ACADEMIC PROGRAMME

Image Credit: British Library [Henry A. Oldfield, 1852]

The 17th World Sanskrit Conference features a full schedule of five days of scholarly papers, plenary speakers, keynotes, special panels, and workshops, as well as daily evening events that are open to the general public.

Five hundred leading Sanskrit scholars from around the world will present their research findings on a wide array of topics within the discipline of Sanskrit studies. These presentations have been organized into 24 distinct Conference Sections ranging from the Vedas to Computational Sanskrit and the Digital Humanities. A full listing of the Sections and their Convenors, who are responsible for the academic quality and orderliness of each section, are listed below.

The scholarly presentations will be delivered in concurrent panels, and will be 20 minutes in length, with a 10-minute discussion/changeover, and will be delivered in Sanskrit, or in English or French, the national languages of Canada.

We are happy to be able to release the finalized Programme for the 17th WSC, which you may download using the links below:

Our student team has also prepared a guide to food, drink, and things to do at UBC and across Vancouver. We are calling it कालक्षेप and you may download this using the link below:

Upon registration at the WSC, you will receive a print copy of the full WSC208 Programme as well as the कालक्षेप guide.

All conference abstracts are available in our downloadable PDF Abstracts Book (3mb)

We'll have also launched our WSC2018 GUIDEBOOK - a mobile app that you can install on your iOS or Android devices to give you the complete schedule, abstracts, and other features at your fingertips.

In the meantime, please use this AT-A-GLANCE OVERVIEW to plan your week at the 17th World Sanskrit Conference!

Sections and Convenors

विभागस्य नामधेयम्Section Nameसंयोजकाः – Convenorsशोधपत्राणि - Papers
1.वेदःVedaShrikant Bahulkar, Joanna Jurewicz
2.भाषाशास्त्रम्LinguisticsMadhav Deshpande, Jan Houben
3.व्याकरणम् VyākaraṇaMalhar Kulkarni, Hideyo Ogawa, Peter Scharf
4.रामायणं महाभारतं च EpicsRobert Goldman, James Hegarty
5.पुराणानिPurāṇasRaj Balkaran, McComas Taylor
6.तंत्रविमर्शःTantra StudiesDiwakar Acharya, Michael Slouber, Judit Törzsök
7.विध्यनुष्ठानविमर्शःRitual StudiesMarko Geslani, Libbie Mills
8.काव्यमलङ्कारश्चPoetry, Drama and AestheticsLyne Bansat-Boudon, Daniele Cuneo, Elisa Ganser, C. Rajendran
9.वैज्ञानिकं वाङ्मयम् Scientific LiteratureBill Mak, Dominik Wujastyk
10.बौद्धविद्याBuddhist StudiesStefan Baums, Mahesh & Lata Deokar, Jason Neelis
11.जैनविद्याJaina StudiesNalini Balbir, Eva de Clerq
12.वैष्णवमतं शैवमतं चVaiṣṇavism and ŚaivismDavid Buchta, Elaine Fisher, Ajay Rao
13.धर्मविमर्शःReligious StudiesChristopher Austin, Travis Smith
14.दर्शनानि, तत्त्वशास्त्रम्PhilosophyKengo Harimoto, Lawrence McCrea
15.इतिहासः कलाः स्थापत्यमभिलेखशास्त्रं चHistory, Art & Architecture, EpigraphyArlo Griffiths, Anna Slaczka
16.संस्कृतं प्रदेशभाषाश्चSanskrit & Regional Languages,
(& Southeast Asia)		Andrea Acri, Whitney Cox
17.संस्कृतशिक्षाशास्त्रम्Sanskrit PedagogySadananda Das, Guy Leavitt
18.आधुनिकं संस्कृतसाहित्यम्Modern Sanskrit WritingsHari Dutt Sharma, Deven Patel
19.संस्कृतं विज्ञानतान्त्रिकी चComputational Sanskrit &
Digital Humanities		Gérard Huet, Amba Kulkarni
20.हस्तलेखविज्ञानम्ManuscriptologyNirmala Kulkarni, Saraju Rath
21.धर्मशास्त्रमर्थशास्त्रं चLaw and SocietyDonald Davis, Timothy Lubin
22.योगायुर्वेदौYoga and ĀyurvedaPhilipp Maas, Dagmar Wujastyk
23.संस्कृतं पञ्जाबप्रदेशश्चSanskrit and the PañjābAdheesh Sathaye
24.संस्कृतं पारसीवाङ्मयं चSanskrit and Indo-Persian CultureLuther Obrock

