Dear all,
Bhaskaracharya, the eminent Indian astronomer and mathematician, will be 900 years old in this year 2014. My esteemed friend Dr V. V. Bedekar, Chairman, Vidya Prasarak Mandal, Thane (http://www.vpmthane.org/), has planned yearlong activities to celebrates Bhaskaracharya’s 900th birth anniversary. Throughout the year, a number of workshops are planned in the various educational institutions run by the Vidya Prasarak Mandal and also in other institutions a number of workshops to acquaint the students and teachers about Bhaskaracarya and his works, and also about other Indian astronomers and mathematicians. Dr. Sudhakar C Agarkar, Professor and Dean, VPM's Academy of International Education and Research and a noted educationist, has conducted so far 20 workshops on the Lilavati in different parts of India.
In addition to these outreach activities, an International Conference is planned on 19-21 September 2014 at Thane, near Mumbai. Professor Michio Yano of Kyoto-Sangyo University and I are helping Dr Bedekar in preparing the academic programme of the Conference. Almost all the notable scholars working on Sanskrit mathematics and astronomy have agreed to participate in the conference.
Please visit the website of the conference at http://www.vpmthane.org/bhaskara900/ and read, in particular, the details of the workshops in the section “Outreach Programme” and the abstracts of the papers to be read at the Conference.
The logo of the conference vibhudhābhinanditapado jayati śrī-Bhāskarācāryaḥ is from the inscription set up by Bhaskaracharya’s grandson Cangadeva, announcing the establishment of an institution to promote the study of his grandfather’s works. With vibhudha meaning ‘god’ as well as ‘scholar’ and pada denoting ‘foot’ and also ‘word’, the logo yields several layers of meanings, a feature which would have pleased Bhaskaracharya himself.
Warm greetings,
S. R. Sarma
Hoehenstrasse 28
40227 Duesseldorf
Germany