Conference on Hindu Thoughts on Ethics, Law & Justice

Dr Nagaraj Paturi trained in Sanskrit and Advaita Vedanta by his hyper-polyglot, polymath and spiritually accomplished sakala-shaastra-paarangata father, late Sri Paturi Sitaramanjaneyulu garu, he is seriously committed to the transmission of Vedic sciences to the present generation. He designed a very big number of courses of contemporary applications of Vedic Sciences and has been successfully teaching them and getting them taught. Presently he is Presently he is Director, Indic Academy And Distinguished Professor, Curriculum Designer, Executive Committee Member and Member, Board of Studies, MIT School of Vedic Sciences, Pune. Member, Board of Studies for Chinmaya Vishwavidyapeeth, Kavikulaguru Kalidasa Sanskrit University, Veda Vijnana Gurukula. Formerly Senior Professor of Cultural Studies FLAME School of Communication and FLAME School of Liberal Education Former Visiting Professor, University of Chicago, US) In his PhD (1998, UoH) Developed Indic Model of Myth Criticism of Literature. MPhil (1987, UoH) Brought out Vakyapadiyam as theoretical foundation of Ashtaadhyaayee Around 50 publications, around 60 conference /seminar/ workshop papers. Consultancy to numerous culture research and theater and dance innovation projects. Scores of creative writing works for Classical Dance, Modern Theater and magazines. Several series of talks and other programs on Radio and Television channels.

Mr. Sridhar Potaraju, hails from Hyderabad, India where he spent his childhood and formative years. Upon completing B.Com (Hons) from Hyderabad, Mr. Sridhar Potaraju was admitted into CLC, University of Delhi in the year 1994. Upon completion of LL.B degree in 1997, he enrolled himself as an Advocate with the Delhi Bar Council in 1997 and is practicing before the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India for more than 2 decades. He has a penchant for reading and learning about the ancient Indian Texts and spends his leisure time in research and reading. He has interests in reading Itihasas like Ramayana and Mahabharata and applying the values and wisdom contained therein in modern context. Professional and Personal inclinations for research blended in bringing contextually relevant portions of our Itihasas and Indian literature into the case material filed before the Courts in cases in which it was appropriate. He was a core member of the legal team for Sri Ramlalla Virajman, the Plaintiff in the Sri Ramjanmabhoomi case before the Hon’ble Supreme Court. His contribution in the case apart from Legal issues was also by way of research from Itihasas and Puranas from his personal library.

J. Sai Deepak is an engineer-turned-law firm partner-turned-arguing counsel. Sai has a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Anna University (2002-06) and a bachelor’s degree in law from IIT Kharagpur (2006-09). He has been a litigator since July 2009 and was an Associate Partner at a leading National Capital Region-based litigation firm, Saikrishna & Associates. In June 2016, Sai founded Law Chambers of J. Sai Deepak and set up practice as an arguing counsel. He is engaged by law firms and individual solicitors to appear on behalf of their clients before the Supreme Court of India, the Delhi High Court, the Madras High Court, the Competition Commission of India, and the NCLAT. In close to thirteen years of practice, Sai has carved a niche for himself in Civil Commercial litigation, IP litigation, Constitutional law and Competition law with reported judgements to his credit in each of these practice areas. Sai is an avid legal commentator and has articles to his credit in reputed international journals such as Max Planck Institute’s International Review of Intellectual Property Law and Competition law, and national journals such as the Indian Journal of Intellectual Property Law (IJIPL) and Journal of Intellectual Property Rights (JIPR). As a law student, he won international and national legal writing competitions such as the 2008 Legal Writing Competition of the International Association for the Advancement of Teaching and Research in Intellectual Property (ATRIP). As a law student, his blogpost on the Bajaj-TVS patent dispute was cited extensively and relied upon by a Division Bench of the Madras High Court to vacate an injunction granted by a Single Judge of the Court, making it one of the rare instances in Indian judicial history where a law student’s work was cited and relied upon by a Court. He frequently writes for Open Magazine, The New Indian Express and The Financial Express. In August 2019, Sai was awarded the Young Alumni Achiever’s Award by his alma mater IIT Kharagpur. He is also the author of the bestseller India That is Bharat: Coloniality, Civilisation, Constitution published by Bloomsbury in 2021.

