Dear CRCS and ICRS students, faculty and guests, We kindly invite you to participate in the CRCS and ICRS Wednesday Forum of this week. Wednesday forum will have Dr. M. Valliammal Baskaran (Associate Professor, Department of History, Lady Doak College, Madurai Tamilnadu, India) as the speaker who will talk about “Inter-religious Relations in Ancient Tamilnadu.” Some information about this forum can be read as follows.
Date: Wednesday, 28 April 2010
Time: 12.30 pm – 2.30 pm (free lunch)
Venue: Room 306, UGM Graduate School Teknika Utara, Pogung
Speaker: Dr. M. Valliammal Baskaran
Abstract:
India is a pluralistic country. It is the birth place of many religions like Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism and Sikhism. It also welcomed religions from other parts of the world like Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Zoroastrianism etc. Tamilnadu, the southern most part of India also experienced pluralism even in the pre Christian era. Three major religions viz., Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism had been practised in ancient Tamilnadu. Jainism and Buddhism had been welcomed by the Tamil society and were given royal patronage. These two religions especially Jainism had contributed a lot to the Tamil society. The cordial relations between these religion which existed for about six centuries were badly affected in sixth century A.D. The Jains were persecuted and impaled. Most of the Jains and Buddhists fled from the Tamil country and it resulted in the decline of the two religions. In the mean time attempts had been taken by Hindu religious leaders to synthesise the various sects of Hinduism. However after two centuries the Jains were able to restore their influence slowly. This presentation is making an attempt to analyse the causes for the violent conflict between religions in ancient Tamilnadu and how they were able to reconciliate with one another.
Registration:
The forum is free of charge and on a first-come-first serve basis.
About the Speaker:
Dr. M. Valliammal Baskaran is an Associate Professor, Department of History, Lady Doak College, Madurai Tamilnadu, India.
Contact Persons:
Elis Z. Anis (ICRS): elis236.andri@yahoo.com,elis@ugm.ac.id; Lina Pary (CRCS): lina_pary@yahoo.com; Maria Ingrid (CRCS/ICRS): ingridita@gmail.com.
(JMI)
