Inviting Nominations for V Venkayya Epigraphy Award 2024

 

V Venkayya Epigraphy Award

Smt Sunitha Madhavan and Tamil Heritage Trust are proud and happy to call for nominations for the Third V Venkayya Epigraphy Award, 2024. The annual award, one of its kind, was instituted in 2022, in the memory of Rai Bahadur Shri V Venkayya, a pioneering Epigrapher who became the first Indian Chief Epigraphist to the Government of India. 

The award was instituted by the great-granddaughter of Shri V Venkayya, Smt. Sunitha Madhavan, who published his biography in 2021, with the encouragement of (Late) Shri R Nagaswamy.

The V Venkayya Epigraphy Award (VVE Award) aims to recognize exceptional individual contributions towards the discovery of unrecorded inscriptions, interpretation of inscriptions from a refreshingly new perspective, dissemination of wealth of knowledge contained in them by conventional as well as digital medium and preservation of Epigraphic resources for posterity.  

By rewarding outstanding work in this area, the Award aspires to encourage interest and involvement of all the stakeholders including the general public in Indian Heritage and Epigraphy in particular, thereby raising the awareness and appreciation of history, literature, arts and culture which deserve our attention and care.

The award aims to recognize and reward the efforts and achievements of individuals. Thus, collective enterprises like societies, trusts, Section 8 companies and other interest groups will not be eligible for the award.  The nominees can be both professionals in the field of epigraphy or independent researchers or enthusiasts who have a substantial corpus of work in furthering epigraphy in India.  The Award is based on a nomination and selection process. The Award consists of a citation and a prize of Rs.20000/- 

V Venkayya Epigraphy Award Winners – 2022 & 2023 

Dr. Y Subbarayalu, one of India’s eminent Epigraphers and Historians was the recipient of the inaugural V Venkayya Epigraphy Award in 2022. Dr Y Subbarayalu has held several academic positions in institutions like Madurai Kamaraj University, Madurai, Tamil University, Thanjavur etc., He also served as a Visiting Professor at the University of Tokyo and EPHE, Paris. He was a researcher in the Department of Indology for more than a decade at the French Institute of Pondicherry.

He has authored, co-authored, and edited many books, publications and articles. To name a few - authored South India under Cholas; Glossary of Tamil Inscriptions; along with Noboru Karashima and Toru Matsui A Concordance of the Names in the Chola Inscriptions; edited South Indian Inscriptions, Vol. XXXIV, Archaeological Survey of India; co-edited with S Rajavelu Inscriptions of the Vijayanagara Rulers, Vol. V, part I (Tamil Inscriptions)

Dr P V Krishnamurthy (Dr PVK) one of the foremost Kannada Epigraphers was the recipient of the second V Venkayya Epigraphy Award in 2023. An Engineer in Hindustan Aeronautics Limited he earned his D. Litt(PhD) in the year 2000 from Kannada University, Hampi for his study on the inscriptions of Bana Kings. He has been teaching Epigraphy & Manuscriptology under the aegis of Kannada Sahitya Parishat, IGNCA, Bangalore, B.M. Sri. Pratishtana etc., Many Epigraphists and enthusiasts, young and old alike consider Dr. PVK as their guide and mentor.

Dr PVK has authored several books on various subjects such as  Epigraphy, History, Travelogue etc., Some of his well-known books are Baanarasara Shaasanagalu ondu Adhyayana (A Study of Bana Dynasty Inscriptions), Tamilunadina Kannada Shasanagalu (Kannada Inscriptions of Tamilnadu). He has edited 19 volumes of Itihasa Darshana, which are the proceedings of the Seminar and Research Papers, for the Karnataka Itihasa Academy. He has written more than 170 articles/papers in different research Journals, Felicitation, Commemoration, and in Encyclopedia Vols. etc.

About Rai Bahadur V Venkayya 

(Rai Bahadur) Shri V. Venkayya, born in 1864 in the lineage of the illustrious scholar Appaya Dikshita of the 16th century, was one of the pioneering epigraphists of India. His contribution to understanding the inscriptions of Pallavas, starting with Mamallapuram and Cholas with Brahadeeswara Temple, broke new ground in the field of Epigraphy in India. He also deciphered the writing (legends) on coins. 

A chance meeting with Dr. E. Hultzsch, the famous German Indologist and ASI’s first Chief Epigraphist, at Mamallapuram, turned the obscure school teacher into an expert in epigraphy, who eventually became the first Indian Chief Epigraphist to the Government of India.  His stellar effort in unravelling, recording and deciphering hundreds of lithic and copper-plate inscriptions of Pallavas, Cholas, Pandyas and others through publications like “South Indian Inscriptions” inspired many epigraphists and historians to record, reconstruct and write the history of South India in a new light with clarity and scholarship. 

