This series of regular seminars brings together scholars and students working on Indic philosophies and religions. It focuses on topics of current research: in each session, two people will present a context they are investigating for 20min, and then open it for discussion on key questions. All researchers, graduates and finalists in all areas are welcome to join.
All events are in the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies (OCHS) Library, 15 Magdalen Street, OX1 3AE.
Week 5 (Wednesday, 12 November) 2:30-4pm
Prof. Malcolm Keating (Smith College, Massachusetts): Different Words with the Same Meaning: Kumārila Bhaṭṭa on Synonymy Mīmāṃsā philosophers like Kumārila Bhaṭṭa (ca 650 CE) described language with a wide range of Sanskrit terms, some of which have precise theoretical significance. There is a Sanskrit term that Kumārila uses in his corpus that could simply be a synonym for “labelling” or “naming” in a general sense. But it might also have theoretical significance in some contexts, so that his choosing this word in contrast to another is something we should pay attention to. This word, vyapadeśa, is often translated as “designation.” I will present translations of three short passages in which Kumārila uses this word in what appears to be a technical sense: using a synonymous term for different underlying aspects of the same object. This is important as it helps us understand what Kumārila thinks the relationship is between words and their meanings.
Second Speaker TBC
Week 8 (Wednesday 3 December) 2.30pm-4.00pm
Sharvi Maheshwari (Oxford): Title TBC
Abstract TBC
Namrata Narula (Cambridge): Differences That Make a Difference: Inequality in the Works of Swami Vivekananda (1863–1902)
