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UNIVERSITY ROUNDUP

Under the Distinguished Lecture Series, Padma Vibhushan Mangalampalli Balamuralikrishna delivered a lecture on ‘My Creations in Music’ at the University of Hyderabad.

Dr. Balamuralikrishna spoke on his creation in music and about the pervasive influence of music on the individual and how carnatic music would probably have been the foundation of music of the world. Music from India has had such a comprehensive foundation and it later branched out into different forms of music across the world. He also spoke about his rejection of blind adherence to traditions and his examples were his discovery of ragas with only 3 or 4 notes as against the standard of 5.

He also spoke of his experiments with Tala and his decision to provide intervals in his music concerts. He concluded his presentation by singing compositions which had become popular amongst the audience. Later Dr. Balamuralikrishna was felicitated by Vice-Chancellor Seyed E Hasnain.

The raging controversy over the presence or otherwise of the debatable ‘Ramar Sethu’ (Adam’s bridge) between Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka had its echo last week in the Dravidian heartland of Kuppam, located very much at the confluence of Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.

As part of the Decennial Celebrations of Dravidian University, its Department of History, Archaeology and Culture conducted a national seminar on ‘Recent trends in Dravidian Historiography’ at Bhasha Bhavan on its Kuppam campus on October 30. Delegates from the four southern States attended in large numbers.

In his keynote address, Gopala Krishnan, a retired professor of History at SV University reminded the audience of the theory that the land comprising the Madagascar region, the present area of Sethusamudram and the peninsular India, was home to Dravidians, which was called ‘Lemuria’ and also ‘Kumarikkantam’, which was in agreement with the analogy of the present day Kanyakumari. He brought in evidence from various sources and explained the subject with clarity in order to buttress his argument. While the same topic came up for a critical assessment at a scientific session held later, Prof.T.P.Sankaran Kutti Nayar of University of Kerala threw his lot behind Prof.Krishnan.

Basava Raja, a retired professor of Karnataka University, in his inaugural address, dealt on the macro, micro and local level writings on history and appealed to the Department to shoulder the responsibility of finding a solution to the Ramar Sethu issue.

Setting the tone for discussion, Prof. Yenadi Raju, head of the host department, pointed to the submerged structures in the shore waters of the Bay of Bengal near Mahabalipuram and also those of the legendary Dwaraka in the Arabian Sea near the Gujarat coast. By this, he dropped enough hints at the possibility of submergence of a kind of moderate bund-like passage --if not a huge bridge as the present generation thinks of, in the shallow waters of yore between Rameswaram and the western tip of the Sri Lankan island. He sought a comprehensive discussion on the subject with historians and multifarious scholars of science and lore.

A.D. Rangarajan

in Tirupati

Scholars from humanities, social sciences and sciences spoke about their intersection of their respective disciplines with others at a national seminar on ‘The Humanities in the Present Context’ organised by the University of Hyderbad. There were five plenary lectures from scholars drawn from these disciplines and 22 papers were presented that dealt with literary, philosophical, sociological and scientific issues in relation to the Humanities.

Seyed Hasnain, Vice-Chancellor, University of Hyderabad who inaugurated the seminar noted the importance of the Humanities for holistic education.

He also asserted the important role of the Humanities in the University of Hyderabad.

The Valedictory Lecture was given by Udaya Narayana Singh, Director, CIIL, Mysore who gave a detailed categorisation of the Humanities as a discipline and spoke about its assumptions, procedures and methods.

The Seminar was directed by Mohan Ramanan, Dean, School of Humanities and coordinated by Tutun Mukherjee and Panchanan Mohanty. This Seminar was a part of the MoU entered into with Assam University, Silchar. A large delegation from Assam University was also present at the Seminar including its Pro-Vice-Chancellor, G.D. Sharma.

The two-day inter-college literary and cultural festival began on a colourful note on the campus on November 2. More than 300 students represented various degree and PG colleges under the jurisdiction of Kakatiya University were taking part in competitions – classical music and folk, classical and folk dance, mimicry, skits, rangoli, spot painting, poster making, essay writing, elocution, quiz among others. The winners would get an opportunity to compete at the inter-university competitions representing the Kakatiya University.

The Department of Economics, Kakatiya University PG college organised a two-day national seminar on ‘Emerging trends in rural economy – post globalisation dimensions’ on November 3 and 4.Eminent people from prestigious institutions took part in the deliberations.

G OLLAPUDI SRINIVASA RAO

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