"Maritime Trade & Cultural Exchanges within the Indian Ocean : India & Sri Lanka" a talk by Dr. Osmund Bopearachchi at Lecture Room, Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA), 11, Mansingh Road > 5pm on 30th December 2014

Time : 5:00 pm Add to Calendar 30-12-2014 17:00:00 30-12-2014 18:30:00 68 "Maritime Trade & Cultural Exchanges within the Indian Ocean : India & Sri Lanka" a talk by Dr. Osmund Bopearachchi Event Page : http://goo.gl/VMKCaU Lecture Room, Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA), 11, Mansingh Road, New Delhi - 110001 DD/MM/YYYY

Entry : Free (Seating on First-Come First-Served Basis)

Venue : Lecture Room, Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA), 11, Mansingh Road, New Delhi - 110001
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Metro : Nearest Metro Station - 'Central Sectt.' (Yellow Line and Violet Line)
Landmark : Entry Gate of IGNCA from Mansingh Road is opposite Raksha Bhavan

Event Description : "Maritime Trade and Cultural Exchanges within the Indian Ocean : India and Sri Lanka" a talk by Dr. Osmund Bopearachchi, Numismatics and Archaeology Expert in the Indian Ocean Region under Mausam Project Lecture Series.

Abstract : The organisation of East-West trade is well attested following the conquest of Egypt by the Roman emperor Augustus in 30 BCE. The political control of Egypt by Augustus gave rise to a very profitable sea trade utilizing the Red Sea to provide passage to India to acquire luxury goods that had become fashionable within the Empire. Roman ships left Egypt in July to reach the Gulf of Aden and, from there, utilizing the south-west monsoon, sailed to the ports of Barygaza (Broach in Gujarat) or Muziris (in Kerala), on the west coast of India. However, South Indian and Sri Lankan regional maritime network has a long history and goes back to the early historic periods. Interestingly, the discovery of a shipwreck near the southern coast of Sri Lanka, three miles from the ancient port-site of Godavaya, dated to the first century BCE has revolutionised our knowledge of the history of maritime trade in South Asia,particularly between India and Sri Lanka. During this period when the South Indian traders who were playing the intermediary role between Roman traders and Sri Lankans came from Andhra and Tamil Nadu to Sri Lanka in search of merchandise. Some donors of the caves, the earliest dwellings of the Buddhists monks, were nāvikas (mariners) or vaṇijha (traders). The earliest Buddha images and some portable marble reliefs depicting various Buddhist themes found in Sri Lanka were originally executed in Amaravati-Nagarjunakonda and were brought to the island by pious traders or pilgrims as offerings. The focus of the conference will be on the cultural exchanges between India and Sri Lanka resulted from the maritime activities in the Indian Ocean during the early historic period. A particular attention will be given to the role of the Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara as the protector of mariners and the maritime trade in the Indian Ocean. 

Bio Note : Prof. Osmund Bopearachchi is a Director of Research at the French National Centre for Scientific Research (C.N.R.S.-E.N.S. Paris) and also visiting professor and member of the Doctoral School VI of the Paris IV-Sorbonne University. He is a numismatist, historian and archaeologist. He holds a B.A. from the University of Kelaniya (Sri Lanka), and B.A. Honours, M.A., M.Phil., Ph.D. from the Paris I-Sorbonne University, and a Higher Doctorate (Habilitation) from the Paris IV-Sorbonne University. He has published nine books, edited six books and published 150 articles in international journals. Going beyond the traditional approach of simply cataloguing coins, he has made an attempt to link numismatics with the sculptural and pictorial iconography. These attempts made him more and more interested in 
diverse art forms in ancient India. The exhibition catalogues that he has edited and coauthored, international colloquia that he has organised and published and numerous research articles that he has written are the outcome of his deep-seated interest in Central Asian and South Asian archaeology, art and architecture.

Osmund Bopearachchi currently serves as the director of the Sri Lanka French Archaeological Mission, and also has launched a joint project with the Department of NearEastern Studies of the University of California at Berkeley focusing on Sri Lanka’s role in ancient maritime trade in the Indian Ocean. He is currently excavating the most ancient shipwreck in the Indian Ocean dating back to the 2nd century before the Common Era with the collaboration of the Department of Archaeology, Sri Lanka, INA, University Texas A & M, University of California at Berkeley) and CNRS. 

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