The ultimate tribute to Shri V Venkayya came from John H. Marshall, Director General of the Archaeological Survey of India from 1902 to 1928. ‘From first to last, his life in the Archaeological Department was one of assiduous labour and devotion to duty and his work throughout was characterized by sound scholarship.’

Nomination Process

1. Any individual can nominate any other individual whom they believe has done noteworthy work in the area of Epigraphy
2. Individuals can also nominate themselves. 
3. An individual can send only one nomination. 
4. Nominations received in the years 2022 & 2023 but not considered for the Award in the years 2022 & 2023 will be automatically considered this year. Those nominated in the years 2022 & 2023 need not be nominated again.
5. The nominee must be a citizen of India and ordinarily resident in India. 
6. Nominations must be sent by email to awards.tht@gmail.com to reach us before May 21, 2024. 
7. There is no Nomination Form 
8. A Nomination must consist of the following:
• a. Personal Details: Full Name, Full Address, Mobile Number, Email id, Scanned Passport size Photograph, Brief biodata of the Nominee 
• b. Details of Contribution to Epigraphy: Details of actual work done by the nominee, with particular emphasis on work in the past ten years.  The details may be sent in any one of the following formats:  MS Word, MS PowerPoint or PDF.
• c. Supporting Documentation: Documentary evidence of the work done by the nominee could include copies of papers submitted, articles written in journals, newspapers or magazines, links to any websites or blogs run by the nominee, lists of talks given, courses conducted, links to social media presence etc.
9. Nominations and accompanying details are to be in English only. 

Selection of Winner

A jury comprising experts from the field of Epigraphy, History and Heritage and members of the THT Award Committee will select the winner.   As a part of the selection process, the members of the jury may choose to have an interaction with the nominee in person or over the phone. 

Award Ceremony & Award Lecture

The V Venkayya Epigraphy Award will be presented at a formal ceremony on July 27, 2024 (Saturday) in Chennai. 

The Winner will be invited to present the Award Lecture at the Ceremony. The Winner may choose a topic of her/his choice and will be required to submit the lecture manuscript for publication at least a week before the ceremony. The Award Lecture should preferably be in English.  

FAQs

Am I eligible to enter?

We welcome Nominations from any individual who is a citizen of India and is ordinarily resident in India.  Organisations and institutions – like Societies, Trusts, Interest Groups etc – are not eligible.

Nominations that were not considered for the award in the years 2022 & 2023 need not be sent again this year. Those nominations will be automatically considered for the award this year 

  

What is the Last Date for Nomination?

The last date for the Nomination to reach THT is May 21, 2024. 

What are the criteria for selection?

The judges will look for, among other qualities and parameters:

• New epigraphical discoveries or insights
• Thoroughness of knowledge in the chosen area
• Scholarly rigour in the individual’s output
• Demonstrable eagerness to share with the public and involve them in a dialogue
• Consistency and persistence of the effort 

In what language should the Nomination be submitted? 

Nominations can be sent in English only. 

Is there an Entry Fee? 

No, there is no fee involved. 

When will the winner be announced?

The winner will be announced shortly before the Award Ceremony and the Award Lecture.

 

When and where is the Awards Ceremony?

The Ceremony will take place on July 27, 2024, at Arkay Convention Centre, Chennai. The time will be announced later. 

Is it necessary for the Winner to deliver the Award Lecture?

Yes, the Winner will be expected to deliver the Award Lecture at the Ceremony, in English, on a topic of her/his choice. 

Terms + Conditions of Entry

The Award will be made solely at the discretion of the Jury. No feedback or correspondence will be entered into about the results and the Jury’s decision is final.

For any clarifications, please contact us at:
Mail:  awards.tht@gmail.com
Phone: Ravishankar: 95000 74247 (ravithyag@yahoo.com)

