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Uncovering the hidden gems of ancient Indian science never ceases to intrigue, especially the lesser-known early Indian scientific contributions, which include a comprehensive theory of mind, Pāṇini's remarkable Sanskrit grammar, Piṅgala's binary numbers, and more. But what sets apart the work of Kaṇāda? Join Professors Subhash Kak and Pankaj Jain as they take us on a fascinating journey of discovering the work of Kaṇāda, who dared to propose a system that encompasses space, time, matter, and observers - a feat no physicist has attempted to date. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/pankaj-jain/support

In this interactive lecture demonstration, Prof. Srinivas Reddy introduces the sitar, a prominent Indian instrument that embodies ancient technologies and modern innovations. He also discusses how the sitar represents the syncretic nature of Hindustani raga music regarding instrument design, raga exposition and aesthetic appreciation, as well as how the instrument is used in various genres, from classical raga music to Bollywood. The interactive session also includes a short sitar performance. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/pankaj-jain/support

Indian Civilization is primarily based on Dharmic Principles. The nature of Dharma, however, is extremely subtle. Often, naively Dharma is equated with religion, resulting in confusing or misleading interpretations about India. Therefore, it is essential to understand Dharma's contours and India and its value system. 2nd Justice Ranade Memorial Lecture by Prof. Pankaj Jain attempts to do precisely that. It delves into different meanings and interpretations of Dharma in the Indic texts and provides a perspective to understand India. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/pankaj-jain/support

At the end of WW I, a historical conjuncture incorporated technological developments, social change, political dynamics, and industrial structure into a rapidly growing global music economy. India’s position in that economy was determined by internal cultural dynamics but equally by its place within the corporate structures of British colonialism. Coincident with Indian independence, a second historical conjuncture helped to isolate the Indian music industry from the global music economy. That isolation affected Indian music culture in multiple ways throughout the 20th Century. Although the cultural effects of globalization have become increasingly embedded in the 21 st Century, the aftermath of that isolation continues to be apparent in Indian music culture. This talk is based on ethnographic and archival research on India’s music industry. I examine the position of and developments in Indian music, culture, and commerce from the early 1920s through the first decades of the 21 st Century.   GREGORY D. BOOTH is Professor of Ethnomusicology at the University of Auckland and has studied Indian music and culture for more than forty years. He is the author of Behind the Curtain: Making Music in Mumbai’s Film Studios (OUP 2008) and Brass Baja: Stories from the World of Indian Wedding Bands (OUP 2005), as well as numerous articles on the music and film industry in South Asia. He co-edited the 2014 OUP publication More than Bollywood –Studies in Indian Popular Music. He is currently studying India’s music and film culture industries focusing on various factors, including intellectual property, technology, industrial structures, and the music-film relationship.  --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/pankaj-jain/support

Professor Pankaj Jain shares examples from key Dharmic and Yogic texts and contexts from which Hindus, Jains, and Buddhists continue to derive their inspiration. Evidently, in Yogic and Dharmic contexts, religion, ethics, and environmentalism are intertwined with each other instead of distinctly evolved theories.   About the Theme:  In the West, the current paradigm of wishing to establish ecological balance via education, public policy, advocacy, and law enforcement has a serious deficit, i.e., how to do it. The Indic way is to provide the HOWTOs to accomplish an environment-friendly society. Yoga practice can go a long way for the benefit of ecology. Thus, a paradigm shift is needed from a top-down enforcement approach to bottom-up individual practice where Yoga can facilitate the praxis necessary for establishing ecological balance.   About the Author:  Pankaj Jain is a Philosophy, Religious Studies, Film Studies, Sustainability, and Diaspora Studies, Professor. He has authored three books and has co-edited the Hinduism Section of the Encyclopedia of Indian Religions. His articles have appeared in multiple academic journals and popular websites.   Academic Works:  Dharma and Ecology of Hindu Communities: Sustenance and Sustainability  Science and Socio-Religious Revolution in India: Moving the Mountains  Dharma in America: A Short History of Hindu-Jain Diaspora  Edited volume:  Encyclopedia of Indian Religions- Hinduism and Tribal Religions. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/pankaj-jain/support

