[INDOLOGY] Gandhāra Corpora Lecture Series: SAMARA BROGLIA de MOURA on Kushan Influence in the Himalayas, April 30, 2026

[Charles DiSimone]

Dear Friends,

I am pleased to announce the next talk in the Gandhāra Corpora Lecture
Series, which will also be a talk in the Spring 2026 Permanent Training in
Buddhist Studies of the Ghent Centre for Buddhist Studies.

Title:
“New archaeological data on the extension of the Kushan empire and
post-Kushan groups in the Himalayan range”
Speaker:
*Dr. Samara Broglia de Moura*, Eveha International, Archéologie et Sciences
de l’Antiquité (ArScAn), Centre de Recherche sur les Civilisations de
l’Asie Orientale (CRCAO)

Timing:
Thursday, April 30 @ 17.00 CET

Location:
Facultietsraazaal
Blandijn, Campus Boekentoren
9000 Gent, Belgium
(also online)

Abstract:
During the first millennium CE, part of the Western Himalayas was subjected
to a dynamic of exchange and interaction similar to those that affected a
large part of Central Asia and North India during the expansion of the
Hellenistic empire up to the post-Kushan groups (3rd century BCE to 8th
century CE). The aim of this presentation is to provide new archaeological
data collected in Ladakh (North India), particularly in the Dras valley, in
order to better understand the mechanism of expansion, the control
apparatus, and the circulation roads of these different Central Asian
groups in the Himalayas.

In order to detail these dynamics, we first aim to present new ceramic and
architectural data from two sites in the Dras Valley (Goshan Khar and
Rgyalmo Khar) and one site in the Nubra Valley (Deskit Thingang). We will
then carry out an intra-regional analysis with other contemporaneous sites
in Ladakh, with the aim of understanding the different stages of expansion
of these central Asian groups, the organization of the territory and the
routes that linked all those sites. Finally, we will provide a
macro-regional view of Ladakh's connections with its neighbours during the
Kushan and post-Kushan periods.

Bio:
Samara Broglia is an archaeologist and specialist of the Himalayas. Since
2015, she has been carrying out research on ceramic productions in the
Himalayas and on diachronic high-mountain peopling dynamics. The aim of
this research is to propose new chronologies for the region, which are
still lacking, and to understand the material and cultural interactions
that Himalayan societies have maintained with its neighbors in Central
Asia, Tibet and India overtime.

Since 2011, she has taken part in several archaeological expeditions to
excavate, to survey or to study ceramic material: in Nepal (Mustang
region), India (Ladakh and Spiti valley), Afghanistan (Mes Aynak site),
Uzbekistan (Kuduk Bulak, Termez and Romitan sites) and Turkmenistan (Ulug
Dépé site). She also works with the French-Indian Archaeological Mission in
the Indian Himalayas since 2015.

Samara Broglia has also been involved in various research projects as a
research assistant at the French Archaeological Delegation in Afghanistan
(DAFA), and with the Franco-Turkmen Archaeological Mission in Turkmenistan
(MAFTur) and as part of the Emergence(s) project directed by Laurianne
Bruneau (EPHE): “Archaeology of the Himalayas: material culture and
networks of the past”. She is currently co-director of the Mission
Archéologique Franco-Népalaise au Mustang (MAFNAM) co-funded by the French
Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs and works as technical project
manager in archaeology and regional director for Central and South Asia at
Eveha International.

All are welcome. The Gandhāra Corpora Lecture Series is in-person and
hybrid online. Please register for the series through this Google Form:
https://forms.gle/TwffQCPuVipUpMvk6
<https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fforms.gle%2FTwffQCPuVipUpMvk6&data=05%7C02%7CCharles.DiSimone%40ugent.be%7Ce3757a7f934b49d4abd408de8c25cdd3%7Cd7811cdeecef496c8f91a1786241b99c%7C1%7C0%7C639102291413617398%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=JDry9qvv3cFjZh40MLLV4sBQrUNTJbCQkGKEVU3cgD4%3D&reserved=0>

(registering once will ensure you will receive links to all future talks in
the series)

Please note some additional talks scheduled in the series:

May 7 @17.00 CET
*Alex Meng*: "Poet’s Myths: Asuras in Aśvaghoṣa’s Epics"

and more to come (in the fall)!

Friendly Greetings,
Charles DiSimone

Prof. Dr. Charles DiSimone
Associate Professor of Buddhist Studies & Indology
Department of Languages and Cultures
Ghent University
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