India Discovery Center is pleased to present “Study of the Vedic Period”, the second seminar of its historical period series, on Saturday, January 21, 2017, from 9:30 am to 4 pm, at Bemis Hall, 15 Bedford Road in Lincoln, Massachusetts.  Mr. Thomas Burke, the retired language scholar from Harvard University and Pandit Krishna Bhattar of Sri Lakshmi Temple in Ashland will be the Guests of Honor at the event. 

India Discovery Center (IDC), a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization formed in December 2014, is an effort to explore India’s cultural history in order to produce an informed understanding of Indian heritage to the world-wide public and particularly to the youth in the new world.  In a series of seminars, the volunteer researchers at the Center are producing a comprehensive presentation of various periods of history.  The presentations are divided into six tracks: (i) Geography and People, (ii) Art and Culture, (iii) Language and Literature, (iv) Philosophy and Religion, (v) Science and Technology, and (vi) Economy and Politics.

The latest seminar focuses on the Vedas, which form the foundation of Indian culture.  Indian languages, the belief systems, the customs and the social etiquette formed through the Vedas.  Yet the literature has not been analyzed sufficiently to explore the Vedic society, the rituals, the Vedic cosmology and the science of retention of the Vedic poetry.  We have scant knowledge about who the Vedic people were, where they come from and how they produced poetry of such immense magnitude.  There have been controversial theories about horse-riding nomads who came through the northern mountains of India and ruled over the native by establishing a new order.  The late studies have proven these assertions to be untrue, but we have yet to solve many issues connected with the philosophical ideas entangled with social conflicts as revealed through the Vedic text.

PROGRAM

Session I
9:30 - 12:00

Invocation recitation: sections from Taittirīyopaniṣat – R Anantakrishnan
Welcome – Bijoy Misra
Nāsadīyasūktam – Musical rendering - Srilakshmi Srinivasan and Ravi Mosurkal
Seminar on the Vedic Period – Introduction by C. Gopinath
The Vedas and India’s Religious Life - Pandit Krishna Bhattar
Vedic Period Geography and People - Reshma Ghanekar
Vedic Period Language and Literature - Prem Nagar
Vedic Language and Classical Sanskrit - Thomas Burke
The Rudram – Recitation from the Vedas - K. L. Kodandapani
Vedic Period Philosophy and Religion - V. Ramapriya

Lunch - 12:00 - 1:00

Session II
1:00- 4:00

India Discovery Center(IDC) - update – Chandrika Govardhan
IDC Object Design – Call for participation - Sajed Kamal
Vedic Period Art and Culture - Paromita De
Aruṇapraśnaḥ – Recitation from The Vedas - Giri Bharathan
Vedic Period Science and Technology - Bijoy Misra
Vedic Period Economy and Politics - Raghavendra Sarangapurkar
Ahunavar – Recitation of selections from Avesta Gatha - Firoze Jungalwala
Panel Q&A
Hiraṇyagarbhasūktam – Group singing - IDC
Vote of Thanks – Sanjeev Tripathi
Concluding Vedic chants- Assembly

IDC’s volunteer researchers will lead the seminar, as follows:

·         Mr. Prem Nagar will begin the discussion by analyzing the Vedic literature as to its contents and the authors.  He will get to the metrical analysis and the principles of the composition.

·         Mr. Vrittamani Ramapriya will follow the philosophical revelations in the Vedas and explore the established ritualistic procedures.  The deities and the speculations on the astronomical connections to life will be examined. 

·         Ms. Paromita De will follow to talk about the society and its sophistication. She will deal with dress, ornaments, housing, rituals and the social celebrations. 

·         Dr. Bijoy Misra will explore the Vedic sciences and the technological knowhow of the Vedic people.  The fundamental measurement of space and time, development of mathematics and geometry, and experiment on herbal medicine are the contributions of the Vedic heritage.

·         Mr. Raghavendra Sarangpurkar will present the economic and political layout of the Vedic society.   The family, the village, the king and the division of labor will be explored.   We will learn about trade, industry and monetary systems.

·         Finally, Ms. Reshma Ghanekar will present the geographic extent of the habitation.  The movement of the habitation centers followed the climate fluctuations. The review of the genetic data does not suggest any late influx of new population.

Besides the lectures, there will be Vedic recitations by the local Sanskrit scholars and a Zoroastrian Gatha recitation by a Parsi scholar.  There will also be a special release of a Vedic composition set to music by local artists.

All are invited to participate in India Discovery Center’s journey to the period of the Vedas.  Kindly visit the Center website at http://www. Indiadiscoverycenter.org for registration.   If you have any questions, please contact Mr Janmejay Shishupal at jjayshishupal@gmail.com, Mr. Chandu Shah at chandu420@gmail.com or, Dr. Bijoy Misra at misra.bijoy@gmail.com.

Donation Acknowledgement: Chandramaouli Subbaraman, Prem Nagar, Radha Jalan, Ram Gupta, Chandu Shah, Bharat and Saroj Dave, Rohit Saini, Aniruddha Chitaley, Nannaji Saka, Kaveesh Mishra, K.L. Kodandapani, Soumya Vemuri, Madhukar Shah, Srabonti Bandyopadhyay, V. Ramapriya, Rahul Ray.

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