The mission of the India Discovery Center is to map the chronology of India’s cultural history in order to understand and appreciate the development of the current Indian society and the evolution of Indian traditions in practice.  We have grouped the time period from 7000 BCE to the present into eight overarching cultural periods: (i) the pre-historic and Indus Civilization Period, (ii) the Vedic Period, (iii) the Buddhist/Jaina Period, (iv) the Early Hindu and Gupta Period, (v) the Medieval Hindu and Islamic Period, (vi) the Moghul Period, (vii) the British Period and (viii) the Post-independence Period.  Each Period is analyzed in terms of six tracks: (a) Geography and People, (b) Art and Culture, (iii) Language and Literature, (iv) Philosophy and Religion, (v) Science and Technology, and (f) Economy and Politics.  Volunteer scholars brought up in the tradition will help generate a broad educational viewpoint with the goal of creating awareness and educating the public and the youth.  The aim would be to facilitate new research in the areas of India’s heritage that are poorly understood.

On Saturday July 23, 2016, Swati Dave, Srabonti Bandyopadhyay, Jaspal Singh, Chandrika Govardhan, Krishna Gazula and Sanjeev Tripathi will each share their research findings on the Indus Period.  This meeting will also feature Dr. Richard Meadow, Senior archaeologist from Harvard University, who has been involved in Indus excavation work for more than four decades.  It will be presided over by Professor R. Balachandra of Northeastern University, who is Compiler and Editor of notes created by the participants in the India Discovery Center.

Artifacts excavated thus far suggest that the Indus Civilization spread over a wide area covering a million square miles of northwestern South Asia and beyond.  While the date of the “Mature” period can be estimated to be 2600 BCE to 1900 BCE, the inception of settlements were several millennia earlier.  Though originally discovered at two sites excavated in the Indus valley, hundreds of new sites have been identified and several dozen have been excavated, which can be used to reconstruct the history and development of the civilization. Often known as Harappan objects because of early findings at Harappa, these artifacts are found as far as away as at sites in Mesopotamia and at localities in Arabia.. The population of the Indus Civilization developed a highly urban culture with town planning, underground sewer systems, water supplies, agricultural products and industrial goods.  Various writings appear as graphical representations, but to date, attempts to decipher images have not been successful.

We invite you to join the day-long event at the Lexington Community Center, 39 Marrett Road, Lexington http://www.lexingtonma.gov/community-center.  The program will begin at 10 AM, with a lunch break at 12:30 PM, and will end at 4 PM.  The detailed schedule is as follows:

10:00 AM        - Assembly and Coffee

10:15 - 10:30  - Latest findings from the Indus Civilization – Dr. Richard Meadow

10-30 - 11:10  - Geography and People of the Indus Civilization – Swati Dave

11-10 - 11:50  - Art and Culture of the Indus Civilization – Srabonti Bandyopadhyay

11:50 - 12:30 -  Language and Literature of the Indus Civilization – Jaspal Singh

12:30 -   1:30  -  Lunch

  1:30  -  2:10  -  Philosophy and Religion of the Indus Civilization – Chandrika Govardhan

  2:10 -   2:50  -  Science and Technology of the Indus Civilization – Krishna Gazula

  2:50 -   3:30  -  Economy and Politics of Indus Civilization – Sanjeev Tripathi

  3:30 -   3:45  -  Closing remarks by Dr. Richard Meadow

  3:45 -   4:00  -  Vote of Thanks and Follow-up.

The event will be of interest to students, researchers and members of the lay public who wish to know about India and her history.  Each presentation will be thirty minutes followed by a ten minute Question and Answer session.

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