3 April 2023
SPECIAL LECTURES IN CELEBRATION OF A CENTURY OF THE FIRST EXCAVATION OF INDUS VALLEY CIVILIZATION
To mark the century of the First Excavation of Indus Valley Civilization, Kolkata Society for Asian Studies has organized Special lectures through a Webinar on 30 March 2023.
The Special lectures were conducted through a webinar, based on the talks of distinguished archaeologists of our country, Dr. B R Mani, former Director General, National Museum and Vice Chancellorof National Museum Institute (NMI) ; Dr. Sanjay Kumar Manjul, Joint Director, Archaeological Survey of India (ASI); Professor Vasant Shinde, former Vice Chancellor, Deccan College & renowned Archaeologist and Meseologist; and Dr. Michel Danino, Visiting Professor, Humanities and Social Sciences, IIT Gandhinagar.
GUEST OF HONOUR
Prof. Pallab Sengupta, the former Vidyasar Professor of Rabindra Bharati University, Department of Bengali; Former President, The Asiatic Society, Kolkata was the Guest of Honour as the Advisory Board Member of Kolkata Society for Asian Studies.
Dr. Satyabrata Chakrabarti, President, Kolkata Society for Asian Studies proposed the introductory address.
The webinar highlighted four major aspects of the studies conducted by the archaeologists on Indus Valley during the last century.
Dr B.R.Mani, former Director General, National Museum and Vice Chancellor NMI elaborated on ‘Threshold of Indian Civilization’, a detailed study conducted in Mohenjodaro during the last century.
He has been a renowned field archaeologist and has done explorations in a large number of sites including at Ayodhya.
Dr. Sanjay Kumar Manjul, Joint Director, Archaeological Survey of India has given a special lecture on the ‘new excavations of Harappan sites on the bank of River Saraswati’.
Prof. Vasant Shinde, former Vice Chancellor, Deccan College; renowned Archaeologist and Meseologist talked on ‘Continued Research over a Century and changing perspective of Harappan Civilization’.
He has been a pioneer in archaeological research and published enumerable research papers, specialised in Protohistory of South Asia, Maritime History and in Field Archaeology and directed a vast number of excavations in the country including many Harappan sites in Gujarat, Haryana. He has travelled extensively and delivered lectures in many countries.
Dr. Michel Danino, Visiting Professor, Humanities and Social Sciences, IIT Gandhinagar highlighted on ‘Persisting Riddles of the Indus Sarasvati Civilization’ in the Webinar.
Dr. Michel Danino has written many books on protohistorical India and on Indian culture, he is a keen student of archaeology, ancient history and Indian civilization.
The meeting was presided over by Prof. Emeritus Ranjana Ray, Chief Editor of Journal of Kolkata Society for Asian Studies and Vice presidents of KSAS. Professor Ray was the head & Faculty of the department of Anthropology, University of Calcutta and the coordinator of the Program.
Dr. Durga Basu, former head and Professor of the department of Archaeology, University of Calcutta and Vice President of Kolkata Society for Asian Studies and the coordinator of the Programme, proposed the Vote of thanks.
The entire programme was coordinated by Dr. Sarmistha De Basu, former Post Doc. Fellow, ICSSR & Research Fellow, The Asiatic Society; Independent Researcher and Secretary, Kolkata Society for Asian Studies (KSAS).