FEATURED SPEAKERS

Image credit: Metropolitan Museum of Art [1st Gen. after Nainsukh, 1780]

PLENARY SPEAKERS

We are especially pleased to announce three eminent international Sanskrit scholars who will inaugurate WSC 2018 as plenary speakers. Each has had a long and distinguished career of scholarship, erudition, and service to the international study of Sanskrit, and will help us establish a firm academic foundation for the conference.

The plenary session will be held on Monday, July 9, from 9.55-11.55am at the Chan Centre for Performing Arts at UBC (6265 Crescent Rd, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z1).

  • George Cardona [University of Pennsylvania] “Philology and Text History”
  • Dipti Tripathi [University of Delhi, National Mission for Manuscripts] “Reflections on Manuscriptology: Forays into Indian Paradigms of Knowledge Management”
  • Arvind Sharma [McGill University] “The Surprising Modernity of Bhavabhūti’s Uttararāmacarita”

Please Note: Due to unavoidable circumstances, Prof. Saroja Bhate is not able to travel to Vancouver to deliver her plenary address. She has asked to convey her regrets to the esteemed delegates of the 17th WSC for not being able to attend.

George Cardona
Emeritus Professor of Linguistics, University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA, USA)
George Cardona
Emeritus Professor of Linguistics, University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA, USA)
Dipti Tripathi
Emerita Professor of Sanskrit, University of Delhi / National Mission for Manuscripts
Dipti Tripathi
Emerita Professor of Sanskrit, University of Delhi / National Mission for Manuscripts
Arvind Sharma
Birks Professor of Comparative Religion, McGill University (Montreal, QC, Canada)
Arvind Sharma
Birks Professor of Comparative Religion, McGill University (Montreal, QC, Canada)

KEYNOTE LECTURES

We have arranged for several notable Sanskrit scholars  to deliver keynote lectures at the World Sanskrit Conference. Precise details of lectures, timings, and venues are forthcoming. 

Alexis Sanderson
Alexis Sanderson
Lyne Bansat-Boudon
Lyne Bansat-Boudon
Gary Tubb
University of Chicago
Gary Tubb
University of Chicago
Mahāmahopādhyāya Bhadreshdas Swami
BAPS Swaminarayan Research Institute, Delhi
Mahāmahopādhyāya Bhadreshdas Swami
BAPS Swaminarayan Research Institute, Delhi

SPECIAL PANELS

Image Credit: Christie's [Nainsukh, c. 1745]

WSC2018 Special Panels

During the lead-up to the 17th World Sanskrit Conference, we held a call for SPECIAL PANELS on specific themes, topics, and issues of a pathbreaking or interdisciplinary nature. We are delighted to announce that the following special panels and workshops will be held during WSC2018, and will ensure that the conference maintains its high scholarly standards. Please see the conference programme for further detailed information about each panel and their scheduled times and locations.

