Indira Foundation Distinguished Lecture Series

Upcoming Lectures (Public Lectures Open to All)

Lecture 1 (Tues, 7th February)
European trading companies, diarist Ananda Ranga Pillai, and British ascendancy in the 18th century

Lecture 2 (Thurs, 9th February)
Tipu's Brahmin diwan Purniah, the "Dravidian Proof", and questions of language and caste

Details of the lecture can be viewed here

About the speaker:
Rajmohan Gandhi is Distinguished Scholar-in-Residence at IIT Gandhinagar and a Research Professor at the Center for South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA. He is a biographer and grandson of Mahatma Gandhi. More information here.

Past Lectures

This lecture will focus on some of the major scientific and technological contributions revealed through recent studies of the sites and artifacts of the Indus Civilization. The topics will include Indus settlement systems and the location of key settlements in locations that allow optimal use of natural resources. It will also discuss the nature of Indus architecture and its adaptation to local climate conditions and population issues in walled settlements. Other topics will include aspects of technology such as the use of refractory clays in construction of cooking vessels and crucibles, the firing and glazing of steatite, special designs of drills for perforating hard stone, and the development of textile production using spinning wheels. Many of the contributions of the Indus set the foundation for later technologies in subsequent periods and the principles of these technologies still have relevance today.

About the speaker:
Jonathan Mark Kenoyer, Professor in Anthropology, has been teaching archaeology and ancient technology at the University of Wisconsin, Madison since 1985. He has served as Field Director and Co-Director of the Harappa Archaeological Research Project since 1986. He has worked on excavations and ethnoarchaeological studies in both Pakistan and India, as well as in other adjacent regions such as Oman and in China. He has a special interest in ancient technologies and crafts, socio-economic and political organization as well as religion. These interests have led him to study a broad range of cultural periods in South Asia as well as other regions of the world, including China, Japan, Korea, Oman, and West Asia in general. His work has been featured in the National Geographic Magazine and Scientific American and on www.harappa.com.

Details of the lecture can be viewed here

To view the video of the lecture click here