Ashoka Reflections_NOVEMBER 2023
Welcome to interactive presentation, created with Publuu. Enjoy the reading!
Interdisciplinarity, the belief that knowledge has no boundaries, has been a foundational premise in the
growth of human knowledge. The Ashoka University Inspire Lectures is a series of talks on the theme of
Interdisciplinarity by distinguished speakers for Ashoka and the World. Professor Dame Gillian Beer, King
Edward VII Professor Emeritus, University of Cambridge, delivered the inaugural lecture in June 2021. For the
second lecture, Ashoka University hosted Professor Ruth Harris, a distinguished historian and Senior Research
Fellow at All Souls’ College and a Professor of Modern History at the University of Oxford, in January 2023.
The third lecture was delivered by Professor Patrick Olivelle on 18th October 2023. He is a distinguished
scholar of Sanskrit texts, Indian religion, asceticism and law. He served as Chair of the Department of Asian
Studies at the University of Texas at Austin (1994-2007), where he is currently Professor Emeritus of Sanskrit
and Indian Religions. He was elected Vice President of the American Oriental Society in 2004 and President in
2005, and has received many prestigious awards and fellowships. His path-breaking work, marked by
extraordinary range and rigour, has had a major impact on understanding ancient India’s intellectual
traditions and history. Professor Olivelle has written extensively on themes such as dharma, the ashrama
system and asceticism and has published authoritative translations of the Upanishads, Manava
Dharmashastra, Arthashastra, Buddhacharita and Panchatantra. His most recent book is Ashoka: Portrait of a
Philosopher King.
Professor Somak Raychaudhury, Vice-Chancellor, Ashoka University formally introduced the event by
expaining what interdisciplinarity and liberal arts means and how that is woven into the ethos of the Inspire
Lecture Series. This was followed by Professor Rudrangshu Mukherjee, Chancellor, Ashoka University
introducing Professor Patrick Olivelle and the topic he would speaking on.
For the third session of the Inspire Lecture Series,
Professor Patrick Olivelle spoke on “Ashoka's Journey:
From Devotee of Buddhism to Apostle of Ecumenism”
Ashoka Reflections | Page 04
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104