  • अक्षरपुरुषोत्तमदर्शनम् / विद्वद्गोष्ठी । Akṣara-Puruṣottama-Darśanam & Vidvadgoṣṭhī — Bhadreshdas Swami (BAPS Swaminarayan Research Institute, Delhi), Deven Patel (Univ. of Pennsylvania), Paramtattvadas Swami (London), Aksharananddas Swami (New York), Aksharvatsaldas Swami (Delhi), George Cardona (Univ. of Pennsylvania), Sadananda Das (Univ. of Leipzig), C. Rajendran (Univ. of Calicut), Sthaneshwar Timalsina (San Diego State University), Shrikant Bahulkar (Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute), Dharm Bhawuk (Univ. of Hawaii)
  • Ādikāvyāni: Regional Kāvya Rāmāyaṇas in Early Medieval South and Southeast Asia — Jesse Ross Knutson (University of Hawaii), Robert Goldman (UC Berkeley), Sally Sutherland-Goldman (UC Berkeley), Thomas Hunter (UBC, Vancouver)
  • After the Critical Edition: What Next For Mahābhārata Studies? — Vishva Adluri (Hunter College), Joydeep Bagchee (LMU, Munich), Jahnavi Bidnur (Indic Academy)
  • Binding Liberation: A Roundtable around the idea of Liberation in Sanskrit Culture — Harunaga Isaacson (Universität Hamburg), Kengo Harimoto (Mahidol University), Kei Kataoka (Kyushu University), Alex Watson (Ashoka University), Yuko Yokochi (Kyoto University), Somadeva Vasudeva (Kyoto University)
  • Introducing Bhāgavata Purāṇa Commentaries: Vaiṣṇava and Advaita Perspectives on the Opening Verse from the 13th to 19th Centuries — Arun Brahmbhatt (Kenyon College); David Buchta (Brown University); Jonathan Edelmann (University of Florida); Tomohiro Manabe (Japan Society for the Promotion of Science); Kiyokazu Okita (Sophia University), Ravi Gupta (Utah State University)
  • Key Debates about Theology and Society in later Viśiṣṭādvaita-Vedānta and Madhva Vedānta — Ajay Rao (Toronto), Marcus Schmücker (Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna), Valerie Stoker (Wright State University), Michael Williams (Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna)
  • Literary Commentaries and the Intellectual Life of South Asia — Chiara Livio (La Sapienza, Rome), Csaba Desző (Eötvös Loránd University), Daniele Cuneo (University of Leiden), Elisa Ganser (University of Zurich), Luther Obrock (University of Toronto), Heike Oberlin (University of Tübingen), Pambungal Kunjunny Dharmarajan (Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit, Kalady), Margi Madhu Chakyar (Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit, Kalady)
  • Mīmāṃsā Beyond the Yāgaśālā — Andrew Ollett (Harvard), Patrick Cummins (Cornell), Manasicha Akepiyapornchai (Cornell), Lawrence McCrea (Cornell)
  • Research on the Gārgīyajyotiṣa - Composition and Transmission — Bill Mak (Kyoto University, Japan), Marko Geslani (Emory University), Koji Kumagai (Int’l. College for Postgraduate Buddhist Studies, Japan)
  • Śaiva Philosophy — Lyne Reine Bansat-Boudon (Ecole pratique des hautes études, Paris), Isabelle Ratié (Paris III, Paris), John Nemec (Virginia), Marco Ferrante (University of Oxford), Ma’ayan Nidbach (Hebrew University of Jerusalem), Gavin Flood (Oxford, NUS Singapore), Michaël Meyer (Université de Paris VII-EPHE)
  • Sanskrit Buddhist Manuscripts: Texts, Techniques, and Traditions — Charles DiSimone (LMU, Munich), Kazunobu Matsuda (Bukkyo University), Gergely Hidas (British Museum), David V. Fiordalis (Linfield College), Kazuo Kano (Komazawa University), Jowita Kramer (LMU, Munich), Youngjin Lee (Geumgang University)
  • The Representation of History and Education of Women in Vedic Literature: A Feministic and Deconstructive Study — Debasree Sadhu, Arghadip Paul, Ashis Biswas (West Bengal State Univ.)
