"Kavi Kovid" – Classical Hindi Textual Study Seminar summer 2021 1/6

Convener: Imre Bangha

Speaker: Prof. Linda Hess (Stanford) and Dr Jaroslav Strnad (Czech Academy of Sciences)

“Kavi Kovid” – Classical Hindi Textual Study Seminar 

“कवि कोविद” – पुरानी हिन्दी पाठ-अध्ययन वेबिनार 

Session 1/6: Kabīr in the 1614-17 manuscript – 1614-17 ई. की पांडुलिपि में कबीर

General Information

This webinar, held remotely on Teams, consists of a series of 80/90-minute sessions held every Wednesday from 28th April at 3pm BST/10am EST/7.30pm IST (until 12th May) and (from 19th May) 2pm BST/9am EST/6.30pm IST.

Experts from India, Pakistan, Europe and America will introduce to a global readership early modern Hindi texts (16th- to 19th c.) and discuss challenges of interpretation, variations and other aspects.

Academics and students with a solid foundation in Brajbhasha or another form of early Hindi, and familiarity with essential grammatical terminology in English or Hindi, are welcome to join either as reading participants or auditors. Reading participants prepare from the texts for every session and read a small unit when their turn comes. “Auditors”, are people who do not read. All participants will be able to comment on the text via the chatbox. A brief live discussion may follow the 90-minute reading session.

The Format of the Sessions

The practical setup will be like an advanced reading class. Session leaders share their primary texts online in advance. They may also share their glossary, manuscript images and recommended secondary reading (one or two articles in Hindi or English no more than 60 pages in total). At the session, one reading participant reads and translates a line of verse or a small unit, then the session leader comments on the translation, further observations from other participants and questions to the leader come via the chatbox. The host Imre Bangha will be moderating all sessions calling the readers and read out the questions. If the session leader decides so, we can add a ten-minute live discussion at the end.

सेमिनार एक पाठ-अध्ययन सेमिनार है। सदस्यों को हर सत्र का पाठ (कभी-कभी शब्दावली या टिप्पणियों के साथ) आगे से मिलेगा और सत्र से पहले ही वे खुद उसमें दिये पाठ घर पर या छोटे दलों में पढ़ेंगे। सेमिनार में पाठक अपने-अपने अर्थ पेश करेंगे। फिर सत्र-अध्यक्ष इस बात पर विचार करेंगे कि एक-एक अर्थ कहाँ तक जायज है । अगर पाठ पाठांतर-सहित है या रचना के प्रचलित पाठ से अलग है तो मुख्य पाठांतरों पर भी ध्यान दिलाया जाएगा। पाठक यह स्वीकार करने के लिए तैयार हैं कि एक-एक पंक्ति के अलग-अलग अर्थ हो सकते हैं और कभी-कभी हम सिर्फ अंदाज़ा लगा सकते हैं कि लेखक ने कौनसा अर्थ माना होगा या शायद लेखक ने ही जानबूझकर पंक्ति को अनेकार्थ बनाया था।

The seminar will be Hindi-English bilingual. Participants can speak the language they are comfortable with but are asked to speak clearly and slowly.

Taking screenshots or recording the event is not allowed.

The Seminar will be free of charge but a 5-40 Euro voluntary donation is suggested to help two small Indian charities leading underprivileged children to higher education and fighting poverty under Covid-19. One of them is doing it through holistic education that also puts emphasis on mother tongue Marathi, the other helps a high number of young people at the Himalayan tea gardens with extremely limited resources. These are the same charities that the 2020 Summer Workshop supported. Further information about them can be acquired at https://earlyhindibrajbhashaworkshop.wordpress.com/2020-donation-page/

To register please send your name, affiliation and information about your interest in Classical Hindi to imre.bangha@orinst.ox.ac.uk.