 2, Ghent
  • online: please register here

About the lecture

Drawing on ethnographic data from the early 2020s, this presentation explores the relation between women’s agency and their degree of adherence to patriarchal values in an environment subjected to rapid and intense changes. It focuses on women practising Odissi dance, considered by the government of India to be one of the “Indian classical dances”, in the urban context of Bhubaneswar, capital city of the Indian State Odisha, in which these practices thrive.
India has undergone rapid socio-economic and technological transformations in the past decades. Moreover, the city of Bhubaneswar has experienced a particular stark growth. This has affected the socio-economic fabric that support Odissi dance practices, based on a social order regulated by pronounced gender asymmetries. How do these changes affect the gendered equilibrium? What are the present constraints and opportunities? How do values and norms evolve in such a context?

About the speaker

Barbara Čurda is an anthropologist, and has been working as a Marie Curie fellow on the MSCA-IF-GF project GATRODI* (Gender asymmetry in the transmission of Odissi dance in India – a case study). The project interrogates relational dynamics and conceptions of know-how amongst dance practitioners, using qualitative and ethnographic methods.
Her research interests include gender, inequalities, corporeal practices, heritage, and South Asia. She holds a PhD in anthropology from the Université Blaise Pascal (France), and has taught extensively in the higher education sector and notably at the Université Clermont Auvergne (France).
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No. 101033051.

For more information: carine.plancke@ugent.be

3 February 2025 | Film presentation with the filmmaker: “The death of us” by Vani Subramanian

The Ghent Centre for South Asian Studies has organised a film screening of ‘The Death of Us’, a documentary on the death penalty in India, followed by a Q&A conversation with the filmmaker Vani Subramanian.
We will discuss about the history and stakes of the debates on the death penalty, criminality, and justice in contemporary India.

Students, faculty, researchers, and staff are very welcome to attend: no registration is required.

  • When: 3 February 2025, from 11:00 to 13:00
  • Where: room 5.50, Faculty of Arts and Philosophy, Campus Boekentoren – Blandijnberg 2, 9000 Gent

For more information, contact Dr. Akshara Ravishankar.

THE DEATH OF US

A quiet contemplation on a range of cases in which the death penalty was pronounced, ending in execution, commutation to life sentence, acquittal or even pardon. Speaking to those who have been on death row or those very closely involved with the cases, we engage in complex conversations on crime and punishment, revenge and justice, popular rhetoric and personal experiences.
Direction: Vani Subramanian
78 mins | English, Hindi, Telugu | English Subtitles | 2018
DOCUMENTARY

ABOUT THE FILMMAKER

Vani Subramanian has been a women’s rights activist and documentary filmmaker since the nineties. Her work as a filmmaker explores the connections between our everyday practices, perceptions and prejudices, and the larger political questions confronting us – be they in the areas of culture, food practices and production, education, sectarian intolerance, sex selective abortions, or questions relating to justice and the death penalty. Her films have been screened and received awards, both nationally and internationally. Presently she is the Creative Director of reFrame Institute of Art and Expression, an initiative that produces, mentors and disseminates artistic efforts that respond to contemporary challenges.

12 December 2024 | Guest lecture by Sreenath VS, IIT Madras

We are pleased to announce an upcoming Guest Lecture hosted by the Ghent Centre for South Asian Studies on 12 December 2024 at 1:30 pm CET in a hybrid format:

  • in person: Faculty of Arts and Philosophy, Camelot 3.30, Blandijnberg 2, 9000 Gent
  • online: send an email to rosina.pastore@ugent.be for the registration

Title of the Lecture: “Exploring the creative world of Ācārya Hemacandra”
Speaker: Prof. Sreenath VS (IIT Madras)

Through this talk we will delve into the Jaina contributions to aesthetics in the work of Hemachandra.

Sreenath VS, Assistant Professor in the Department of Humanities, IIT Madras, is a visiting scholar at the Ghent Centre for South Asian Studies this December, and his lecture is part of this appointment.

9 December 2024 | Seminar with Dr. Anandita Pan: Justice for whom? Gender, Caste, and Intersectionality

The Ghent Centre for South Asian Studies (GCSAS) and the Center for Research on Culture and Gender (CRCG) are pleased to host Prof. Anandita Pan from IIT Hyderabad, India, for the upcoming seminar titled “Justice for Whom? Gender, Caste, and Intersectionality”.

The seminar

The topic of gender justice must begin with the inevitable question: what gender is justice? Linda R. Hirshman asks, “Is the law male?” Hirshman’s question points out how the “maleness” of the legal system affects every woman.

Prof. Pan’s lecture will focus on gender justice through the lens of intersectionality to emphasize the necessity of recognizing the interconnectedness as well as differences among categories. Intersectionality challenges traditional notions of justice that treat social categories as separate or distinct.

Instead, it calls for an approach to justice that acknowledges how various systems of oppression (e.g., sexism, casteism, classism) intersect and compound one another. Achieving gender justice, therefore, requires addressing these interconnected forms of oppression holistically. 

About the speaker

Anandita Pan is Assistant Professor in the Department of Liberal Arts, IIT Hyderabad. Her areas of interest are Feminist theory, Gender Studies, and Dalit Feminism. She is the author of Mapping Dalit Feminism: Towards An Intersectional Standpoint (Sage-Stree, 2020) and Aesthetics in India: Transitions and Transformations (Orient Blackswan, 2023). She is the recipient of the President’s Award for Best paper at the IAWS conference, 2020.

Whereabouts

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

27 November 2024 | Guest lecture by Seema Chauhan, Trinity College Dublin

On Wednesday 27th November, Prof. Seema Chauhan from Trinity College Dublin will be guest of the Ghent Centre for South Asian Studies (GCSAS) and will deliver a talk titled “Re-examining the emergence of Jain householders”.
We warmly invite everyone to attend!

The talk will be in person and no prior registration is required.

  • Location: Camelot 3.30, Faculty of Arts and Philosophy, Blandijnberg 2, 9000 Gent.
  • Time: 2 pm CET.