Historical Rama by DK Hari & Hema Hari

தமிழ்ப் பாரம்பரியம்
(Tamil Heritage Trust)
presents

HISTORICAL RAMA 

by 
D K Hari and Hema Hari    
at 5.30pm on Saturday, April 5th, 2014
at Vinoba Hall, Thakkar Bapa Vidyalaya, T Nagar.

About the Topic:

Ramayana, the legend of Rama, penned by the poet Valmiki has been termed an itihasa meaning it is history. This means from ancient times, Rama has been an integral part of Indian history. The lifetime of Rama thus forms a benchmark in the timelines of Indian history.

If so, why do we still call Rama a mythological figure? At what point of Indian history did Rama live and when the events of Ramayana happen? If we can date the lifetime of Rama, we will be giving a definite shape to Indian history and along with it reshaping much of world history, from what it is known today.

The challenge with data on India is that it is found scattered in varied forms lying at various sources – some as old manuscripts, some in libraries as books in vernacular languages and English, some as oral poetry, some in the form of local Indian legends and some in the form of the myriad traditions of this land.  When data from all these sources are integrated and juxtaposed with findings from scientific explorations and data on India as a whole, we get to see the true picture of Indian history emerge.

Our works,
·       -  the three books - Historical Rama, Ramayana In Lanka, and Ayodhya – War and Peace,
·       - a film in 4 languages - Historical Rama in English, Aitihasik Ram in Hindi, Charithira Ramar in Tamil and Aitihasika Rama in Kannada and
·       - multimedia talks on Historical Rama
are part of an interdisciplinary effort to showcase the data on Rama’s time period that we have been able to gather from these varied sources, and the holistic and logical conclusion that we can draw from them.  Divinity is a matter of faith. Historicity is a matter of existence. We shall see how all these authentic data go to confirm that Rama was indeed a legendary, historical hero of this land who lived around 7100 years ago. This year we celebrate the 7128th birth anniversary of Rama.    

About the Speakers:
 
D.K.Hari

D.K.Hari hails from an Indian traditional family, with its roots in Kancheepuram, a very ancient town of India, which has been the silk centre of the South through the ages and is also known for its age old temples, saints and scholars.

He had his schooling in Rishi Valley School, then graduated from Madras Christian College and did his post graduation in Business Administration from P.S.G College of Technology, Coimbatore.

After managing the family businesses in various verticals such as Oil and Gas and FMCG supply chain for 8 years and heading the Marketing for a building industry product for 12 years, during which he established the brand and sales network in India and abroad, he has chosen to follow the calling in his life, with the pursuit and seeking of knowledge through questioning – a temper perhaps influenced by his schooling days in Rishi Valley.
Besides Bharath Gyan, D.K.Hari is also involved in various social activities such as the management of,
1.     Hindu Mission Hospital – a charity based hospital in Tambaram, Chennai 
2.     Valluvar Gurukulam – a school for educating first generation children in Tambaram, Chennai
3.     Dakshina Chitra – a heritage village, Chennai

D.K. Hema Hari
 
D.K. Hema Hari, born in Mysore, grew up in Bombay, to graduate in Physics and in computer engineering from Bombay University. She is a PMI certified Project Management Professional.

She started her career in Tata Consultancy Services in 1989 and after spending the first 10 years of her career there, moved to CSC India, where she spent the next decade of her career, in a Senior management capacity. Her career span focussed mainly on managing Innovation and nurturing new technologies by providing Consulting, Mentoring and Business Development support for the same.  She has travelled widely to many countries and also within India on professional as well as on personal grounds, which gave her an opportunity to learn about various cultures and widen her horizons.

After a 20 year career, working in leading edge technologies, she has changed gears and together with her husband authors books, films and other works, to disseminate their Bharath Gyan compilation and offers technical consulting as a freelancer.

Besides having founded Bharath Gyan, she also volunteers with a few other community based organizations in the field of health and education. She has trained in vocal Carnatic music and enjoys practicing music and fine arts as a hobby.    

RSVP:
A. Annamalai: Gandhi Study Centre - gandhicentre@gmail.com; 94441-83198
Badri Seshadri: Kizhakku-p-padippakam - badri@nhm.in; 98840-66566
S. Kannan: Bank of Baroda - 2498 5836
S. Swaminathan - sswami99@gmail.com; 2467 1501
R. Gopu, writergopu@yahoo.com, 98417-24641
T. Sivasubramanian, siva.durasoft@gmail.com, 98842-94494

Sittannavasal Paintings - a proposal for preserving the site - Prof. Swaminathan

Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH)
cordially invites you for a talk on
Sittannavasal Paintings
..a proposal for preserving the site
By
Prof S. Swaminathan
On Thursday, March 13th, at 5.30 PM
At
‘SPACES’
1, Eliots Beach Road, Besant Nagar, Chennai-600 090
----
About the Speaker:
Professor S.Swaminathan, taught mechanical engineering at IIT-Delhi for more than three decades, and attempted a number of experiments in teaching. With his view that the thrust of the science and technology establishment should be towards helping the ‘poorest of the poor’, his R & D activities were primarily in this direction. He believes that technology must be human-centered and that there exists a cultural route to development. Realising that Indian youth have an inadequate understanding of our heritage, and consequently lack a sense of identity, Swaminathan attempted acquainting the students with various aspects of culture, Indian music, Sanskrit, ancient Tamil literature, Tamil prosody, development of scripts, Gandhian philosophy, etc.
After retirement, Swaminathan continues to pursue his passion of creating interest and spreading awareness about our art, culture and heritage, especially among the youth. His vast canvas of interest and knowledge encompass the paintings of Ajanta, the Pallava art at Mamallapuram, story of writing, oral tradition of Sanskrit, temple arts and the heritage of Pudukkottai. He has also written a coffee-table book documenting the Mamallapuram monuments.
Dear to his heart is the compilation of a cultural atlas of Tamilnadu. This is an attempt to record the cultural and social history of every village in this vast country, for which he has designed suitable procedures and formats. He is among the founders of Tamil Heritage Trust, which is an attempt to raise an army of ‘foot soldiers of heritage’. He  lives in Chennai and his id is sswami99@gmail.com
About the Topic:
Swaminathan helped setting up a centre for arts and culture, called Sudharsanam in Pudukkottai, his native place, with the twin-aim of documenting the heritage of the district and offering an opportunity to the youth to appreciate their culture. During this period he has proposed a method of preserving the priceless paintings in the Jaina cave at Sittannavasal, by setting up a heritage complex incorporating a recreated cave shrine.
The talk is about the monuments of Sittannavasal and his decade-old proposal for preserving the paintings of Sittannavasal.