HKU Centre of Buddhist Studies 20th Anniversary Series
Public Lecture
The Role of Buddhism in the Multi-religious space of Darjeeling
Speaker: Prof. George Thadathil sdb
George thadathil sdb is an Independent Researcher doing archival work at US universities who has been in higher education in Darjeeling for three decades. He taught philosophy at Salesian College Sonada, did research on Sri Narayana Guru of South India at Madras University and has published on Nepali Language, Culture and Identity with CIIL Mysore and Sahitya Akademi, New Delhi. His latest work is Democracy in Darjeeling (2023). He has been part of the backwaters collective on metaphysics and politics an initiative backed by Cochin Biennale. He is a contributor to India and Civilizational Futures (2019), The INDIANS: Histories of a Civilization (2023) and other edited works besides the series editor of the Salesian Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences in its 14th year. He is currently working on a book on Christian Education and Democracy in India due to be released by penprints kolkata, in january 2024. He has earlier collaborated with the HKIHSS and hosted an International Seminar in North East India on “The Religious Practices of the Himalayas” in May 2023.
Lecture
The Role of Buddhism in the Multi-religious space of Darjeeling
Time: 7-9 pm | 6 Dec 2023 (Wed)
Venue: CBA, Chow Yei Ching Building, Main Campus, HKU
Free admission | First come first served | Online registration required
The lecture will focus on Darjeeling and its surrounds: including Eastern Nepal, Sikkim, Kalimpong District and Doars and Terai in North Bengal. Since the arrival of Buddhism in these parts to contemporary times, the old and new religious expressions enmeshed in varied ways. The texture and composition of the people and terrain have had a significant impact from the presence of Buddhism over two millennia. The Indigenous peoples especially the Lepchas (an autochthonous tribe) accommodating Buddhism contributed to the shaping of the culture of the place. It helps explain the emergence of ethnoregionalism from an anthropological, sociological and religiopolitical perspective and has lessons for today’s changing religious awareness.