Previous VVIK events
2024
September 18, 2024
VVIK lecture by dr. Victor van Bijlert, retired ass. professor VU Amsterdam.
Book Presentation: Nyāya Sūtra – On Philosophical Method: Sanskrit Text, Translation, and Commentary.
April 25, 2024
General Annual Meeting followed by a VVIK lecture by dr. Dominik Haas, International Institute for Asian Studies (IIAS).
Book Presentation: Gāyatrī: Mantra and Mother of the Vedas.
February 26, 2024
VVIK lecture by dr. Dmitry Komissarov, Gonda fellow at IIAS, Universiteit Leiden.
Title: The dohada Motif in Ancient Biographies of the Buddha.
January 18, 2024
VVIK lecture by dr. Carmen Spiers, a post-doctoral Marie Sklodowska-Curie (MSCA) fellow at the Leiden University Centre for Linguistics.
Title: Woodworkers and farmers 3000 years ago: transitions from the R̥gveda to the Atharvaveda.
2023
November 8, 2023
VVIK lecture by prof.dr. Velizar Sadovski. He is an Assoc. Prof. Dr. habil. and specialist in Comparative Indo-Iranian Linguistics and Senior Research Associate at the Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW) and Privatdozent of Indo-European Linguistics.
Title: Vedic mantras and rituals and their Avestan parallels: Toward the reconstruction of Indo-Iranian formulae and liturgical structures.
May 25, 2023
VVIK lecture by dr. Chiara Livio, Gonda Fellow at the International Institute for Asian Studies (IIAS), Leiden.
Title: Uncovering the Manuscript History of the Śrīkaṇṭhacarita: Tracing and Reconstruction
April 20, 2023
General Annual Meeting followed by a VVIK lecture by dr. Lennart Bes, Indologist and historian researching political culture in South India. He teaches on Asian history, Dutch overseas history, and colonial sources at the Institute for History of Leiden University.
Title: Court politics in the Vijayanagara successor states
February 23, 2023
VVIK lecture by dr. Amélie Couvrat Desvergnes, a freelance paper and book conservator and researcher specialising in Islamic and South Asian manuscripts and works on paper in the Netherlands.
Title: Conservation and study of the Pahari collection of drawings and paintings from the Museum Volkenkunde.
2022
December 8, 2022
VVIK Lecture by dr. Joel Bordeaux, lecturer at the Institute for Area Studies (Center for the study of Religion), Leiden.
Title: The Remains of the Kula Devi: Broken Statuary and Elite Legitimation in Postcolonial Bengal
November 10, 2022
VVIK Lecture by dr. Martina Palladino, Gonda fellow at the International Institute for Asian Studies (IIAS), Leiden
Title: The Śākadvīpīya Sun Cult from Ancient Times to the Present Day
August 25, 2022
VVIK Lecture by dr. Abhishek Jain, Gonda Fellow at the International Institute for Asian Studies (IIAS).
Title: Local Biographies in Jain Literary Production
June 9, 2022
VVIK Lecture by prof. dr. Upinder Singh, Ashoka University, Sonepat, India
Title: Violence and the State: Perspectives from Ancient India
May 24, 2022
Farewell Symposium in honour of dr. Ellen Raven.
Subject: Fabulous Creatures and Auspicious Symbols
April 21, 2022
General Annual Meeting followed by a VVIK lecture by dr. Callum Pearce.
Title: The thousand war-battalions of the btsan: everyday demons in Ladakh.
2020
VVIK lecture by Dr. Rocco Cestola.
Title: Why the Shutting Down of the Meaning? Sphoṭa and Śabda in the Yogaśāstra of Patañjali.
2019
VVIK lecture by Dr Péter-Dániel Szántó.
Title: International encounters in the Himalayas and beyond.
VVIK lecture by Dr Crispin Branfoot.
Title: Fortune-tellers, Kings and the Dancing Lord: Sculture from temple and court in early modern Tamil South India.
Leiden Indian Philosophy Symposium
LIPS 3: Analytic and Comparative Perspectives on Indian Buddhist Philosophy.
VVIK lecture by Dr David Pierdominici Leão
Title: ‘Poets at the service of the Empire: identity and self-representation of the Ḍiṇḍima family’
2018
VVIK lecture by Prof. Madhav Deshpande.
Title: ‘The How and Why of Sanskrit Poetry and My Sanskrit Poetic Contributions’.
VVIK duo lecture by Sanne Dokter-Mersch and Channa Li: Narratives and figures in transition.
Title Dokter-Mersch: ‘“Consisting of all the gods”: Viṣṇu’s strength or weakness?’.
Title Li: ‘Why must Devadatta be a good monk in his early religious career? How Vinaya discussions of Saṅghabheda help us make sense of Devadatta narratives’
VVIK lecture by Dr Csaba Dezső, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest
Title: ‘A Passage to Dvīpāntara: An Imagined Naval Expedition from Ceylon to Laṅkā’
VVIK double lecture by Dr Kunthea Chhom and Dr Melinda Zulejka Fodor
Title Chhom: Sanskrit elements in Old Khmer language: a case study of benedictions and imprecations in epigraphy from Ancient Cambodia
Title Fodor: Connecting ancient to modern: The Saṭṭakas, Prakrit dramas between the 10th and 18th century India
VVIK lecture by professor Marijke Klokke and Mathilde Mechling
Title: ‘Technical research on bronze images from Indonesia’
VVIK lecture by Dr Anna Ślączka
Title: ‘How to make a ‘Cōḻa bronze’? Theory and practice of bronze casting in South India and the Rijksmuseum research on Asian bronzes’
2017
VVIK lecture by Dr James Mallinson
Title: ‘Textual and Material Evidence for Links between Vajrayāna and Nāth Yogis in Western India in the 11th to 15th centuries’
VVIK lecture by Dr Charlotte Schmid
Title: ‘Kṛṣṇa, the butter-thief from North to South, Back and Forth’
Leiden Indian Philosophy Symposium
LIPS 2017: Tradition and Innovation in Indian Philosophy
VVIK lecture by Dr Alessandro Battistini
Title: ‘Flowers, daggers, and bitten lips: citrakāvya in Sanskrit literature’
VVIK lecture by Dr Somdev Vasudeva
Title: ‘Śobhākareśvara on Metaphor without Similarity’
2016
VVIK lecture by Dr Michael Willis
Title: ‘The Indian Temple: Production, Place and Patronage’
VVIK lecture by Dr Elizabeth A. Cecil
Title: ‘Kāman, Kāmyaka & Kāmyakeśvara: Material Religion in Early Medieval Rajasthan (8th—10th century CE)’
VVIK lecture by Dr Nachiket Chanchani
Title: ‘The Emergence of the Himalayas as a Sacred Landscape’
Annual meeting 2016 (in Dutch)
VVIK lecture by Dr Lidia Szczepanik-Wojtczak
Title: ‘Kāvyapuruṣa: Sanskrit poetry’s primordial man and the creation of the kāvya cosmos’
2015
VVIK lecture by Dr Daniela de Simone
Title: ‘Pāṭaliputra: New Research into the Capital of the Mauryan Empire’
Film screening ‘Sacrifice of Serpents’
Annual meeting 2015 (in Dutch)
VVIK lecture by Prof. Dr. Peter C. Bisschop
Title: ‘Iconography of the Gods in the Śivadharma’
Book launch ‘Mijn reis in India, De dagboeken en foto’s van Jan Kornelis de Cock in India en Sri Lanka, 1909-1910’ by Alied de Cock
VVIK lecture by Dr Wu Juan
Title: ‘Violence, Virtue and Spiritual Liberation: A Preliminary Study of Buddhist and Jaina Stories of Future Rebirths of Śreṇika Bimbisāra and Kūṇika Ajātaśatru’