The Parekh Institute of Indian Thought was set up in 2013 with the help of a generous endowment from Nirman Foundation. The institute’s objective is to study the past and present moral, social and political thought of India and to share its deliberations widely through reading sessions, workshops, lectures and publications. This purpose, which structures all its activities, remains the focus of the Institute.
The institute chooses an appropriate theme each year and ensures that it forms part of a coherent and ongoing programme of research. For this purpose, it invites two to three internationally reputed Fellows working on the chosen theme. These fellows are appointed for a period of one to three months. During the period of their stay, they collaborate with each other, with fellows of the CSDS, and with other scholars working in the area. Readings on the theme are selected and intensive reading sessions held around them. To coincide with their stay, the Institute organizes a two to three-day workshop on the same theme. It also organizes the annual C.R. Parekh lecture by one of the invited fellows.
Reading Sessions
2023 - Sixteenth Century Śaiva/Vaiṣṇava Polemics - with Larry McCrae, Jonathan Peterson and Tarinee Awasthee.
2020 – Textual Life of Caste – with Manu Devadevan, Prithvi Chandra Datta Sobhi, Kanad Sinha, B. P. Sahu, Sajjad Alam Rizvi, Praskanva Sinharoy, Gopal Guru, Anupama Rao.
2019 – Dharmashastras – with Patrick Olivelle. Buddhism and Brahmanism in Early India – with Johannes Bronkhorst.
2018 – Narayinam, Natankusa and Ramayana Prabandham–with David Shulman, Yigal Bronner, Kesavan Veluthat, Gary Tubb and Andrew Ollett.
2017 - The ends of Human Life: a comparative study of Taoist, Confucian, Buddhist, and Hindu texts (in collaboration with Bergguren Institute, USA) –with David Wong, Roger T. Ames, Li Chenyang, Daniel Bell, Patrick Olivelle, Donald R Davis, Jens Schlieter, Arindam Chakravarty, Radhaballabh Tripathi.
2016 – Exclusion and Marginality in Sabara Bhasya, Mahabharata and Ramayana – with Larry McCrae, Ajay Rao, Christopher Minkowski. Workshop on “The Rise of Vedanta”.
2015 – Politics and Diversity in Manava Dharma Shastra, Artha Shastra, and the Asokan inscriptions – with Patrick Olivelle, Timothy Lubin and Mark McClish. Workshop on “Ethical Discourses in Ancient and Early Medieval India: Justice, Law and Religion”.
C. R. Parekh Memorial Lectures (Click to Watch)
2021: Timothy Lubin on 'Religious Endowments in First-Millennium India'
2019: Johannes Bronkhorst on ‘Rethinking India’s Past’.
2018: Yigal Bronner on ‘Dandin’s Open Mirror’.
2017: David Wong on ‘Soup, Harmony, and Disagreement’.
2016: Christopher Minkowski on ‘Epic Kings in the Wilderness’.
2015: Patrick Olivelle on ‘The Medical Profession in Ancient India’.
