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| Indian Society Through The Ages |
Press Release
11/10/2009
Indian Society through the Ages
Lecture I
Associate Professor at Harvard Medical School
Sunday, November 15, 3 PM
Hall A, Harvard University Science Center
1 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA
Indian society is a tangled web of many strands, some home-grown, others imports from abroad. Some arose recently to cope with problems of modern life, but many more have undergone a long, complex evolution within India. Today many values that have for hundreds, even thousands, of years been considered the supreme expressions of Indian wisdom are in dialogue -- or even competition -- with foreign values. While cultural diversity is easily noticed, scholarly, scientific study of the evolution of diversity is difficult. Progress has been slow. Reconstruction of India's history remains one of the most challenging problems of modern times.
Over the last hundred years archaeological excavations have helped us to understand both the beginnings of human civilization and the patterns of societal evolution. The anthropological studies have been only sketchy, the sociological studies remain inconclusive because of the intricate web of the social structure and the human migration in the country. There are attempts to reconstruct history on the basis of the evolution of the Indian languages, but the findings at best remain speculative. India, now the home of a billion people, has long been the destination of adventurers and knowledge seekers. It continues to be an enigma to all with its resilience, with its exploration of human living and above all its message of universality and peace on earth. The lecture will summarize the findings from an international pilot study to discover the genetic makeup of Indian people.
Future lecture dates will be December 13, January 10, February 14, March 14 and April 11. Research on history, archaeology, architecture, languages, customs and religions will gradually be explored. The lectures are free and everyone is cordially invited. Parking is free on Sundays in the neighborhood of the Harvard Science Center.
For further information, contact: C. Gopinath cgopinat@suffolk.edu
or Chandrakant Shah chandu420@gmail.com.
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