On the occasion of the rolling out of the new MA Culture, Society, Thought programme, with its very first batch admitted in July 2024, we are launching the MA-CST Annual Public Lecture Series. The first annual lecture will be delivered by Prof. Upinder Singh, eminent historian of Ancient India, and professor at Ashoka University. The series will be launched on this occasion by our Director Prof. Rangan Banerjee, Dean of Academics Prof. Narayan Kurur, and Head, HSS dept. Prof. Farhana Ibrahim.
It is our great pleasure to welcome all the faculty, students, and staff of our institute to attend this event and we hope to see many of you there.
Title: Himsa/Ahimsa: Ancient debates on a perennial problem
Date: 22nd October 2024
Time: 5:00 PM
Venue: Seminar Hall, IIT Delhi
About the Speaker
Prof. Upinder Singh taught in St. Stephen’s College and the History Department of the University of Delhi before moving to Ashoka University. Her expertise ranges over various aspects of ancient Indian history and archaeology, the history of ideas, and India’s interactions with the wider world. She is the author of Kings, Brāhmaṇas, and Temples in Orissa: An Epigraphic Study (AD 300–1147) (1994), Ancient Delhi (1999), The Discovery of Ancient India: Early Archaeologists and the Beginnings of Archaeology (2004), A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India: From the Stone Age to the Twelfth Century (2008), The Idea of Ancient India: Essays on Religion, Politics, and Archaeology (2016), Political Violence in Ancient India (2017), and Ancient India: Culture of Contradictions (2021). She has edited Delhi: Ancient History (2006), Rethinking Early Medieval India (2011); and has co-edited Ancient India: New Research (2009), Asian Encounters: Exploring Connected Histories (2014), Buddhism in Asia: Revival and Reinvention (2019), The World of India’s First Archaeologist: Letters from Alexander Cunningham to J.D.M. Beglar (2021). Her most recent publications are new, revised editions of her collection of essays, The Idea of Ancient India and of her panoramic A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India. Singh has been a recipient of the Netherlands Government Reciprocal Fellowship, Ancient India and Iran Trust/Wallace India Visiting Fellowship, Daniel Ingalls Fellowship at the Harvard-Yenching Institute, and Erasmus Mundus Fellowship at the University of Leuven. She was awarded the Infosys award for Social Sciences—History in 2009.
Abstract of Lecture
The idea of a nonviolent ancient Indian past is a myth. But behind this myth lies the fact that ancient Indian thinkers engaged seriously and intensely with the tension between violence and nonviolence, perhaps more so than those in other parts of the world. All traditions, including the religions of nonviolence such as Jainism and Buddhism, acknowledged that a certain amount of violence was necessary for rulers. However, a distinction was made between force that was necessary, proportionate and legitimate on the one hand and that which was unnecessary, excessive and illegitimate on the other. Through a discussion of the ideas of two well-known figures, the Maurya emperor Ashoka and the political theorist Kautilya, the lecture will show how two very different perspectives—one rooted in dharma, the other in artha—could in fact converge. Engaging with the nuances of these ancient debates helps us think more meaningfully about our distant past and the problem of political violence in our own time.
RSVP
Divya Dwivedi
Tsering Nurboo
Madhulika Sonkar
(MA-CST Coordinators)
With
Academic Outreach and New Initiatives, IIT Delhi