An online symposium to discuss the Greater Magadha hypothesis of Johannes Bronkhorst
May 6 - 9, 2021
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University of Alberta (online)
In his 2007 book
Greater Magadha,
Johannes Bronkhorst proposed a new theory for the historical formation
of Indian culture in the mid-first millennium BCE. The theory proposed
that a cultural and geographical area, Greater Magadha, was settled by
an early wave of Indo-European speakers. A second wave of Indo-European
speakers, carriers of Vedic culture, subsequently encountered the
Greater Magadhans to the east and the resultant cultural meeting gave
rise to the main features known in later Indian history. The Greater
Magadha theory addresses many deep problems about the early formation of
Indian culture that have long puzzled historians. It has been widely
accepted, but has also given rise to serious criticism. This symposium
will bring together some of the principal scholars who have engaged with
the theory to discuss and retrospectively evaluate the theory just over
a decade after it was proposed.
This symposium is hosted by Prof. Dominik Wujastyk at the Department of History, Classics and Religion at the University of Alberta and with the financial support of the Canadian Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.
The symposium will be conducted online as a Zoom Webinar.