Deconstructing the Bas Reliefs of Angkor Wat. By S Vijay Kumar. May 4,2024

Scholars have described in detail the themes of the 13,000-odd sq feet of the larger reliefs and yet most visitors merely walk right past these magnificent reliefs after a quick mandatory selfie. Most are not aware of the smaller and more fascinating wall reliefs which are a testament to the skill and scholarship of the Khmer artists. For instance, the south-west and north-west pavilions contain representations of some rare episodes like the depiction of the abduction of Sita (not by Ravana), revelation of Krishna and Balarama's cosmic form to a charioteer (not to Arjuna), Khmer representation of Gatotkacha and many more images whose interpretations are still open for study and debate. Join S Vijay Kumar, Founder, India Pride Project for his talk "Deconstructing the Bas Reliefs of Angkor Wat", as he takes us on a walk around these marvelous masterpieces that the twelfth century Khmer emperor Suryavarman II had caused to be sculpted, depicting the puranas and itihasas from a far away India. Speaker: S Vijay Kumar, Founder, India Pride Project is a largely self-taught expert on Indian Temple sculpture and art. He started documenting his learning process in Tamil and English on a bilingual blogsite – https://poetryinstone.in/ – writing extensively on sculpture and art appreciation, introducing audiences to the nuances of our temple art. The site, with more than 300 posts, is non-commercial. He and his team of dedicated volunteers aim to document and build an online searchable archive of temple art on the internet. For the past sixteen years, Vijay has been instrumental in the tracking of trafficked Indian artefacts, working closely with various pan-global organisations assisting in their restitution efforts – including the return of the Vriddachalam Ardhanari, Sripurathan Nataraja, the Toledo Ganesha, the Ball state museum Alingana Murthy, the Kushan Buddha from the National Gallery of Australia, the Sripuranthan Uma from ACM Singapore, the Brahma Brahmani from Patan recovered from London. His background work led to several raids conducted by Home Land Security USA during the Asia week in NYC. He played a key role in uncovering the antiquities smuggling network of Subhash Kapoor and the USD 108 million seizure of 2622 objects in America, which is chronicled in his non-fiction book “The Idol Thief” published by Juggernaut Books. Vijay is a regular speaker and columnist for The Hindu, Times of India and other dailies. He also conducts free workshops to schools and colleges to encourage the next generation to take up an interest in Indian art.

Vrishnis: Evidence of Bhagavata Tradition in Early Indian Art - Dr VInay Kumar Gupta - 5:30 pm, Apr 6, 2024

In the Mahabharata, the Vrishnis were an important clan in which Bhagavan Vasudeva- Krishna was born along with his siblings Samkarshana-Balarama and Ekanamsa as well as other great warriors. The Bhagavata tradition is understood to have developed from the Vrishnis. The spread of the Bhagavata doctrine in a vast area of ancient India and beyond is significant and provides important information about the development of the dharma not only in northern India but southern India as well. In his Talk, "Vrishnis: Evidence of Bhagavata Tradition in Early Indian Art", Dr Vinay Kumar Gupta, Superintending Arcaheologist at ASI, Jaipur, examines the evolution of the Bhagavata tradition from the early images of Vasudeva and other Vrishnis that can be identified in rock and sculptural art. Do join us at 5.30 pm IST on Saturday, March 2, 2024 for this on-line talk in English. About The Speaker: Dr Vinay Kumar Gupta is Superintending Archaeologist, Jaipur Circle in the Archaeological Survey of India. He was earlier Assistant Professor in Dr HS Gour Central University, Sagar, M.P. His Ph.D. thesis was on “Braj: An Art and Archaeological Study – Based on Archaeological Explorations in the Region of Braj”. His areas of specialization and interest include north Indian archaeology and early Indian art and religious studies. Dr Gupta has directed excavations at Bewan, a site dating back to the OCP-Ganeshwar culture period, Barnoli-ki-Dhai, a PGW site and co-directed excavations at Rakhigarhi. He has also participated in excavations at Khirasara, Bhiranna, Baror and Hansi. At present, he is conducting excavations at Bahaj, a proto / early historic site in the vicinity of sacred Govardhan hills, Mathura. During his posting in the Antiquities and Customs Section, he played an important role in retrieval of various Indian antiquities from foreign lands and in preventing illegal export of antiquities. Dr Gupta has authored and edited half a dozen books and has published about fifty research papers. His major publications include “Mathura: An Art and Archaeological Study” and the write-ups of “Mathura” and “Vraja” in the Oxford Bibliographies on Hinduism.

How can one begin to write a history of Tamil food? What can we learn if we read the archives for clues about how people lived, cooked, and ate instead of telling tales of rulers, wars, and power conflicts? What did spice mixtures taste like in the Tamil region before the introduction of hot chillies? And who must we really credit for the invention of that most iconic of Tamil dishes: sambhar? The fortunately vast historical record of texts in Tamil language, from the ancient period through the modern, provides ample food for thought. In her Talk, "Tastes of the Tamil Land: Recipes and Culinary Practices from History", Dr. Andrea Gutiérrez of the University of Texas at Austin, utilizes various archives of written material, from sangam poems and inscriptions to manuscripts and print cookbooks, in order to assemble a better picture of the culinary history of this region so well-known for its varied and delectable dishes. les of the era. She will also explore the relationships between the various Buddhist sites in the region. About The Speaker: Dr. Andrea Gutiérrez is Assistant Professor of Instruction at The University of Texas at Austin, USA. Her two research priorities are food history of South Asia and historical animal studies for the region. Her most recent publications include “Toward a Better Understanding of Medieval Temple Food Practices: The View from Srirangam” (Journal of Hindu Studies) and “Elephant Education, Linguistic Articulation, Punishment? Gajaśikṣā as Interspecies Communication in Elephant Care Manuals of Early India” (Bloomsbury). Dr. Gutiérrez is presently finishing her monograph on Royal Pleasures of the Dining in India’s History and is actively researching her project on captive elephant history of India. She was recently awarded a Getty Library Research Grant for work on food history (Getty Research Institute, 2022). Dr Gutierrez's work has been awarded a number of prizes, including the DK Award for the Outstanding Doctoral Thesis on Sanskrit (International Association of Sanskrit Studies) and the Specialist Accolade for Dissertation in the Humanities, from the International Convention of Asia Scholars.

A Conversation with Ashwin Prabhu on his book Sculpted Stones: Mysteries of Mamallapuram, 17th Feb, 5:30 pm, Sat

 

The Buddhist Patronage Networks of Early Historic Andhra. Prof Suchandra Ghosh. Feb 3, 2024.

Andhra is dotted with the remains of dozens of Buddhist stupas and monasteries starting from the early centuries BCE. The fertile plains of Krishna and Godavari deltas provided the rich agrarian hinterlands for these Buddhist sites, located along the coast as well as in the interior hinterlands. What were the social and economic linkages that sustained these early sites? And what were the interactions between the sites themselves? How did these centres influence the regions on the other side of the Bay of Bengal? In her online Talk, "From Amaravati to Salihundam and Beyond: The Buddhist Patronage Networks of Early Historic Andhra", Dr Suchandra Ghosh will utilise the numerous donative records at Amaravati to give us a glimpse of the lives and times of the people of that period as viewed through the lens of the Gahapatis who were wealthy agricultural notables of the era. She will also explore the relationships between the various Buddhist sites in the region. About The Speaker: Dr Suchandra Ghosh is Professor of Ancient Indian History in the department of History, University of Hyderabad. Her interests include Politico-Cultural History of Indo-Iranian Borderlands, Linkages between South and South-East Asia, Indian Ocean Buddhist and Trade Network and the history of Everyday Life. She is a recipient of the Charles Wallace Visiting Fellowship, Nehru Trust UK Travel Award, ENITAS Scholarship, Chulalongkarn University, Bangkok, Lowick Memorial Grant, Royal Numismatic Society, London, Director de Etudes Associe fellowship from Fondation Maison des Sciences de l’homme, Paris (2018). She was awarded the Savitri Chandra Shobha Memorial Prize of Indian History Congress, for the book From the Oxus to the Indus: A Political and Cultural Study in 2017. She has co-edited several books and published numerous essays and papers in international journals.

Patterns from the Past: How Science & Technology aid Archaeology in Unraveling the Mysteries of History

In her Talk "Patterns from the Past: How Science & Technology aid Archaeology in Unraveling the Mysteries of History", Dr M B Rajani, Associate Professor at the National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bangalore, will introduce us to the recent scientific advancements and technologies that have become invaluable tools for unraveling historical mysteries. She will explain how these tools, data sources, and processes have helped in better understanding archaeological settlements using examples from sites such as Nalanda, Agra, Mahabalipuram and Srirangapatna. About The Speaker: Dr M B Rajani is Associate Professor at the National Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS), Bangalore. Her research has two inter-related facets: analysing cultural landscapes using geospatial data to identify new features of archaeological interest and advancing the usage of such analysis towards preservation of built heritage in the face of rapid urbanization. Her primary scientific contribution has been to develop a methodology for detecting tell-tale signs of past human activities on landscapes from satellite imagery and integrating these findings with other spatial data to generate new inferences and novel hypotheses about the past. Her work has expanded the field of archaeology to include the study of human impact on landscapes. Her recent book Patterns in Past Settlements aims at imparting this knowledge to larger research and academic communities. Dr Rajani was a member of Indian National Young Academy of Science 2018-2022, a Young Affiliate 2019-2023 of The World Academy of Sciences and recipient of Rachapudi Kamakshi Memorial Young Geospatial Scientist Award 2011 and P.R. Pisharoty Memorial award 2019 awarded by the Indian Society of Remote Sensing.

Upcoming Events in 2024

 

Monthly Heritage Lecture                               Every month, 1st Saturday @ 5:30 PM (IST)

Indology Festival                                            June 2024 

Venkayya Award                                             July 2024

Swaminathan Award                                       Sept 2024

Pechu Kutchery                                              Month and date to be decided 

Site Seminar                                                  January 2025

How To See A Temple                                     April - July - Sep, 2024

How To See A Museum                                    May - Aug - Oct, 2024  

Mallai Study Tour                                           Aug and Dec, 2024

Alamar Avai                                                   Monthly