Prof. Max Deeg’s Lecture at Patna Women’s College, Patna
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Bihar Heritage Development Society, Patna in collaboration with History and Philosophy Department of Patna Women’s College organized a lecture titled ‘The Quest for India: Chinese Travelogues, Their Meaning & Function’ by Prof. Max Deeg, an eminent Indologist and Professor at School of History, Archaeology and Religion at Cardiff University. The lecture was organized to familiarize students with the various Chinese travelers such as Xuanzang, Faxian, Yijing, Huichao and Yuanzhao. In the course of his talk he spoke about Karl Friedrich Neumann as he was one of the earliest to treat these travelogues as archaeological records. Interestingly he also pointed out that Alexander Cunningham, a pioneer of Indian archaeology, worked out the details given in these travelogues to identify sites such as Nalanda and Shravasti. This was followed by Presidential address by Dr. Bijoy Kumar Choudhary (Executive Director of BHDS), who spoke about the ongoing project on the archaeological trail of Xuanzang’s footsteps in Bihar which is resulting into the discovery of new archaeological sites. Dr Sister Celine Crasta, Head of History Department, Patna Women’s College welcomed the guests and Prof. Ameeta Jaiswal, Head of Philosophy Department delivered the vote of thanks and encouraged the students to think beyond their own discipline and work towards developing a multi – disciplinary approach.