CFP: Values and Contemporary Culture: An Indian Perspective

India promotes pluralistic ideology which is relevant in the present modern global context. It affirms the postulates needed to preserve the unity in diversity by way of ahimsa parmo dharma – the right to 'Live and Let Others Live.' We are told that one's relationship with one's self is internally related with one's relation with the other. Self and other are two sides of the same coin. Violence towards the other is violence towards self. Violence has become a part of modern life. We have learned to live with terrorism, religious conflicts, political unrest and social conflicts in the name of rights and environmental hazards. In some sense violence is a
necessary component of real life, but is it necessarily a social and moral evil? The Mahabharata lays much emphasis on trust as central to all personal and social relationship: what is its meaning and relation to violence?

All the more, traditional Indian values demand fresh appraisal in the light of the modern global trends particularly when the world is rapidly shrinking and mutual interdependence becomes vital for survival and peaceful coexistence. The aim of the conference is to bring various scholars together for a rich academic dialogue, better understanding of the tradition and its fresh reading. The conference will deal with this theme from the perspectives of literature, the socio-political, the historical, and Indian philosophy and religion, inviting scholars to ponder afresh an extremely important part of the common heritage.

Specifically papers are invited on the following themes:

• Indian Philosophy and its Central Massage: Violence or Non-violence?
• Violence and Modern Life
• Affirmation of pluralistic postulates: unity in diversity
• Mokshasastra and Moksha as values
• Violence and Ignorance
• Dharma as a legal, social and moral code leading to non-violence
• The role of trust as a traditional value
• Bondage in classical Indian Philosophy
• Women and the Caste system

Contact:

Prof. Asha Mukherjee
Department of Philosophy
Center for Women Studies
Visva-Bharati University
Shantiniketan, India
[email protected]

Conference website: