Indische Talen en Culturen - Indian Languages and Cultures - UGent

08/06/2026

We love talking translation!

Continuing the GCBS cooperation with the Thai Buddhist community we had another fruitful meeting today with Thai Ambassador to Belgium, H.E. Mrs. Kanchana Patarachoke, who came to visit us with the knowledgeable Venerable Chandako. We had an expansive discussion about the finer points of the translation of Buddhavacana and various other delightful topics.

07/06/2026

Join us tomorrow for the last Dialogue of this academic year! Registration via https://dialogues.arihantainstitute.org/

30/05/2026

📢 Event Announcement | Ghent University
Join us for an engaging online lecture hosted by the Ghent Centre for South Asian Studies (Faculty of Arts and Philosophy):
🌿 “Alongside Captive Elephants: History and Science between Species”
👤 Speaker: Andrea Gutiérrez (The University of Texas at Austin)
🗓 Wednesday, June 3rd
🕓 16:00 CET
💻 Online – open to all
This talk explores the long and complex relationship between humans and elephants in South Asia. Drawing on historical texts, scientific traditions, and cultural sources, Andrea Gutiérrez examines how knowledge about elephants has evolved—and how captivity has shaped both human understanding and elephant lives over time.
From ancient gajaśāstra literature to modern perspectives on animal history, this lecture sheds new light on interspecies relationships and challenges common misconceptions about elephants.
✅ Free and open to everyone
📌 Register via the QR code on the poster
Don’t miss this fascinating interdisciplinary talk! 🐘📚

13/05/2026

📢 Event Announcement | Ghent University
Join the Ghent Centre for South Asian Studies for an engaging and thought-provoking lecture:
🐪 Camelbacks, Hoofprints, and the Hajj: South Asian Archives of Non-Human Life-worlds in the Journey to Mecca
🎤 Speaker: Muhamed Riyaz Chengannakkattil (Ghent University)
📅 Date: Wednesday, 20 May
🕓 Time: 16:00 CET
📍 Location: Room 1.13, Blandijnberg 2, Ghent
💻 Online attendance available (register via QR code on the poster)
🔍 This lecture explores a fascinating and often overlooked perspective on the Hajj pilgrimage: the vital role of non-human beings such as animals and other life forms. Drawing on South Asian literary and archival sources, the talk reveals how humans and non-humans were deeply interconnected in shaping the pilgrimage experience—highlighting themes of mobility, devotion, and ecological entanglement.
🌍 Discover how the Hajj can be understood not only as a human journey, but as a richly interconnected, multi-species phenomenon.
✅ Open to all – we warmly welcome students, researchers, and anyone interested in religion, ecology, and South Asian studies.

28/04/2026

Welcome to this lecture!

This Thursday (April 30) Samara Broglia de Moura will give the next talk in the Gandhāra Corpora Lectures Series. Online and in-person! Registration link is in comments!

25/04/2026

📢 Online Lecture | Open to All
🗓 Wednesday 29 April
🕓 4:00 pm (CET)
The Ghent Centre for South Asian Studies warmly invites you to an online lecture by James McHugh (University of Southern California):
🍶 Surā’s Many Cups: A Survey of Humans Using Plants to Make Mind-Altering Substances in Pre-modern South Asia
How did alcohol, betel, datura, cannabis, and other plant-based substances shape everyday life in ancient and early medieval South Asia? This lecture challenges long-standing assumptions about mind-altering substances in the region’s history, exploring fermentation practices, textual evidence, and the methodological challenges of studying plants and processed goods such as beer through ancient sources.
🔍 From soma to alcohol, from ritual to everyday use, this talk offers fresh insights into intoxicants and knowledge practices in pre-modern South Asia.
🎟 This online lecture is free and open to all.
📌 Register via the QR code on the poster or the link in the comments to receive the online access details.
Organised by the Faculty of Arts and Philosophy, Ghent University, and the Ghent Centre for South Asian Studies as part of the More-than-Human South Asia: Ecologies, Knowledge, Bodies, and Senses series.
👉 Feel free to share with students, colleagues, and anyone interested in South Asian history, religion, and material culture.

14/04/2026

On Monday, April 20th (4:30 - 6:00 pm CEST), our doctoral researcher Jan Gerris will be giving an online presentation for the History of Science in Early South Asia consortium, on a Jain canonical text dealing with embryology, among others. All welcome! The link for registration is below.

Title: Tandulaveyāliya - An ancient Jain philosophical reflection on life

Abstract:

The Tandulaveyāliya is a relatively short philosophical treatise in the format of a dialogue on life in general between a master and his disciple, using the disappointments and sufferings of life as rational and emotional arguments to convince the pupil to take religious vows and lead a life dedicated to the right religion. With an uncertain dating between the fifth and seventh centuries CE, and an unknown authorship, it is a relatively short work. In a mix of prose and verse it is structured as a private question and answer session between Mahāvīra and Indrabhūti Gautama, his first gaṇadhara or chief disciple. In his discourse, Mahāvīra offers a disconcerting portrayal of the human body and critiques the superficiality of material life—characterized by eating, drinking, and reproduction. The text describes processes such as fertilization, early embryonic development, pregnancy, human anatomy, and various physiological functions. In one remarkable passage an attempt is made to calculate the precise amount of rice grains (taṇḍula) and other dietary elements consumed by a man who lives for a hundred years. This calculation gives the work its name, Tandulaveyāliya (Reflection on Rice Grains).

In this presentation, some of the underlying Jain philosophical and religious insights, which constitute its educative value will be discussed and ancient Indian insights in early human embryology will be contrasted with those in the age of MEM (modern established medicine).

https://www.chstm.org/group/history-science-early-south-asia

04/04/2026

One of our PhD students, Corinna May Lhoir, is coordinating a fascinating lecture series on Ahimsa within a partnership between the universities of Hamburg and Kyoto, starting Wednesday April 8th. The first speaker is Piotr Balcerowicz.
For details and registration, see https://www.aai.uni-hamburg.de/en/indtib/forschung/veranstaltungen/ahimsa-lecture-series.html

07/01/2026

🌏 Are you interested in our hybrid (online or on campus) Master's program in South Asias studies?
📣 We kindly invite you to attend one of our upcoming information sessions on Jan. 15th and Jan. 16th.
👉 Please check our website to register: https://www.india.ugent.be/infosessions/
We look forward to welcoming you at one of our information sessions.