Seventh International Alexander Csoma de Kőrös Symposium

 “Seventh International Alexander Csoma de Kőrös Symposium on
Buddhist Transcreations in Tibetan Literature and Art”

Jointly organized by 
Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts
&
Hungarian Information and Cultural Centre
(4th – 5th September, 2014)

Venue: IGNCA, New Delhi

Concept Note

BUDDHIST TRANSCREATIONS IN ASIAN LITERATURE & ART

In commemoration of the 170th Death Anniversary of the renowned Hungarian Scholar and ‘Father of Tibetology’ Alexander Csoma de Kőrős (1784-1842) the 7th International Symposium will be held from September 4th and 5th 2014 in IGNCA, New Delhi, India. New researches and recent developments in the field of Tibetan & Buddhist Studies are to be presented and discussed, taking into consideration in particular the collection of Tibetan manuscripts and xylographs of Alexander Csoma de Kőrős.

The spread of Buddhist culture across the span of Asia is fascinating. Since the original texts in Indian languages were lost in India after Buddhism’s 13th century decline, the Tripitaka translation in the Mahāyāņa Buddhist cultures transmit a much broader range of Indic Buddhist materials than in the Theravāda-Buddhist cultures. As a true philosophical tradition, with its quest for pure knowledge, each regional network of Buddhist learning in Asia added its own texts and commentaries while integrating cultural practice into the complex Buddhist tradition as a whole.

Buddhist Sūtras, Tantras and their extensive commentaries, were translated from Sanskrit, and by the grand revision which took place in Tibet they became a literature sui generis. They became transcreations with the charm of the originals as well as the depth and precision of thought which led to ever renewing energetic expressions by the Tibetan masters.

These transcreations in Asian Buddhist literatures and arts take many forms, philosophical treatises and commentaries on Indian root texts, songs (tib. mgur) in the style of the Indian Cāryagīti, plays and dance dramas, medical and astrological texts and so forth, as well as material expressions in arts and architecture.

For this memorial Csoma de Kőrős Symposium the invited delegates are requested to present in their study field of expertise genuine examples of such transcreations in the Buddhist literatures and arts produced in Tibet, Mongolia, China, Japan and others. Only new researches and recent developments in the field of Tibetan & Buddhist Studies are to be presented, focused and discussed, taking into consideration in particular the collection of Tibetan manuscripts and xylographs of Alexander Csoma de Kőrős.

Symposium aims to-

1. Trace the development of the indigenous Tibetan literature with references to the works of Csoma de Kőrős in regard to transcreations

   • Of philosophical concepts

   • Of logic systems

   • In the form of the gTer-ma Literature

   • Of the history of Buddhism in India

   • In Arts and Architecture

   • Rituals and Practices

   • Folk Traditions

2. Compare the development of the indigenous Tibetan literature and arts with transcreations in the Literatures of China, Mongolia and Japan.

Contact Persons

Dr. Radha Banerjee Sarkar
Convenor of the Symposium & In-charge, East Asian Programme, Kalakosa Division
Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts
1, C.V. Mess, Janpath, New Delhi -110001
rbsarkar@gmail.com,
+ 91 2338 8211

Dr. Ajay Kumar Mishra 
Assistant Convener of the Symposium & Assistant Professor, Kalakosa Division
Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts
1, C.V. Mess, Janpath, New Delhi -110001
akm67111@rediffmail.com
+ 91 2338 8224

Dr. Kishor Kumar Tripathy 
Assistant Convener of the Symposium & Senior Research Fellow, Kalakosa Division
Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts
1, C.V. Mess, Janpath, New Delhi -110001
kkumar.aum@gmail.com
+91 2338 8224