Two Day International Seminar on Dharmaśāstras : Guide to Sustainable Prosperity

16th & 17th April, 2020

Organized by Department of Sanskrit

सस्कं ृ तविभागः

Katwa College (Affiliated to the University of Burdwan) P.O.: Katwa, Dist.: Purba Bardhaman, West Bengal, 713 130, India

 Venue 

Auditorium Hall, Katwa College  Invitation 

Revered Sir / Madam

We are pleased to inform you that the Department of Sanskrit, Katwa College is going to organize an interdisciplinary and multilingual Two-Day International Seminar on “Dharmasastras: Guide to Sustainable Prosperity” to be held on 16th and 17th April, 2020 (Thursday & Friday). We invite you to be a part of the proposed Seminar and make the Seminar a grand success.

We hope that you will join us in this intellectual exercise and that together we would make it a fruitful and stimulating endeavour.

With warm regards.

Prosanta Dulal Sarkar Dr. Rita Dr. Nirmalendu Barman Assistant Bhowmick Sarkar Assistant Professor, Associate Principal, Professor, Dept. of English Professor, HOD, Katwa College Dept. of Sanskrit & Dept. of Sanskrit & & Joint Convener, & Chairperson, Convener, Seminar Vice- Seminar Seminar Organizing chairperson, Organizing Organizing Committee Seminar Committee Committee Organizing Committee

 ABOUT KATWA AND OUR INSTITUTION 

Katwa is an ancient town in the heart of the agricultural belt of Rarh Bengal, known in history as a very important trading centre situated near the confluence of three districts, Purba Barddhaman, Nadia and Murshidabad. It was once known as Indrani, then as Kantaknagari, the place where Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu renounced the world and took sannyas at the feet of Keshav Bharati. Even today, Vaishnava pilgrims from all over visit the sacred spot. Katwa is also the confluence of the Ajay and Ganga rivers with centuries-old ghats dotting the riverfront. Known as a centre of riverine trade in the pre-colonial and early colonial period, it is today a bustling sub-divisional headquarter, with a vibrant business life and several renowned educational institutions at the apex of which stands the Katwa College. The College was founded in 1948 immediately following Independence as the result of relentless efforts by many renowned social leaders and educationists of Katwa. It was initially affiliated to the University of Calcutta and then to the University of Burdwan following the establishment of the latter in 1960. The College enjoys Grant-in-Aid status under the Government of West Bengal and today caters to almost 6,000 students, thus playing a vital role in the development of the region as the premier educational institution of the entire subdivision.

Page 2 of 5  Concept note 

Dharmaśāstra is a genre of Indian cultural texts, that refers to the code of conduct for an individual and code of law for the society. As the term suggests, it is a treatise of Dharma. Dharma according to Indian concept is the ethical way of life one must follow for the well- being of the creation. The Dharmaśāstras were composed either in the form of aphorisms or verses. The origin of Dharmaśāstra is rooted in the Kalpasūtras (Dharmasūtras in particular), one of the six Vedāṅgas. Later, Manu, Yajnavalkya and other sages prepared Smṛtis at various ages according to the need of the then society. The Dharmaśāstra texts preach the codes under three distinct categories– Ācāra, Vyavahāra and Prāyaścitta. Some of the smṛtis disucuss the three categories while some discuss the codes partly. Interestingly, the Vedas, the Purāṇas, the Rāmāyaṇa and the Mahābhārata are the kernel of the Dharmaśāstra. The Dharmasūtras and the smṛtis have derived many ideas from these texts only. In a nutshell, the Dharmaśāstra is the basic guideline for all the facets of life in India from the ancient times.

The core idea of the seminar is to explore the deep-rooted link of Dharmaśāstra in the day-today individual, social, political life through the length and breadth of the land. It seems that the Dharmaśāstra can be the guide for the sustainable development goals for the mankind.

 The broad areas are 

 Sustainable development and Dharmaśāstra.  Social ethics in the light of Dharmaśāstra.  Social responsibility of individuals as prescribed in Dharmaśāstra.  Governance, public administration and Dharmaśāstra.  Individual values and etiquette in the light of Dharmaśāstra.  The concept of crime and sin.  Crime, Criminal, Justice and Dharmaśāstra.  Legal procedure as prescribed in Dharmaśāstra.  Historical concept in Dharmaśāstra.  Social challenges and Dharmaśāstra.

Page 3 of 5  Guidelines for paper presenters 

Papers are invited from research scholars and faculty members of colleges and universities. The presenters may submit original unpublished papers from any one of the broad topics mentioned above. We would appreciate innovative rather than stereotyped topics for presentation. The abstract should not exceed 700 words. The particular Dharmaśāstra text(s) that is/are to be referred must be mentioned in the abstract. The paper must not exceed 3000 words excluding the bibliography. The presenters should use MLA style of referencing. Only papers that are typed in Unicode fonts will be considered for publication as a volume with ISBN from reputed publisher. Feel free to choose any language among Sanskrit, English, Bengali.

 Research papers submitted for publication should be original and fundamentally unpublished writings and not under consideration for publication.  All the full papers are to be submitted with full name of the author(s), present designation and institution, mobile number and E-mail Id.  Full papers must be sent to  [email protected] OR  [email protected]  Papers will be published in a volume with ISBN.

 registration fees 

Student: ₹ 800/- Faculty Member: ₹ 1500/-

Research Scholar: ₹ 1000/- Others: ₹ 1500/-

 Note: Accommodation is available on prior information (subject to availability and extra charges).

 Registration Link: https://bit.ly/39Nsky4  Click on the link

Page 4 of 5  important deadlines 

 Online Registration : 17th March, 2020 (Tuesday), Time: 23:45.  Submission of Paper: 20th March, 2020 (Friday).

 prize  The best three papers will fetch prizes.

 First (1st): ₹ 4000/- (Four Thousand) in cash.  Second (2nd): ₹ 3000/- (Three Thousand) in cash.  Third (3rd): ₹ 2000/- (Two Thousand) in cash.

 Feel free to contact with 

Prosanta Barman Dulal Sarkar (Assistant Professor in Sanskrit) (Assistant Professor in English) Mob. No.: +918582939757 / Mob. No.: +919609816225 / +917076588555 +917001612960 E-mail: [email protected] E-mail: [email protected]

Katwa College

 ॐ  Page 5 of 5