"1947 Partition is a small blip in the infinite Indian civilizational consciousness beyond time, beyond space." - Professor Pankaj Jain Questions discussed: 1. What/how you were taught about Partition in school?  2. Is Partition part of shared cultural knowledge - do people reference it in everyday conversation?  3. Do you feel any connection to this history?  4. We read Anita Desai's Clear Light of Day and Bapsi Sidwa's Cracking India - if you have read either of these novels, do you feel a connection to the story, a particular character, etc.?  5. What does being Indian mean to you?  6. What do you wish Americans knew about India? This can be present-day, historical, or both. Partition-themed Films mentioned:  • Garam Hawa (Post partition) • Khuda ke Liye (Pakistani) • Train to Pakistan (Based on Khushwant Singh’s novel) • 1947 Earth (Post partition) • Chhalia (Post partition) • Dharmputra (Post partition) • Dhool ka Phool • Mammo • Nastik (Post partition) • Partition of Pakistan • Pinjar (Post partition) • Tamas and Buniyaad (TV Serials) •Khamosh Pani (Post partition) •Motir Maina (Post partition) --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/pankaj-jain/support

What India Can Teach Us: A Webinar by Prof Pankaj Jain  As the currents of globalization sweep us into the twenty-first century, it calls for a global renaissance where knowledge systems inspired by Indian civilization have much to offer to the world. Prof. PankajJain, Head of Humanities and Languages, FLAME University, through this Upskill session, will introduce participants to the unique India-centric liberal education offered at FLAME University and shed light on why it is essential in today’s time to adapt the India-focused approach to solving global issues like climate change. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/pankaj-jain/support

Self, No-Self, and Self-Consciousness: Some Classical Indian Views, A Webinar by Prof Stephen Phillips The question of what accounts for personal identity through bodily, emotional, and mental change is one of many topics related to the positions taken on the nature of subjectivity and self-awareness in classical Indian thought. “Enlightenment” and yogic practice is another. This talk takes up Vedānta, Yogācāra Buddhism, Nyāya, Cārvāka, and other classical views, the debate between Naiyāyikas and Buddhists in particular. Bio: Stephen Phillips is professor emeritus at the University of Texas at Austin and has been visiting professor of philosophy at the University of Hawaii and Jadavpur University. Author of ten books, including Aurobindo’s Philosophy of Brahman (Brill 1984), Classical Indian Metaphysics, “Refutations” of Realism and the Emergence of “New Logic” (Open Court 1995 and Motilal Banarsidass 1998), and Yoga, Karma, and Rebirth: A Brief History and Philosophy (Columbia 2009), named by Choice an “Outstanding Academic Title,” he has more recently written Classical Indian Epistemology: The Knowledge Sources of the Nyāya School (Routledge 2012), which presents classical Indian views in terminology suited for philosophy professionals. With Matthew Dasti, he published The Nyāya-sūtra: Selections with Early Commentaries (Hackett 2017), and with Dasti and Nirmalya Guha, a short text, God and the World’s Arrangement: Vedānta and Nyāya Philosophy of Religion (Hackett 2021). Phillips teamed with N. S. Ramanuja Tatacharya to translate the perception chapter of the monumental fourteenth-century Tattva-cintā-maṇi, “(Wish-fulfilling), Jewel of Reflection on the Truth about Epistemology,” by Gaṅgeśa (American Institute of Buddhist Studies 2004 and Motilal Banarsidass 2008), in 750 pages. In three volumes, about 2000 pages, a translation of the entire text has now been published by Bloomsbury (2020) in a solo-authored set including much historical and philosophic exegesis. A synopsis is available at: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/gangesa. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/pankaj-jain/support