  • The Vedas Out Loud: New Approaches to Vedic Recitation — Finnian Gerety (Yale), Thennilapuram Mahadevan (Howard University), P. C. Muraleemadhavan (Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit, Kalady), Laurie Patton (Middlebury College, via video link)
  • The Viṣṇu- and Śivadharma: Early Medieval Lay Religion in a Socio-religious and Historical Perspective — Florinda De Simini (University L’Orientale, Naples), Yuko Yokochi (Kyoto University), Marion Rastelli (Austrian Academy of Sciences), Tim Lubin (Washington & Lee University), Nirajan Kafle (Leiden University), Peter Bisschop (University of Leiden), Nina Mirnig (Austrian Academy of Sciences)
  • The Yuktidīpikā Forging a Place for Sāṅkhya in Indian Intellectual History — Hyoung Seok Ham (Kyushu University, Japan), Edeltraud Harzer (University of Texas, Austin), Ołena Łucyszyna (University of Humanities and Economics in Lodz, Poland), Noemie Verdon (Nalanda University, India)
  • vāg evedaṃ sarvam — Caley Smith (Harvard), Lauren Bausch (Dharma Realm Buddhist Univ.), Stephanie Majcher (Univ. of Sydney, Australia), Steven Lindquist (Southern Methodist Univ.)
  • Vedānta’s Polyglot Lives: Querying Vedānta in the Vernacular, 1650-1900 — Jonathan Peterson (Toronto), Puninder Singh (Michigan), Michael Allen (Virginia), Anand Venkatkrishnan (Harvard), Christopher Minkowski (University of Oxford)
  • Kūṭiyāṭṭam: Living Sanskrit Theater in the Kerala Tradition — Margi Madhu Chakyar & the Nepathya Ensemble (Lecture-demo) (Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit, Kalady), Heike Oberlin (University of Tübingen), Elisa Ganser (University of Zürich), Elena Mucciarelli (Hebrew University, Jerusalem), Mandakranta Bose (University of British Columbia), C. Rajendran (Univ. of Calicut), Lyne Bansat-Boudon (EPHE), Ma’ayan Nidbach (Hebrew University, Jerusalem
  • Sanskrit Corpus Management — Peter Scharf (The Sanskrit Library), Dominik Wujastyk, (University of Alberta), Yigal Bronner, (Hebrew University of Jerusalem), Gérard Huet (Inria Paris Center), Amba Kulkarni (University of Hyderabad)
  • Digital Sanskrit Workshop (Computational Linguistics & Digital Humanities — Abhijit Dixit, Martin Gluckman (Sanskrit Research Institute), Venkata Subramanian (Vyoma Linguistic Labs), Harnsukworapanich Sumachaya (Dhammachai Tipitaka Project), Shivani V. & Swati Basapur (Karnataka Samskrita University, Bangalore), Malhar Kulkarni (IIT Bombay), Amba Kulkarni & Sanjeev Panchal (University of Hyderabad), Gérard Huet (INRIA, Paris), Yigal Bronner (Hebrew University of Jerusalem), Michael Willis & Daniel Balogh (British Museum), Stefan Baums (LMU,Munich), Ian McCrabb & Andrea Schlosser (READ), Timothy Bellefleur, Charles Li, & Adheesh Sathaye (Univ. of British Columbia)

EXHIBITORS & PRODUCT DEMOS

We are happy to note that the following booksellers and software developers will be showcasing their products at the 17th World Sanskrit Conference:

Exhibitors

  • Banyen Books & Sound
  • Biblia Impex
  • Brill Publishers
  • Dev Publishers & Distributors
  • DK Agencies
  • Radhika Devi
  • Saṃskṛtabhāratī
  • Svadhyaya Publications
  • Vyoma Labs
  • Plus Others! 

Exhibition Dates, Locations, and Times:

  • Monday: 8am-12pm, Chan Centre for the Performing Arts (6265 Crescent Rd, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z1)
  • Tuesday-Thursday: 8am-6pm, Buchanan A Lower Lobby (1866 Main Mall, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z1)
  • Friday: 8am-4pm, Buchanan A Lower Lobby (1866 Main Mall, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z1)

If you wish to book an exhibitor's booth at WSC2018, please contact the WSC Secretariat directly at wsc2018@ubcsanskrit.ca as soon as possible, as some spaces may still be available.