I am the Centre Co-ordinator for Centre for Shaastric Studies and Research in Law (CSSRL) at the Maharashtra National Law University, Nagpur. I am pursuing my Ph.D in “Perceptual Witness Misidentification: An Inquiry into the Legal Epistemics Based on Shaastric and Forensic Parameters”. My deep rooted interest in the Indic intellectual heritage made me pursue my learnings in Nyaayashaastra informally from my Acharyas. Epistemology stemming from Indic knowledge systems has been one of my major areas of research. I have been mining the Indic knowledge base and exploring its possible practical applications in the contemporary field of law. My publication in this domain includes a research paper on “Parameters Governing Percipient Witness Testimony in View of Pramaana Theory of Nyaayashaastra”. I had been a member of the Board of Studies on Indian Jurisprudence in Kavikulaguru Kalidasa Sanskrit University, Ramtek. Apart from this, my pursuit of knowledge is from field of Forensic Science specifically in Forensic Psychology, Forensic Linguistics – Psycholinguistics and Pragmatics. Owing to this I hold a Certificate of Achievement in the “FIS Online PEACE Investigative Interviewing Solutions” offered by Forensic Interview Solutions, Washington DC – USA. I'm currently also pursuing an Advanced Diploma in Criminal Law and Forensic Science at the Directorate of Distance Education, NALSAR. I could receive a formal training in the technique of “Mind-Mapping” by one of the associates of Tony Buzan - the inventor of Mind-Maps.

Dr. Srilakshmi Peddada has been an academician for 25 years, committed to the philosophy of continuous learning. She have a deep interest in facilitating and doing research that is interdisciplinary in nature. Dr. Srilakshmi has a proven track record in providing quality education, with a particular focus on jurisprudence.

Dr. Gauri Mahulikar is Academic Director of Chinmaya International Foundation, Ernakulam, Kerala, India. She was previously Officiating Vice Chancellor, and Dean of faculty at Chinmaya Vishwavidyapeeth. She is also former Head of Sanskrit Department, Mumbai University and former Head of Gurudev Tagore Chair of Comparative Literature, Mumbai

Srinivas Jammalamadaka (जम्मलमडक) Studied Nyaya/tarka Shastra under Br. Sri. Ambadipudi Radhe Shyama Shastri Studied Advaita Vedanta under Br. Sri. R. Mani David's Sastrigal Studied Vyakarana (till siddhanta koumidi) under Br. Sri. Ganti Dattatreya Murthy Completed Tenali exams in Tarka Shastra Appearing Tenali exams in Advaita Vedanta Conferred awards - tarka-Ratnam & vidwan Mani by Sri Kanchi shankaracharya Shastrakalanidhi by Madhya pradesh state governer Two PGs, one in samskritam & another in Nyaya shastra Completed MPhil. Persuing PhD in Nyaya shastra Currently working as Assistant professor in School of Shastric Studies, Kavikulaguru Kalidas Sanskrit University, Ramtek, Maharashtra

Brunda Karanam is a lawyer by profession. She is a gold medalist from the National Law School of India University, Bengaluru. She holds a BCL (Bachelor of Civil Law) degree from the University of Oxford, UK. She has also completed her masters in law (LL.M.) with a distinction from the University of Pennsylvania Law School, USA, as a Dean’s Scholar. Samskrtam has been a passion of hers since her childhood days. She was mentored in Samskrtam, the Bhagavad-Gita and Stotrams by her Guru, Vidushi Ananthalakshmi Natarajan, under whose guidance, she has completed Samskrtam courses offered by Sri Surasarasvati Sabha (Sringeri) and Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, with a distinction. She has also taken part in Sanskrit plays including Mugdhakuntalam, Jeevanmukti-Kalyana-Natakam, Sakhyam, Kaṭhopaniṣat, Gitopadesha. Brunda has coached students for Samskrtam exams conducted by Samskrta Bharati, Sri Surasarasvati Sabha and Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan. She has also offered webinars on learning to chant the Bhagavad-Gita, Sri Venkatesvara Suprabhatam, Sri Raghuveera Gadyam, Saundaryalahari and a course for children - ‘Step Up With Samskrtam’ through ‘Sanskrit From Home’ of Vyoma Labs.

Arvind V Iyer has a research background in Computational Neuroscience and Biomedical Engineering in areas ranging from decoding of single-neuron responses to analysis of autonomic measures in immersive virtual reality settings. His interests as an independent researcher include Indian languages, appreciation of classical performing arts, and contemplative practices.

