[INDOLOGY] Gandhāra Corpora Lecture Series: Ingo Strauch, "Buddhist Worship and Indian Traders in Roman Egypt and Beyond" Nov 19, 2026

[Charles DiSimone]

Dear Friends,

I am pleased to announce the Fall 2026 talks in the Gandhāra Corpora
Lecture Series: Ingo Strauch (Nov 19) and Julian Schott (Dec 3)

On Nov 19, Prof. Ingo Strauch (Uni Lausanne) will give the following talk:

Title: *“Buddhist Worship and Indian Traders in Roman Egypt and Beyond”*

Timing: Nov 19 @16.00 (CET)

Location: Vergaderzaal 0.1 Simon Stevin, Plateau - Rozier, Campus
Boekentoren, 9000 Gent (and online)

Abstract:
The maritime trade routes connecting India with the Roman Empire during the
first centuries CE facilitated not only the exchange of commodities but
also the movement of people, religious practices, and written traditions
across the Indian Ocean. Archaeological, epigraphic, and manuscript
evidence from various sites along these maritime trade networks offers
important insights into the activities and cultural identities of Indian
travelers in this interconnected world.
   This paper examines three groups of evidence. The Indian inscriptions
and drawings from the cave of Hoq on Socotra document the presence of
merchants and sailors from western India, some of whom expressed their
Buddhist affiliations through inscriptions and religious imagery. At
Berenike, the recent discovery of a Buddha statue and a bilingual
Greek-Sanskrit dedicatory inscription dated to 248 CE provides remarkable
evidence for Buddhist worship within the religious environment of a Roman
trading port. Finally, the paper presents a hitherto unpublished palm-leaf
letter from Myos Hormos, written in a Middle Indo-Aryan language and a
Brāhmī script associated with the southeastern Deccan. Its contents offer a
rare glimpse into the everyday concerns and written communication of
Indians involved in overseas trade. Dating probably to the second or third
century CE, it may represent the earliest surviving Indian letter.
   Taken together, these discoveries reveal the diversity of Indian
participation in transoceanic commerce and illustrate how commercial
mobility facilitated the spread of religious traditions and writing
practices beyond the Indian subcontinent, while also shedding light on the
cultural identities of Indian travelers in the Roman world.

Speaker Bio:
Ingo Strauch is Professor for Sanskrit and Buddhist Studies at the
University of Lausanne. His research focuses on the history and literature
of early South Asian Buddhism and on Indian epigraphy and palaeography.

On Dec 3, Dr. Julian Schot (Uni Wien) will give a talk titled: *"Arapacana
and Mañjuśrīnāmasaṅgīti 4.2-3 across a small corpus of Buddhist Tantric
Sanskrit commentaries"* (details to follow in a future post).

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 (registering once ensures you will
receive links to all future talks in the series, registering multiple times
is unnecessary)

Friendly Greetings,
Charles

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