Timothy Lubin at CSDS, 6th C. R. Parekh Memorial Lecture
Channel: Centre for the Study of Developing Societies
Date: 2022-02-16

Institute of Indian Thought, CSDS 
invites you to 6th C. R. Parekh Memorial Lecture

Religious Endowments in First-Millennium India

by Timothy Lubin

Kumkum Roy will Chair

Tuesday, 7 December 2021, 7 pm IST
The lecture will be held on Zoom
Link: https://bit.ly/3DCfKAS
Meeting ID: 828 6774 4479
Passcode: csdsdelhi

Giving to worthy recipients has been meritorious public piety in India at least since Aśoka. Most consequential were gifts in perpetuity of land or capital as a “religious foundation” (dharmadāna, brahmadeya, agrahāra, devadāna) for monks or Brahmins, conferred by means of a decree or charter (śāsana, sthiti).  In these records, rulers cede their claims to certain normal obligations of subjects, e.g., to pay taxes and levies, to provide compulsory labor, or to provide access or provisions to officers of the state; some even gave beneficiaries authority over internal legal affairs.  This lecture will discuss the implications of the fiscal and juridical autonomy conferred in such grants.

Timothy Lubin is the Jessie Ball duPont Professor of Religion at Washington and Lee University.  He studies the history of religion and law in South and Southeast Asia.  In 2020-21, he has been a fellow of the American Council of Learned Societies and of the US National Endowment for the Humanities.

Kumkum Roy taught ancient Indian history at Jawaharlal Nehru University. Her areas of interest include histories of political institutions and processes, and issues of gender.