Hinduism and Ethics of Creation Care   Speaker: Professor Pankaj Jain  Respondent: Professor Cybelle Shattuck  Moderator: Dr. Robert A. Hunt   Partners:  The Interfaith Council of Thanks-Giving Square  Dallas Holocaust and Human Rights Museum   SMU Perkins School of Theology.   Co-Sponsors: The SMU Office of the Chaplain and Religious Life  The Dallas Institute of Humanities and Cultures The Interfaith Council of Thanks-Giving Square and its partners and co-sponsors listed below are pleased to present the 2022-23 Faiths In Conversation Series titled, ‘Religion & Ethics of Creation Care’.  This is a 6 part monthly series featuring scholars representing Judaism, Buddhism, Native Americans, Islam, Christianity & Hindusim. Speakers from different religious traditions will explain how their religious tradition understands the ethics of creation care. In addition to addressing the value of creation in itself,  of particular concern will be the relationship of creation care to human dignity, economic justice, and migration stimulated by changes in the climate. Participants will learn how each religion understands what it means to be human in relation to the rest of the natural world, and the particular responsibilities of humans toward the natural world and their fellow humans. Each presentation will be followed by a brief response and the opportunity to ask questions of the speaker. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/pankaj-jain/support

Gandhi’s thoughts on non-violent political action and his programs for social reconstruction have been subjects of scholarly debates, often sharp, for a long. More recently, visual and literary representations of Gandhi that remind people of the meanings of an extraordinarily complex life have also received attention (Ramaswamy 2021). However, little consideration has been given to Gandhi’s aesthetic sensibility that informed his moral journey. The general perception of Gandhi is as a man of action with a utilitarian approach even to art and literature. Yet as he expresses at the end of his “autobiography,” he saw his “Experiments with Truth” as a source of rasa (aesthetic delight). His writings reference ethical actions as things of beauty and avenues to reach perfect harmony. His almost obsessive stress on simplicity also had an aesthetic dimension. Art historian Stephanie Chadwick compares Gandhian simplicity-based aesthetics with the minimalist art of American painter Barnett Newman in the early to mid-twentieth century. Chadwick suggests that even though the two men never met in their aesthetics, they share a concern for inclusiveness and equality (Chadwick, 2014). The fascination with Gandhi as a public figure may see ebb and tide in the coming times. What exploration of his writings and exchanges give us a glimpse into is something personal and deeper – an understanding of a moral journey intricately tied to an aesthetic journey. In my presentation, I will discuss how Gandhi’s writings reflect a search for the unity of truth, goodness, and beauty. They suggest that moral action was a path to realize that unity in his journey. In Gandhi’s view, moral action was in service of the goal of experiencing rasa.  Bio Neelima Shukla-Bhatt is a professor of Religion and South Asia Studies at Wellesley College, Wellesley, MA, USA. She obtained her Ph.D. in the Study of Religion from Harvard University in 2003. She is the author of Narasinha Mehta of Gujarat: A Legacy of Bhakti in Songs and Stories (2015) and co-author with Surendra Bhana of A Fire that Blazed in the Ocean: Gandhi and Poems of Satyagraha in South Africa, 1909-1911 (2011). She has published numerous articles in peer-reviewed books and journals focusing mainly on the devotional poetry of medieval India and women’s religious expressions. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/pankaj-jain/support

4th song in #AnandBakshi Lyrics Series, reminding us of the motherland (in Raag Kedar) yun nind se woh jan e chaman jag uthi hai pardes mein phir yad e watan jag uthi hai pardes mein phir yad e watan jag uthi hai yun nind se woh jan e chaman jag uthi hai phir yad hame aaye hain sawan ke wo jhule phir yad hame aaye hain sawan ke wo jhule woh bhul gaye hamko unhein hum nahi bhule unhein nahi bhule iss dard ke kanto ki chubhan jag uthi hai pardes mein phir yad e watan jag uthi hai iss shehar se achchha tha bahot apna wo ganv iss shehar se achchha tha bahot apna wo ganv panghat hai yahaan koi na pipal ki woh chhanv pipal ki wo chhanv pachchhim mein wo purab ki pawan jag uthi hai pardesh mein phir yaad e watan jaag uthi hai yun nind se wo jaan e chaman hum log sayaane sahi diwane hai lekin begane bahot achchhe hai begane hai lekin begane hai lekin begaano mein apno lagan jaag uthi hai pardesh mein phir yad e watan jaag uthi hai yun nind se woh jaan e chaman jaag uthi hai From https://www.hindigeetmala.net/song/yun_nind_se_vo_jaan_e_chaman.htm --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/pankaj-jain/support

