World Sanskrit Conference

The World Sanskrit Conference is an international conference organised at various locations globally. It has been held in North America, Europe, Asia and Australia. The Delhi International Sanskrit Conference of 1972 is considered to be the first World Sanskrit Conference. So far it has been held in India four times (1972, 1981, 1997, 2012).{{Cite web|url=http://www.sanskritassociation.org/conferences.php|title = Sanskritassociation - Conferences}}

History

File:ANCIENT_SANSKRIT_ON_HEMP_BASED_PAPER._HEMP_WAS_A_COMMON_AND_DURABLE_FIBRE_IN_THE_PRODUCTION_OF_%22RAG%22_PAPER_FROM_200_BCE_TO_THE_1850_AD.jpg

According to the official web-site of the International Association of Sanskrit Studies (IASS), several Sanskrit scholars from major Indian universities perceived that the International Congress of Orientalists "did not allow sufficient scope for full discussion of Sanskrit and allied subjects". These scholars approached the Government of India, which arranged to convene the first International Sanskrit Conference at New Delhi in March 1972. The following year, at the 29th International Congress of Orientalists, Sanskrit scholars from around the world got together to form the IASS. The main responsibility of the IASS was to organise World Sanskrit Conferences at various places around the world. The 1972 New Delhi conference was retrospectively recognised as the "First World Sanskrit Conference".{{cite web|url=http://www.sanskrit.nic.in/IASS/HOME_page.htm|title=INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF SANSKRIT STUDIES (IASS) |publisher=IASS |accessdate=12 April 2012|location=New Delhi}}

The sixteenth conference in Bangkok, Thailand in 2015 received unprecedented support from the Indian government.{{cite news |last1=Chaudhury |first1=Dipanjan Roy |last2=Venugopal |first2=Vasudha|title=Government to send 250 Sanskrit scholars to participate in World Sanskrit Conference in Thailand |url=http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2015-06-24/news/63783144_1_indian-embassy-scholars-world-sanskrit-conference|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150702164001/http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2015-06-24/news/63783144_1_indian-embassy-scholars-world-sanskrit-conference|url-status=dead|archive-date=2 July 2015|accessdate=29 July 2015 |agency=The Economic Times |date=24 June 2015}} In what some have called a "display of soft power", India sent a group of 250 Sanskrit scholars, led by External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, who gave the inaugural address in Sanskrit. The conference was also supported by and held in honor of Maha Chakri Sirindhorn, Princess of Thailand, who has supported Sanskrit education, and had received a master's degree in Pali and Sanskrit from Chulalongkorn University.

The 2018 conference in Vancouver featured a session titled "The Story of Our Sanskrit," where two female Sanskritists presented and a third female Sanskritist moderated. The session was plagued by sexist and casteist comments from an unruly audience.{{Cite news|last=Vajpeyi|first=Ananya|date=2018-08-14|title=How to move a mountain|language=en-IN|work=The Hindu|url=https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-opinion/how-to-move-a-mountain/article24683993.ece|access-date=2018-08-27|issn=0971-751X}}{{Cite web|title=World Sanskrit Conference shows that Sanskritic scholarship in India remains afraid of gender and caste - Firstpost|url=https://www.firstpost.com/life/world-sanskrit-conference-shows-that-sanskritic-scholarship-in-india-remains-afraid-of-gender-and-caste-4895051.html|access-date=2018-08-27|website=www.firstpost.com|date=22 August 2018}} In an email sent to the INDOLOGY listserv, the lead conference organizer, Dr. Adheesh Sathaye, publicly apologized for the "hooliganistic behaviour of some members of the audience."{{Cite web|title=The INDOLOGY Archives|url=http://list.indology.info/pipermail/indology_list.indology.info/|access-date=2018-08-27|website=list.indology.info}}

Conferences

The first World Sanskrit Conference was held in Vigyan Bhavan, New Delhi, India between 26–31 March 1972.{{cite book|author=India. Ministry of Education and Social Welfare|title=International Sanskrit Conference|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oEg9AAAAIAAJ|accessdate=12 April 2012|year=1980|publisher=The Ministry|page=iii}} Dr. Ranganathan was its chairman.{{cite book|author=T.K. Venkatasubramanian|title=Music as History in TamilNadu|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pzurjfF3AE4C&pg=PA138|accessdate=12 April 2012|year=2010|publisher=Primus Books|isbn=978-93-80607-06-1|page=138}} Thereafter, conferences have been held as follows:

class="wikitable sortable" style=text-align:left

! scope="col" | Date

! scope="col" | Location

! scope="col" | Ref.

June 1975

| Torino, Italy,

|{{cite book|author=Alex Wayman|author-link=Alex Wayman|title=Buddhist Insight: Essays|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BNIdOsp3KIgC&pg=PA417|accessdate=12 April 2012|year=1984|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass|isbn=978-81-208-0675-7|page=417}}

20–25 June 1977

| Paris, France

|{{cite book|author=Satya Vrat Varma|title=Nāyakanāyikāguṇālaṅkāra|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9vxjAAAAMAAJ|accessdate=12 April 2012|date=1 January 1993|publisher=Eastern Book Linkers|isbn=978-81-85133-53-9 |page=13}}

23–30 May 1979

| Weimar, German Democratic Republic

|{{cite book|author=Wolfgang Morgenroth|title=Sanskrit and world culture: proceedings of the Fourth World Sanskrit Conference of the International Association of Sanskrit Studies, Weimar, May 23-30, 1979|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gBMhAAAAMAAJ|accessdate=12 April 2012|year=1986|publisher=Akademie-Verlag |page=3}}

