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6:00 PM - 7:00 PM (UTC+5.5)
The Tradition of Local Self-Government in Ancient and Medieval Tamil Nadu
SPEAKERS
INDICA’s Center for Indic Studies in Law and Justice presents a conversation with Dr. Nanditha Krishna on the 18th of March 2023 at IST 1800 hrs. The title of the conversation The Tradition of Local Self-Government in Ancient and Medieval Tamil Nadu is also the title of the chapter, written by Dr. Krishna, in the book INDIA: The Mother of Democracy released by the Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR) in November 2022. In the paper, Dr. Krishna examines the operation of democratic forms of self-government as it prevailed in rural and urban Tamil Nadu right from Ancient times up to the span of time through which the Vijayanagara Empire continued to exist. Join us for what promises to be an insightful conversation about some of the evidence of local self-government in early India.
Speakers
Dr. Nanditha Krishna
Historian, Environmentalist, Author
Dr. Nanditha Krishna is the author of several books on Indian art, culture, religion and the environment, including Life Lessons from the Buddha; Life Lessons from Swami Vivekananda; Life Lessons from Mahavira; and Life Lessons from Adi Shankara (Aleph); Book of Vishnu; Book of Avatars and Divinities; Book of Demons; Hinduism and Nature; Sacred Plants of India; and Sacred Animals of India (Penguin); Paintings of the Varadaraja Perumal Temple (CPR Publications); Madras Then, Chennai Now (Roli); Ganesha and Balaji Venkateshwara and Ganesha (Vakils); Painted Manuscripts of the Sarasvati Mahal Library (Govt. of Tamilnadu); Mahabalipuram: The Ganga Comes to Tamil Nadu and The Arts and Crafts of Tamilnadu (Mapin); and The Art and Iconography of Vishnu-Narayana (Taraporevala), among others, besides several research papers and numerous popular articles. She is the recipient of several awards, including Nari Shakti Puraskar, Stree Ratna and Outstanding Woman of Asia, and has a D. Litt. (Honoris causa) from Vidyasagar University, West Bengal. She has recently been awarded the National Fellowship by the Indian Council of Historical Research.
Megh Kalyanasundaram
Host, Director – Special Projects, INDICA
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.