Srinivas Reddy is a scholar, translator and musician. He studied classical South Asian languages and literatures at UC Berkeley and currently teaches at Brown University and IIT Gandhinagar. Srinivas is also a concert sitarist and studied in the traditional guru-śiṣya paramparā with Pandit Partha Chatterjee, senior disciple of the late sitar maestro Pandit Nikhil Banerjee of the Maihar gharana. Srinivas’s books include Raya: Krishnadevaraya of Vijayanagara (2020), Meghadutam: The Cloud Message (2017), Malavikagnimitram: The Dancer and the King (2015), and Amuktamalyada: Giver of the Worn Garland (2010). www.srinivasreddy.org
Abstract of the lecture
Sanskrit, A Living Tradition: Production, Commentary & Translation
This talk explores the ways in which theoretical frameworks, concepts and formulations derived from Sanskrit texts continue to shape the evolution and analysis of artistic disciplines such as poetics and music. With particular reference to production, commentary and translation as distinct modes of cultural influence, Sanskrit knowledge systems will be viewed in a historical continuum that highlights the changing stature of Sanskrit influence, the mutually interactive nature of theory with practice, and the enduring prestige of Sanskrit authority.