1981

|Varanasi, India

|{{cite book|author1=Utpala|author2=Constantina Rhodes Bailly|title=Shaiva Devotional Songs of Kashmir: A Translation and Study of Utpaladeva's Shivastotravali|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=J0xVjmU_jPUC&pg=PR9|accessdate=12 April 2012|date=1 June 1987|publisher=SUNY Press|isbn=978-0-88706-492-0|page=9}}

1984

|Philadelphia, United States

|{{cite book|author=Teun Goudriaan|title=Ritual and Speculation in Early Tantrism: Studies in Honour of André Padoux|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SvKkr0EjTP8C&pg=PR14|accessdate=12 April 2012|year=1992|publisher=SUNY Press|isbn=978-0-7914-0898-8|page=14}}

1987

|Leiden, Netherlands

|{{cite book|author=C. C. Barfoot|title=Aldous Huxley Between East and West|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FC7E8-cg-4UC&pg=PA196|accessdate=12 April 2012|year=2001|publisher=Rodopi|isbn=978-90-420-1347-6|page=196}}

27 August–2 September 1990

|Vienna, Austria

|{{cite news|title=World Sanskrit Conference|work=The Indian Express|date=24 September 1990|page=6}}

January 1994

|Melbourne, Australia

|{{cite book|author=Werner Menski|title=South Asians and the Dowry Problem|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=K_8OWbW8mnYC&pg=PA21|accessdate=12 April 2012|year=1998|publisher=Trentham Books|isbn=978-1-85856-141-7|page=21}}

January 1997

|Bangalore, India

|{{cite book|author=Shankaragouda Hanamantagouda Patil|title=Community Dominance and Political Modernisation: The Lingayats|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R84n-Wv1S-8C&pg=PA79|accessdate=12 April 2012|year=2002|publisher=Mittal Publications|isbn=978-81-7099-867-9|page=79}}

April 2000

|Turin, Italy

|{{cite web|url=http://www.soas.ac.uk/religions/events/comeandmeet/shivamurthy/|title=Shivamurthy Swami|last=Dawer BACK|first=John |publisher=SOAS, University of London|accessdate=12 April 2012|location=London}}

July 2003

|Helsinki, Finland

|{{cite book|author=Dominik Wujastyk|title=Mathematics And Medicine In Sanskrit|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XPKCregSrLEC&pg=PA1|accessdate=12 April 2012|date=1 January 2009|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass Publishers|isbn=978-81-208-3246-6|page=1}}

July 2006

|Edinburgh, United Kingdom

|{{cite book|author=Simon Brodbeck|title=Gender and Narrative in the Mahābhārata|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mBRh7HPZhl4C&pg=PA315|accessdate=12 April 2012|date=19 September 2007|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-0-415-41540-8|page=315}}

1–6 September 2009

|Kyoto, Japan

|{{cite book|author=Rajendra Singh|title=Annual Review of South Asian Languages and Linguistics: 2009|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xOGYIv8m3NQC&pg=PA150|accessdate=12 April 2012|date=12 December 2009|publisher=Walter de Gruyter|isbn=978-3-11-022559-4|page=150}}

5–10 January 2012

|New Delhi, India

|{{cite web |title=15th World Sanskrit Conference 5th to 10th January, 2012 |url=http://www.sanskrit.nic.in/iass/wsc15.pdf |accessdate=12 April 2012}}[http://www.sanskrit.nic.in/IASS/HOME_page.htm]

28 June–2 July, 2015

|Bangkok, Thailand

|{{cite news |title=World Sanskrit Conference held in honor of Princess Maha Chakri |url=http://www.pattayamail.com/news/world-sanskrit-conference-held-in-honor-of-princess-maha-chakri-48510 |accessdate=29 July 2015 |work=Battaya Mail |date=30 June 2015}}

9–13 July, 2018

|Vancouver, Canada

|{{cite web|title=The 17th World Sanskrit Conference|url=http://wsc.ubcsanskrit.ca|publisher=University of British Columbia}}

9–13 January 2023

|Canberra, Australia (online)

=Future venues and dates=

The 19th conference is scheduled to be held in Kathmandu, Nepal from June 26-30, 2025.

Proceedings

The proceedings of the WSC have been published as follows:{{cite web|url=http://www.sanskrit.nic.in/iassn11.pdf|title=Newsletter of the International Association of Sanskrit Studies|last=Brockington|first=John |year=2012 |publisher=IASS|accessdate=13 April 2012|location=New Delhi |page=8}}

Delhi (1972) Conference were published in four volumes (vols I-III.1, Ministry of Education and SocialWelfare, New Delhi, 1975–80; vols III.2-IV, Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan, Delhi, 1981),
Weimar (1979) Conference in a volume entitled Sanskrit and World Culture (Akademie-Verlag, Berlin, 1986), those of the Varanasi Conference by the Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan, New Delhi, in 1985.
An IASS newsletter informs that the proceedings of the Leiden (1987) Conference in several volumes (Brill, Leiden, 1990–92); the Proceedings of the Helsinki (2003) and Edinburgh (2006) Conferences are in the process of publication by Motilal Banarsidass, New Delhi.
The Proceedings of the World Sanskrit Conferences held at Turin (1975), Paris (1977), Philadelphia (1984), Vienna (1990), Melbourne (1994), Bangalore (1997), Turin (2000), Kyoto (2009) have been published in Indologica Taurinensia, which is the official organ of the I.A.S.S.

World Sanskrit Conference

History

Conferences

=Future venues and dates=

Proceedings

See also

References

Further reading