Appaya Dīkṣita handing over some of his works to his disciple-brother’s grandson Nīlakaṇṭha Dīkṣita, Minister to Madurai Tirumalai Nāyakkar
Lecture by Elaine Fisher on Nīlakaṇṭha Dīkṣita's Saubhāgya-candrātapa, a Śrīvidyā Paddhati
08 APRIL 11
“Śrīvidyā for the Early Modern Age: Some Salient Features of Nīlakaṇṭha Dīkṣita's Saubhāgyacandrātapa, a Śrīvidyā Paddhati”
Nīlakaṇṭha Dīkṣita, poet, intellectual, and royal minister of seventeenth-century Madurai, is best remembered for his first-rate Sanskrit literary compositions, including epic poems (mahākāvyas), hymns (stotras), and satires. This lecture introduces another little-known work of the literary celebrity, a ritual manual (paddhati) of the Śrīvidyā Śākta tradition entitled the Saubhāgyacandrātapa. This rare and intriguing composition provides a wealth of information about the history and ritual practice of a Śrīvidyā lineage in which a number of prominent intellectual figures in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century South India seem to have participated. In this talk, Elaine Fisher will present an overview of the available manuscript evidence, the structure and contents of the work, sources cited, and some noteworthy features of Nīlakaṇṭha’s presentation of his material that allow us to recover details of the social context in which the Saubhāgyacandrātapa was composed.
The lecture will take place at 4.30 pm on Friday 8th April 2011 in the Library Hall, 19 Dumas Street.
lectures
Nīlakaṇṭha Dīkṣita, poet, intellectual, and royal minister of seventeenth-century Madurai, is best remembered for his first-rate Sanskrit literary compositions, including epic poems (mahākāvyas), hymns (stotras), and satires. This lecture introduces another little-known work of the literary celebrity, a ritual manual (paddhati) of the Śrīvidyā Śākta tradition entitled the Saubhāgyacandrātapa. This rare and intriguing composition provides a wealth of information about the history and ritual practice of a Śrīvidyā lineage in which a number of prominent intellectual figures in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century South India seem to have participated. In this talk, Elaine Fisher will present an overview of the available manuscript evidence, the structure and contents of the work, sources cited, and some noteworthy features of Nīlakaṇṭha’s presentation of his material that allow us to recover details of the social context in which the Saubhāgyacandrātapa was composed.
The lecture will take place at 4.30 pm on Friday 8th April 2011 in the Library Hall, 19 Dumas Street.
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2022
2021
2020
2019
2018
2017
2016
2015
2014
2013
2012
2011
DECEMBER NOVEMBER OCTOBER SEPTEMBER AUGUST JULY JUNE MAY APRIL MARCH FEBRUARY JANUARY 2010
awards
concerts
conferences
departures
doctoral defences
exhibitions
lectures
our buildings
pattrika
publications
recruitment
scholarships
visitors
workshops