Archaeology of Bhakti

Bhāgavatamāhātmya

Bhāgavatamāhātmya, undated edition (Gaṇapatakṛṣṇājī Mudrālaya, Bombay)

ahaṃ bhaktir iti khyātā (...)
utpannā drāviḍe sāhaṃ vrddhiṃ karṇāṭake gatā
kvacit kvacin mahārāṣṭre gurjare jīrṇatāṃ gatā (...)
vrndāvanaṃ punaḥ prāpya navīneva surūpiṇī
jātāhāṃ yuvatī samyak preṣṭharūpā tu sāṃpratam
Bhāgavatamāhātmya I.44-49 (partim)

" [I am called Bhakti (...)]
I was born in Dravida,
grew mature in Karnataka,
Went here and there in Maharashtra,
then in Gujarat became old and worn (...)
But on reaching Brindavan I was renewed,
I became lovely once again,
So that now I go about as I ought:
a young woman of superb appearance."

Translation by John Stratton Hawley ("Seeing the Bhakti Movement," In Archaeology and Text: The Temple in South Asia, ed. by Himanshu Prabha Ray, New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2010, p. 234).

The Archaeology of Bhakti
August 3rd - 14th 2015

The third workshop in the series The Archaeology of Bhakti, coorganised by Valérie Gillet (EFEO, Pondicherry), Charlotte Schmid (EFEO, Paris) and E. Francis (CEIAS, EHESS & CNRS, Paris) will take place at the centre of the EFEO in Pondicherry from the 3rd to 14th August 2015.

This year's theme is "The Bhakti of Minor Dynasties". The call for contributions is available at the following link.

 

 

EFEO News
Exhibition 'Ombre et lumière, danses et théâtres au Cambodge'
Paris, France, 31 August 2018
Come and discover a selection of photographs from the EFEO archives on the occasion of the exhibition Ombre et lumière, danses et théâtres au Cambodge, which is held at the Maison de l'Asie on the 1st floor and in the reading room of the library.

Free admission, from Monday to Friday from 9h to 18h.
22 avenue du Président Wilson, 75116 Paris.
In Memoriam Pierre André Lablaude
Paris, France,

Pierre André Lablaude (1947-2018)
READ THE IN MEMORIAM READ MORE
Archaeometallurgy Conference
Bangkok, Thailand, 17 July 2018
The EFEO Centre in Bangkok organise an Archaeometallurgy Conference, entitled "Manufacture, origin and dating of iron from the Phimai and Phnom Rung temples: A proposition to document the production and the consumption of iron in Northeast Thailand," presented by Dr. Stéphanie Leroy (CNRS, France) and Dr. Pira Venunan (Department of Archaeology, Faculty of Archaeology, Silpakorn University, Thailand). It will take place on Tuesday, July 17th, 2018, from 10:30 to 12:00, at the Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn Anthropology Centre, Conference Room 402.

 

Fourth International Intensive course in Old Javanese
Yogyakarta, Central Java, Indonesia, 15 July 2018
Aiming to support the training of a new generation of Old Javanese philologists and to stimulate international collaboration in this field, the École française d'Extrême-Orient (French School of Asian Studies, EFEO) and the National Library of the Republic of Indonesia (Perpusnas), with support from the École Pratique des Hautes Études (Paris), PSL Research University (Paris), and the Royal Netherlands Institute for Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies (KITLV), will co-organize this year, for the fourth time, an international intensive course in Old Javanese.
 READ MORE
French minister Mr Edouard Philippe's official trip to Beijing
Beijing, China, 26 June 2018
During French minister Mr Edouard Philippe's official trip to Beijing, Guillaume Dutournier (in charge of Efeo's Beijing center) has assisted the prime minister during two visits on June the 25th : a private tour of the Confucius Temple, the Imperial Academy, as well as a tour of the Temple of heaven alongside the french delegation. The visit of these iconic symbols of chinese imperial history enabled the exposition of EFEO's academic cooperations with its local partners throughout China. Furthermore, it also provided an opportunity to emphasize on the importance of a long-term field presence, in order to improve our understanding of China. (photo credits AFP)