Alternative ontologies and epistemologies: Is there an Indian way of knowing and theorizing in social sciences?  In an “informal essay” (1989), poet, translator, and folklorist A. K. Ramanujam asks an intriguing question, "Is there an Indian way of thinking?” Taking inspiration from the celebrated essay, without any misconception of equivalent competence, I ask, Is there an Indian way of knowing and theorizing in social sciences? Ramanujan's answer was in the affirmative for an imagined India in the deep past but not for the post-colonial India of the present. The subtext of his argument was that in contemporary India, we do not have an Indian way of thinking capable of producing context-free theories with universal applications. Provocatively, Ramanujam suggests there are only Indian experiences but no thought. His analysis suggests that following a violent and subjugating encounter with the west, the Indian (or Vedic) way of thinking—rooted in a logic of chaos, context-dependent nature of truth, and a majestic celebration of ambiguity—was displaced by a bundle of inconsistent and contradictory ontologies and epistemologies. In this talk, I argue for ontological and epistemological pluralism possibilities in context-dependent ways of knowing. A pluralism in thinking gives rise to concepts and associated explications of alternative theories of society, cultures, polities, and economies. Context-dependent alternative understanding and explanations, which in a post-colonial sense challenge the hegemony of Eurocentrism in knowledge production. Using some examples, including from my earlier work on theorizing cultures of protests in Dhandak and Jan Andolan (2014), I discuss an Indian way of knowing and theorizing.  Bio: Anup Kumar is a professor of communication in the School of Communication, Cleveland State University. He completed his Ph.D. from the University of Iowa in 2008. He has published numerous articles in peer-reviewed communication and political science journals and is the author of Making of a Small State (2014). Before joining academia, he was a journalist, then an environmental activist, and before that, a chemist. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/pankaj-jain/support

Lyrics of Ye Shaam Mastaani, Madhosh Kiye Jae - ये शाम मस्तानी, मदहोश किये जाये ye sham mastaani, madahosh kiye jaye mujhe dor koi khiche, teri or liye jaye ye sham mastaani, madahosh kiye jaye mujhe dor koi khiche, teri or liye jaye dur rahati hai tu, mere paas aati nahi hotho pe tere, kabhi pyaas aati nahi aisaa lage, jaise ki tu, hansake zahar koi piye jaye ye sham mastaani, madahosh kiye jaye mujhe dor koi khiche, teri or liye jaye baat jab mai karun, mujhe rok deti hai kyo teri mithi nazar, mujhe tok deti hai kyo teri hayaa, teri sharam, teri qasam mere hoth siye jaye ye sham mastaani, madahosh kiye jaye mujhe dor koi khiche, teri or liye jaye ek ruthi hui, taqadir jaise koi khaamosh aise hai tu, tasvir jaise koi teri nazar, banake zubaan, lekin tere paigaam diye jaye ye sham mastaani, madahosh kiye jaye mujhe dor koi khiche, teri or liye jaye ye sham mastaani, madahosh kiye jaye mujhe dor koi khiche, teri or liye jaye From https://www.hindigeetmala.net/song/ye_shaam_mastani_kishore.htm --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/pankaj-jain/support

