Some Trends in Indology

About the Book

The following pages contain fifteen essays originally written on various themes of Indological interest: Indology, literature, philosophy and Buddhist and Jaina studies and presented before national and international gatherings of scholars during the past three decades. These papers delineate some essential features of Indian culture enshrined in our ancient texts.

The first paper entitled ‘Indology in the next Millennium’ was presented at an Asiatic Society Scholars’ congregation, two papers related to the spectrum of Buddhist Studies and circulated before the International Buddhist Conference (1978) and as a Presidential Address to the Pali and Buddhist Section of the All India Oriental Conference, Jaipur Session (1982). The article on ‘The character of Bharata in the Valmiki Ramayana’ was broadcast on the All India Radio, Gorakhpur Station and the last paper entitled ‘Siddhas and the Nirguna Hindi Poets’ was written for the Sixth World Hindi Conference, London (1999). The paper on A Buddhist Response to the Modern Socio-Ecological Imbalances presented at the International Conference on Rethinking Indian Culture: Challenges and Responses’ at Cuttack (1999). Other papers were presented at the various sessions of the All-India Oriental Conference. The paper entitled ‘Modern Indian Attitude towards Sanskrit Literary Traditions’ was presented at a Sahitya Akademi Seminar on Contemporary Trends in Indian Literature, Ujjain (1986). Other papers were presented at some national seminars organised by some Universities/Institutes.

About the Author

Karunesh Shukla (b. 1940) retired as a Professor of Sanskrit Dean, Faculty of Arts and Chairman, Department of Sanskrit and Prakrit Languages, D.D.U. Gorakhpur University (1985 2001) after an active service of four decades; his doctoral Ph.D. dissertation on Comparative Studies in Sankara and Nagarjuna (1962) has been acknowledged by experts as a distinct contribution on the subject; he won U.P. Sanskrit Akademi award (1981) on his book (ed.) Atmani Atmanivedanam (1979); a Government of India Scholar in Humanities (1961-62), he was a Fellow of Indian Council of Philosophical Research (1982-84); his works include Gaudapáda aur Prâcina Vedanta (1970, 1985), critical editions of Srávakabhumi of Asanga (based on the enlarged photo-prints of the microfilm of the Tibetan manuscript brought by Mahapandit Rahul Sankrityayana), Patna (1971, 1993); Kanāda Sütranibandha, (1985), Pasupatam (1986), Hetutattopadeša (1987), Catuḥstava samăsărtha (1987), Tarkasopana (1987) and several Buddhist and Sanskrit texts awaiting for publication; as the Founder General Secretary, Nagarjuna Buddhist Foundation (1978), he actively supervises the research activities of this Research centre and edit Prajñaloka, Journal of Nagarjuna Buddhist Foundation (1979); renowned scholar of Sanskrit, Indian Philosophy and Buddhist Studies he has visited Vienna (1989, 1990), Toronto (1990), Kathmando (1994), London (1999) and is a participant/invitee to many International Conferences in the field of Indology, Sanskrit and Buddhist Studies; he has collected more than 3000 original Sanskrit manuscript and conducts workshops for the preservation, editing and conservation of manuscripts since 1983; he is now a Senior Fellow of Indian Council of Philosophical Research, New Delhi (2001-); his edition of Herukasadhanapanjikā of Kambalpada is due to be published from K.P. Jayaswal Research Institute, Patna very shortly.