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@rug.nl) before 25th of May.

-- 
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


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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.