The Consulate General of India in Hong Kong has launched a three-part seminar series on Sanskrit and Buddhist studies and literature. The series is titled “Prajña” and pays homage to the common concept of transcendent vision in Buddhism and Hinduism. This series on Indian spiritual heritage was launched this month and will continue until March.
On intuitive of ultimate reality. The Consulate considers that this series contributes to achieving its objective of extending India's reach to specialists in Buddhism and Indian studies based in Hong Kong and deepening dialogue with religious communities in the Special Administrative Region (SAR). .
On January 22, Prajña's inaugural lecture at the consulate was given by Dr. Patricia Sauthoff, assistant professor in the Department of History at Hong Kong Baptist University, with a question-and-answer and open discussion session moderated by the Dr. Tony Chui. Dr. Sauthoff's keynote address focused on "Healing and Tantra in Sanskrit Literature," with particular attention given to the historical use of mercury in Ayurvedic treatments as well as how the formulas and the methodologies often transcended the "sectarian" boundaries (if they ever existed) between historical Buddhism. and Hinduism.
As part of the promotion of this series, the Indian consulate shared on social media the hashtag "#cultureunitesall", captioned an image of a standing Mathuran Buddha, and reposted the image from the temple's Ministry of Culture Maha Bodhi at Bodh Gaya.
In February and March, the consulate will host two more seminars to complete the lecture series, with Professor Dr Amrita Nanda from the Center for Buddhist Studies (CBS) at the University of Hong Kong (HKU) delivering a speech on “the Introduction to Buddhism/Sanskrit. Texts” next month. Finally, in March, Dr Bill Mak, a senior fellow at Robinson College, University of Cambridge, will give a lecture entitled “History of Indian Studies in Hong Kong and China”. This lecture will be moderated by former HKU Vice-Chancellor Professor CF Lee.
On January 25, the consulate organized an Indian classical music evening at the Xiqu Center in Hong Kong's West Kowloon cultural hub. The performance took place at the Tea House Theater in the presence of the consular corps, representatives of the Hong Kong Indian community and members of the Hong Kong Buddhist studies community, including Dr. Georgios Halkias, Director of CBS, Dr. Bill Mak and Buddhadoor Global. . The event was a celebration of guyswhich constitute the ancient and classical musical traditions of India.
The show was led by senior musicians Shobhana Rajesh Iyer, Arup Gupta and Nagendra Shrestha. Iyer is a Hindustani classical singer and founder of Raag Raagini Creations in Hong Kong. Gupta is a Calcutta-born percussionist and table player who has performed around the world and is a guest artist with the City Chamber Orchestra of Hong Kong. Shesthra is a professional singer-songwriter with over four decades of experience in the Hindi and Nepali music industry and has composed music for many Nepali and Indian artists. Songs included Ganesh Vandana (invocation to Ganesh), Dasavataram (interpretation of Geeta Govindam in Raag Malika), And Maitroisem Bhajata (this is a song calling for world peace and which was performed as the final act of the concert).
A small booklet containing remarks on the series, as well as the conferences of the three speakers, will be published by the consulate after the final intervention.
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