Aradhana Singh is currently a PhD candidate in Ancient Indian History at the Centre for Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University. Her doctoral research investigates the representations of love in early Sanskrit Literature, based upon a reading of texts belonging to different literary genres. Her research interest includes fields of the history of emotions, legal history, gender, sexuality, literary representations and cultural studies in the context of early Indian history.

Sujatha is a teacher by profession and a story teller by passion. As an independent researcher of Ramayana and Mahabharata, she loves to explore the lessor known nuggets in the itihaasas. She also likes to engage with young minds and impart to them both Sanskrit and Sanskriti. Sujatha holds an MA degree in Sanskrit from SASTRA University.

Shivakumar GV is an IT professional with a deep interest in Bharateeya Samskriti. His special areas of interest are Mahabharata and RigVeda. He writes on Mahabharata regularly at IndicToday. He is deeply interested in understanding the Bharateeya Itihaasa, Puraana, Tatva-Shastra, and civilizational challenges faced by Bharateeya Parampara. He firmly believes that our "Chaturvidha Purushartha" holds a perspective that shapes every aspect of human life very different from Modernity. Currently, he is on a research grant from Indic Academy to study "History of Creative Liberty in Bharateeya Parampara". Apart from this, he is passionate about Kannada Literature from its classical to the present times. He is a Consulting Editor for Indica Today and contributes to the Kannada language pieces.

Megh Kalyanasundaram is an Indian citizen with close to nine years of lived experience in China, an alumnus of ISB, and is currently Director - Special Projects at Indica. His professional experience includes stints as a Market Leader at a Global Fortune 40 firm, as Head of Business Development at a leading Indian talent development multinational and he has served a term on the Board of a Shanghai-based not-for-profit. His academic research interests and 20+ papers span some aspects of ancient Indian chronology, Indian Knowledge Systems, Landscape in Indic texts, Ancient Indian Jurisprudence, Ideas of India, and Philosophy. For his creative contribution to the first edition of the International Day of Yoga, he was invited by the Permanent Mission of India in the United Nations to attend the inaugural event at the UN. Other professional pursuits have included building differentiated digital platforms for Indic texts targeted at specific learning and research needs and music. His research-based compositional Sanskrit music album Bhārata and her Kāśmīra was recently accepted for listing in the Government of India Ministry of Culture's music app Sangam. Earlier this year, Megh was invited by the National Museum Institute to present his research on Kashmir as part of a national seminar to generate content for a new museum on Jammu and Kashmir. Other musical compositions in Sanskrit span themes that include Indian Knowledge Systems and Yāskācārya's Nirukta.

Sushumna Kannan has a PhD in Cultural Studies from Centre for the Study of Culture and Society, Bangalore, India. Her research on the South Asian devotional traditions and feminist epistemology focused on the medieval mystic, Akka Mahadevi and her vachanas. She received the Bourse Mira, French research fellowship in 2006 and 2007 and the Sir Ratan Tata fellowship for PhD Coursework and Writing in 2003 and 2007. She has published some of her research work on Bhakti and dharmashastras and has an essay on translation theory. She has completed a book project on Hinduism, Violence and Nonviolence and is currently working on a translation of the Yoganga Trividhi by Akka Mahadevi and on a research project on the position of women in the Manusmriti. For her writings, visit: www.sushumnakannan.weebly.com

Nithin Sridhar is an author, public speaker, and the Chief Curator of Indica Moksha (Advaita Academy) dedicated to the dissemination of Advaita Vedanta. He has authored six books and regularly contributes articles on various issues ranging from development, politics, and social issues, to religion, spirituality, and ecology. He is a civil engineer by training and was previously the editor of IndiaFacts, an online platform focused on Indian history and culture. He is based in Mysuru, Karnataka. His first book "Musings On Hinduism" provided an overview of various aspects of Hindu philosophy and society. His latest book 'Ishopanishad: An English Commentary' sheds light on the philosophy of the Upanishads. However, his most widely acclaimed books are "Menstruation Across Cultures: A Historical Perspective" which examines menstruation notions and practices prevalent in different cultures & religions from across the world, and "Samanya Dharma" which provides an overview of Hindu ethics. His other two books are Sri Dakshinamurthy and Chandika.