Ye Jo Mohabbat Hai, 2nd song written by the great lyricist Anand Bakshi ye jo muhabbat hai, ye unaka hai kam mahabub ka jo, bas lete hue nam mar jae, mit jae, ho jae badanam rahane do chhodo bhi jane do yar ham na karege pyar rahane do chhodo bhi jane do yar ham na karege pyar tute agar sagar naya sagar koi le le mere khuda dil se koi kisi ke na khele tute agar sagar naya sagar koi le le mere khuda dil se koi kisi ke na khele dil tut jae to kya ho ajam ye jo muhabbat hai, ye unaka hai kam mahabub ka jo, bas lete hue nam mar jae, mit jae, ho jae badanam rahane do chhodo bhi jane do yar ham na karege pyar rahane do chhodo bhi jane do yar ham na karege pyar nazar kisi se na ulajh jae mai darata hun yaro hasino ki gali se mai guzarata hun nazar kisi se na ulajh jae mai darata hun yaro hasino ki gali se mai guzarata hun bas dur hi se kar ke salam ye jo muhabbat hai, ye unaka hai kam mahabub ka jo, bas lete hue nam mar jae, mit jae, ho jae badanam rahane do chhodo bhi jane do yar ham na karege pyar rahane do chhodo bhi jane do yar ham na karege pyar From https://www.hindigeetmala.net/song/ye_jo_muhabbat_hai_ye.htm --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/pankaj-jain/support

Jis gali me tera ghar na ho, a classic song written by Anand Bakshi  jis gali me teraa ghar na ho baalamaa us gali se hame to guzaranaa nahi jo dagar tere dvaare se jaati na ho us dagar par hame paav rakhanaa nahi zindagi me ka_i ragaraliyaan sahi har taraf muskuraati ye galiyaan sahi khubasurat bahaaro ki kaliyaan sahi jis chaman me tere pag me kaate chubhe us chaman se hame phul chunanaa nahi jis gali me teraa ghar na ho baalamaa aa ye rasame ye kasame sabhi tod ke tu chali aa chunar pyaar ki odh ke yaa chalaa jaaugaa mai ye jag chhod ke jis jagah yaad teri sataane lage us jagah ek pal bhi thaharanaa nahi jis gali me teraa ghar na ho baalamaa From https://www.hindigeetmala.net/song/jis_gali_me_teraa_ghar_na_ho.htm --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/pankaj-jain/support

Climate Crisis and Indian Movies: A Webinar for Vancouver School of Theology by Prof. Pankaj Jain --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/pankaj-jain/support

Episode 63. Series on Popular Music Based on Classical Music - Raag Bhairavi in Hindi Film Songs Webinar with Shri Manoj Govindraj and Professor Pankaj Jain --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/pankaj-jain/support

The only way to revive #IndianFilmMusic is to bring back #ClassicalRaagas in our songs! Almost all contemporary music fails to reach anywhere near the heights of #Lagaan (2001) or #DilSe (1998) because #IndianClassicalMusic has vanished in the last two decades. The soul of our music is our immortal Raagas: Bhairav, Bhairvi, Malkauns, Darbari, Malhar, and dozens more! #AamirKhan cites two songs as his inspiration, #OhReTaalMile (Anokhi Raat, 1968) and #TereMereSapne (Guide, 1965): 1st based on Raag #Pilu, 2nd on Raag #Gara! Apparently, his #LaalSinghChaddha team forgot the Raags behind the classics so their music disappoints ultimately! Sharing some examples from @ARRahman Golden Era as a humble reminder of our leading artists' creativity! --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/pankaj-jain/support

Episode 62. Series on Popular Music Based on Classical Music - Rare Raags in Hindi Film Songs Webinar with Shri Manoj Govindraj and Professor Pankaj Jain --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/pankaj-jain/support

Gandhi and Gender of Fasting: A Webinar by Prof Vinay Lal (11th episode of The India Studies Series by the India Centre, FLAME University) Can the tradition of fasting have any relation to the genders at large?  Whenever we think of the tradition of fasting, we are reminded of Mahatma Gandhi, the modern master of fasting who gained attention through his 15 odd major public fasts. Prof. Vinay Lal of the UCLA in his webinar on “Gandhi and the gender of fasting” discusses how Gandhi’s refusal of being bound by the general and rigid ethics, sociology, and philosophy surrounding the tradition of fasting led to the radicalization and feminization of public sphere. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/pankaj-jain/support