Skip to main content

Approaching the Divine The Integration of Alvar Bhakti in Srivaiavism

Approaching the Divine The Integration of Alvar Bhakti in Srivaiavism

Event End Date
Event Title
Approaching the Divine The Integration of Alvar Bhakti in Srivaiavism
Event Details
<strong>Centre for Historical Studies School of Social Sciences</strong> a discussion on <strong>Approaching the Divine The Integration of Alvar Bhakti in Srivaiavism</strong> <strong>Bharati Jagannathan</strong> in conversation with <strong>Vijaya Ramaswami</strong> <strong>28th October 2015</strong> Bharati Jagannathan (2015) Approaching the Divine: The Integration of A?var Bhakti in Srivai??avism. New Delhi: Primus books, spans the second half of the first millennium, i.e. the bhakti period, to the period of consolidation of the scriptural and sectarian tradition in the first half of the second millennium, and attempts to trace the process whereby a Sanskritic brahmanical tradition and a devotional Tamil folk tradition were knit together, arguing that the ways in which the saintpoets' hymns were interpreted and integrated contained elements of both continuity and change. Prof Vijaya Ramaswamy, Chairperson, Centre for Historical Studies, will be in conversation with Dr Bharati Jagannathan.

A warm welcome to the modified and updated website of the Centre for East Asian Studies. The East Asian region has been at the forefront of several path-breaking changes since 1970s beginning with the redefining the development architecture with its State-led development model besides emerging as a major region in the global politics and a key hub of the sophisticated technologies. The Centre is one of the thirteen Centres of the School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi that provides a holistic understanding of the region.

Initially, established as a Centre for Chinese and Japanese Studies, it subsequently grew to include Korean Studies as well. At present there are eight faculty members in the Centre. Several distinguished faculty who have now retired include the late Prof. Gargi Dutt, Prof. P.A.N. Murthy, Prof. G.P. Deshpande, Dr. Nranarayan Das, Prof. R.R. Krishnan and Prof. K.V. Kesavan. Besides, Dr. Madhu Bhalla served at the Centre in Chinese Studies Programme during 1994-2006. In addition, Ms. Kamlesh Jain and Dr. M. M. Kunju served the Centre as the Documentation Officers in Chinese and Japanese Studies respectively.

The academic curriculum covers both modern and contemporary facets of East Asia as each scholar specializes in an area of his/her interest in the region. The integrated course involves two semesters of classes at the M. Phil programme and a dissertation for the M. Phil and a thesis for Ph. D programme respectively. The central objective is to impart an interdisciplinary knowledge and understanding of history, foreign policy, government and politics, society and culture and political economy of the respective areas. Students can explore new and emerging themes such as East Asian regionalism, the evolving East Asian Community, the rise of China, resurgence of Japan and the prospects for reunification of the Korean peninsula. Additionally, the Centre lays great emphasis on the building of language skills. The background of scholars includes mostly from the social science disciplines; History, Political Science, Economics, Sociology, International Relations and language.

Several students of the centre have been recipients of prestigious research fellowships awarded by Japan Foundation, Mombusho (Ministry of Education, Government of Japan), Saburo Okita Memorial Fellowship, Nippon Foundation, Korea Foundation, Nehru Memorial Fellowship, and Fellowship from the Chinese and Taiwanese Governments. Besides, students from Japan receive fellowship from the Indian Council of Cultural Relations.