Symposium on Epigraphy and Early Śaivism at the University of Groningen, 4-5 June

[N.Mirnig]

Dear List Members,

I would like to inform you about the upcoming symposium /Epigraphical 
Evidence for the Formation and Rise of Early Śaivism/ at the University 
of Groningen 4-5 June 2012, courtesy of the Royal Netherlands Academy of 
Arts and Sciences (KNAW) and the Faculty of Theology and Religious 
Studies, University of Groningen. Please find below the program and 
abstract.

If you are interested in attending or would like to have more 
information, please contact me or Natasja Bosma (n.bosma at rug.nl) before 
25th of May.

With best wishes,

Nina Mirnig

-- 
Dr. Nina Mirnig
Institute of Indian Studies
University of Groningen
Oude Boteringestraat 23
9712 GC Groningen
the Netherlands
tel: +31.(0)50.363.5819
www.rug.nl/india





*Epigraphical Evidence for the Formation and Rise of Early Śaivism*
*The Religious Landscape at the time of the Composition and Spread of 
the /Skandapurāṇa/*

June 4-5 2012, University of Groningen, the Netherlands



*Sunday 3 June*

18:00-20:00: Reception, Institute of Indian Studies


*Monday 4 June*

9.15: Coffee

9.40: Welcome

9.45: Opening Address by Professor Jan Bremmer


*/Session 1 / *
Chair: Professor Hans Bakker

10.00-10.30: Em. Professor Oskar von Hinüber, Albert-Ludwigs Universität 
Freiburg
Title: /Behind the Scene: the Struggle of Religious Groups for Political 
Influence as Reflected in Inscriptions /

10.30-11.00: Coffee


*/Session 2/*
Chair: Professor Diwakar Acharya

11.00-11.30: Professor Hans Bakker, University of Groningen
Title: /The Temple of Maṇḍaleśvarasvāmin/

11.30-12.00: Professor Peter Bisschop, University of Leiden
Title: /Notes on Some Inscriptions from Kaliñjar/
//
12.00-14.00: Lunch

//
/*Session 3 */**
Chair: Drs. Natasja Bosma

14.00-14.30: Professor Ashwini Agrawal, Punjab University, Chandigarh
Title: /Śaivism in North-West India: Synchronizing Art, Archaeological 
and Sigillographic Data with Epigraphic Evidence (c. 400-800 CE) /

14.30-15.00: Dr. Annette Schmiedchen, Humboldt-Universität Berlin
Title:/Patronage of Śaivism in Western India under the Dynasties of the 
Traikūṭakas, Kaṭaccuris, Gurjaras and Sendrakas from the 5th to the 8th 
Centuries /

15.00-15.30: Coffee


*/Session 4/ *
Chair: Dr. Dominic Goodall

15.30-16.00: Professor Yuko Yokochi, Kyoto University
Title: /The Development of Śaivism in Koṭīvarṣa in the Pāla Period. A 
Comparison between the Skandapurāṇa and Epigraphical Evidence/

16.00-16.30: Drs. Natasja Bosma, University of Groningen
Title:/The Bāleśvara Temple Complex of Śivagupta. Epigraphical Evidence 
for the Śaiva Siddhānta and Soma Siddhānta Traditions in Dakṣiṇa Kosala/

16.30-18.30: Reception sponsored by Brill, Book Exhibition


*Tuesday 5 June*

9.15: Coffee

/*Session 5 */
Chair: Dr. Nina Mirnig

9.30-10.00: *Key Note Address*
Professor Alexis Sanderson, University of Oxford
Title:/The Impact of Inscriptions on the Interpretation of Early Śaiva 
Literature/

10.00-10.30: Professor Harry Falk, Freie Universität Berlin
Title: /The Masque Court and Early Śaivism in the Orbit of the Kashmir 
Smast /

10.30-11.00: Coffee


*/Session 6 / *
Chair: Professor Yuko Yokochi

11.00-11.30: Professor Diwakar Acharya, Kyoto University
Title: /Wanton Women and Their Property: An Insight into a Licchavi 
Inscription/

11.30-12.00: Dr. Nina Mirnig, University of Groningen
Title: /Aṃśuvarman and the Rise of Paśupati as the Tutelary Deity of Nepal/

12.00-14.00: Lunch


*/Session 7 / *
Chair: Professor Peter Bisschop

14.00-14.30: Dr. Dominic Goodall, École Française d’Extrême-Orient, 
Pondicherry
Title: /Reflecting the Centre: Evidence for the Development of Śaivism 
from Cambodian Epigraphy/

14.30-15.00: Dr. Arlo Griffiths, École Française d’Extrême-Orient, Jakarta
Title: /Śaivism in Early Historical Southeast Asia. The case of Campā/

15.00-15.30: Coffee


*/Session 8 /*

15.30-16.30: *Round Table Discussion*/*
*/Led by Professor Sanderson, University of Oxford

19.00: Conference Dinner


--


*Epigraphical Evidence for the Formation and Rise of Early Śaivism*
*The Religious Landscape at the time of the Composition and Spread of 
the /Skandapurāṇa/*


Towards the end of the Gupta-Vākāṭaka period, religious sectarian 
movements started to feature prominently in the political landscape of 
early medieval India (ca. 400 - 900 CE). One of the most dominant 
religious traditions in this period is Śaivism, revolving around the 
worship of the god Śiva. Its propagators developed strong ties to royal 
houses and grew to be successful in establishing a range of religious 
institutions under its authority throughout the Indianized world, as 
recently laid out in Sanderson's seminal work 'The Śaiva Age' (2009). 
The theology, mythology and ritual codes of the various branches of 
Śaivism are recorded in an array of textual material but the most 
important sources for assessing their historical reality on the ground 
are contained in the epigraphical corpus. These traces of institutional 
activities often long predate our extant textual evidence.

The contributors of the symposium will present religious epigraphical 
data on early forms of Śaivism and its competitors pertaining to its 
formative period in India, Nepal, Cambodia and Campā. These data will be 
contextualized and correlated with the political history and findings 
from the study of the religious textual corpus. Insights generated in 
this symposium aim to contribute towards a more differentiated 
understanding of the historical and social reality of these religious 
traditions themselves, as well as of the religious milieu and 
socio-political dynamics which facilitated the creation and 
dissemination of a large body of religious scriptures. One important 
example of such a scripture is the oldest extant version of the 
/Skandapurāṇa/, which is our earliest evidence of a systematization of 
Śiva mythology and contains the earliest extant origination myths of the 
Śaiva Pāśupata tradition, the precursor of the various forms of Tantric 
Śaivism. By linking epigraphical material with such textual evidence and 
/vice versa/, we hope to shed more light on the religious developments 
in this transitional period from the classical to the medieval.



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