Gandhinagar: The next two lectures in the fifth edition of the Indian Knowledge Systems (IKS) elective course by the Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar (IITGN) will enable the participants to take a dip into the vastness of Indian aesthetics as well as learn about its presence across the country through reflections in various art forms.
Eminent expert and academician on India’s intellectual traditions Prof Kapil Kapoor will deliver two online lectures on ‘The Foundations of Indian Aesthetics’ and ‘Kavyapurusha’s Journey across India’, on January 27 & 28, 2021 respectively, from 3:05 to 4 pm (IST). These two sessions will be in the format of a conversation between Prof Kapil Kapoor and Prof Michel Danino, well-known expert of Indian civilisation and culture, and coordinator of the IKS course at IITGN.
The first talk will try to understand the central spirit, approaches and methods of Indian aesthetics, from Bharata Muni to Abhinavagupta and beyond. The second day’s conversation will discuss the Sanskrit poet Rajasekhara’s Kavyamimansa, wherein the young couple, Kavyapurusha and Sahityavidya, go about spreading the classical framework of Indian aesthetics in every part of the country, constantly interacting with regional forms and expressions of literature and arts.
Prof Kapil Kapoor, who has been teaching for over sixty years, has been one of the pioneering academicians and experts on Indian Knowledge Systems in India. Generations of students have been fascinated by his lucid, invigorating and ever original elucidations, as a speaker and a writer alike, of the most complex concepts of Indian literature, philosophy, aesthetics, languages and textual studies, to which he has dedicated several books and numerous papers. Prof Kapoor taught for decades at JNU, New Delhi, acting for some years as its pro-Vice Chancellor. He has held many positions in various official bodies. Prof Kapoor chaired the important MHRD Language Expert Committee for Comprehensive Language Policy for India, whose report is under consideration. Currently, he is Chairman, Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla.
