Symposium on Chandas: Cadences of Indic Thought

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.

Sreelalitha, an engineer by profession and training, has been a student of Sanskrit for more than two decades. After basic training in school and college, she has been fortunate to be associated with Samskrita Bharati during her formative years as a student and later as a volunteer. She has been part of Shatāvadhani Dr. R. Ganesh's study circle for over a decade and a half, and Padyapaana since its inception. A published author of literary reviews, she enjoys writing stories in Kannada and composing thematic kāvyas in Sanskrit. She has donned the role of pracchaka in avadhānas in various departments, like Dattapadi, Kāvyavāchana, and Aashukavita. She also pursues Karnatak music under the tutelage of Vidushi Dr. T S Sathyavathi. She works for ARM.

Raghavendra Hebbalalu, an engineer by training and profession, is a lifelong student of Sanskrit. He has been associated with Samskrita Bharati, as a student and a kāryakartā, having conducted sambhāshana shibirams in the USA and India. He has a Masters in Sanskrit from Karnataka Samskrit University, Bengaluru. He evinces a keen interest in bhAratīya and western philosophy. He has been fortunate to be a part of Shatāvadhani Dr R Ganesh’s study circle on Kāvya and Alankāra Shāstra. Associated with Padyapaana as an on and off contributor, he enjoys composing verses about modern themes in classical metres in Sanskrit and Kannada, posting frequently on Twitter. He has participated in several avadhānas as a pracchaka across categories. He is currently translating DVG's magnum opus, Mankutimmana Kagga from Kannada to Sanskrit. He and his wife have translated another great work of DVG, Jivanadharmayoga from Kannada to English. He has blogged in the past and is set on starting again. He works for McAfee.

Post-graduate in telecom engineering at IISc, Bangalore. Joined Indian Telecom Services, Govt. of India and retired as Advisor[Operations] to The Dept. of Telecom, GOI. Studied Sanskrit under traditional scholars as an extra-curricular during student days and resumed Sanskrit studies after retirement. A collection of his Sanskrit poems, under the title, "Chandrikaa" has been published, so also his translation of Ibsen's "Doll's house" under the title, "putrikaa gruham". His Kannada translation of Sri Vedantadesika's "SubhashitanIvi" has been published by Academy of Sanskrit Research, Melukote. He has written programs in Java for Sanskrit Sandhi and identifying Sanskrit Metres. He has published 3 papers in the area of Sanskrit Chandas (two in Annals of BORI and one in Prachi Prajna).

Shashi Kiran B N holds a Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering and a Master's Degree in Sanskrit Aesthetics. He works as a Contributing Editor of Prekshaa, an online journal of Indian Culture and Philosophy. He is a recipient of the prestigious Sahitya Akademi Prize (2021) for Translation, which he received along with Shatavadhani Ganesh, for their Sanskrit translation of Devudu Narasimha Shastry's Mahaabraahmanah, which is a Kannada novel.

Shankar Rajaraman is a MBBS doctor and psychiatrist by training, Sanskrit poet by passion, and researcher by profession. He is a recipient of the Badarayan Vyas Samman from the President of India for his contribution to Sanskrit language and literature. His doctoral thesis was on an interdisciplinary topic that bridged the psychology of emotions and Sanskrit aesthetics. He has a special interest in Chitrakavya (wonder poetry), having composed several original Sanskrit works, such as Devidanaviyam and Chitranaishadham, in this genre. His personal expertise in composing Chitrakavya allows him to appreciate the nuances of Chandas and the extra constraints posed by it in the context of Chitrakavya. He is presently Associate Professor, Centre for Ancient History and Culture, Jain University, Bangalore.

Shrikaanth Krishnamurthy is a psychiatrist from Bengaluru India, living in England. A trained vocalist and a composer in Karnataka Sangeetha, he also writes in several languages- Sankethi, Kannada, Tamil, English, Sanskrit to name some. He is the first Vaaggeyakaara to create musical compositions in the Sankethi language. He also writes verses in English set to classic Indian Meters (Chandas). His Haiku, Tanka, Haibun and Haiga have been published in reputed international journals and anthologies and won prizes. He has translated many works between languages. Notable are the translations of the magnum opus Makuthimmana Kagga to Sankēti in the same meter, Sumati Shataka from Telugu to KannaDa, the renowned KannaDa novel Vamshavriksha to Sankēti and Classical Tamil poetry to other languages.

Trained in Sanskrit and Advaita Vedanta by his hyper-polyglot, polymath and spiritually accomplished sakala-shaastra-paarangata father, late Sri Paturi Sitaramanjaneyulu garu, Dr Nagaraj Paturi is seriously committed to the transmission of Vedic sciences to the present generation. In his PhD thesis (1998, University of Hyderabad), he developed an Indic Model of Myth Criticism of Literature and in his MPhil (1987, University of Hyderabad), he foregrounded Vakyapadiya as the theoretical foundation of the Ashtadhyayi. In addition to over 50 publications and about 60 conference/seminar/workshop papers, Dr Paturi has designed several courses pertaining to the contemporary applications of Vedic Sciences and has been successfully teaching them and getting them taught. Formerly Senior Professor of Cultural Studies FLAME School of Communication (& FLAME School of Liberal Education) and a Visiting Professor, University of Chicago (USA), Dr Paturi is currently Senior Director and Chief Curator at INDICA, a Distinguished Professor, Curriculum Designer, Executive Committee Member, Board of Studies, MIT School of Vedic Sciences (Pune, Maharashtra), Member, Board of Studies at Kavikulaguru Kalidasa Sanskrit University (Ramtek, Maharashtra) and Rashtram School of Public Leadership (Sonipat, Haryana). He is also the Editor-in-Chief of International Journals of Studies in Public Leadership and is a member of the Advisory Council of Veda Vijnana Shodha Samsthanam (Bengaluru, Karnataka). He has provided consultancy to numerous culture research, theatre, and dance innovation projects. He has authored scores of creative writing works for Classical Dance, Modern Theater, and magazines and has delivered several series of talks and other programs on Radio and Television channels.

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 post-graduate specialization in Strategy, Leadership and Marketing included a study of research methods. His professional experience includes stints as a Market Leader at a Global Fortune 50 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 and pro-bono pursuits have included building differentiated digital platforms for Indic texts targeted at specific learning and research needs and music. His research-based compositional Sanskrit album 'Bhārata and her Kāśmīra' has been listed by the Indira Gandhi National Center for the Arts (IGNCA) while his subsequent album 'Indian Knowledge Systems and Yāskācārya's Nirukta' has recently been accepted for listing by the Vedic Heritage Portal. In 2022, Megh was invited by the National Museum Institute (NMI) to contribute content for multiple projects currently underway at NMI, including ones on Jammu Kashmir & Ladakh and Kedarnath.