Osmania University Centre for International Programmes Hyderabad International Seminar Religion and Literature January 29 – 31 2015 Program Sheet 9.15 a.m. – 10.00 a.m. Arrivals & Registrations 10.00 a.m. – 10.15 a.m. Welcome & Theme of the Seminar Prof. A. Karunaker Director, OUCIP 10.15 a.m. – 10.20 a.m. About OUCIP Prof. Kousar J. Azam Advisor, OUCIP 10.20 a.m. – 10.25 a.m. Inaugural Address Dr. K. V. Ramanachary Advisor, Cultural Affairs Govt. of Telangana State 10.30 a.m. - 10.40 a.m. Presidential Remarks Prof. E. Suresh Kumar Registrar, Osmania University, Hyderabad 10.40 a.m. – 10.45 a.m. Vote of Thanks Prof. M. Channa Basaviah Joint Director, ACAS & OUCIP High Tea: 10.45 – 11.00 A.M. 11.00 a.m. – 11.30 A.M. Keynote Address on “Poetry and Religious Experience: The Metaphysics of Desire in the Song of Songs and the Gitagovinda.” Dr. Yudith Greenberg Cornell Endowed Chair of Religion & Director of the Jewish studies program, Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida Session I - Religion as Source of Literature Chair: Prof. Sumita Roy Religion & Literature Page 1 of 6 Plenary Talk: 11:30 A.M. – 12.00 P.M. Prof. Sukhbir Singh 12:00 PM - 01:30 PM Religious Ramifications in The Selected Poems of A. K. Ramanujan, Jayanta Mahapatra And Niranjan Mohanty, Bikram kumar Mohapatra Religion and Parsi Identity in Rohinton Mistry’s Such a Long Journey. Bondina Elangbam Reinventing ‘Literature Based In Religion, Mrudula Lakkaraju. Literature as religion: the SriSriRamakrishna Kathamrita, Rangana Banerji. Summing UP 01:30 PM – 02:30 PM Session II – Literature and Belief : LUNCH Chair: Prof. Yadav Raju 02:30 PM – 05.00 PM Plenary Talk The Meaning of Literary Affirmation of Religion with Special Reference to Mira Bai. Paritosh Chandra Dugar The Blue Lake: Significance of Mami Wata in the novels of Flora Nwapa, Lalitha Sridevi Religious Strain in Tagore’s Works: An Overview, Madhavi J The Wages of Sin: The Creator’s Sacrifice in C.S. Lewis’s The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Mankhrawbor Dunai Mythic Interpretations using Sociological Perspectives in Girish Karnad's Naga Mandala, Nirmaladevi M. 03:30 PM – 03:45 PM: TEA BREAK 03:45 PM – 05: 00 PM Religion and the crisis of identity in J. M. Coetzee’s Boyhood and Elizabeth Costell, Santosh Ajit Singh Faith and Mystery of God in Elie Wiesel’s Night, Sareen K. Raj Religion in the matrix of grief: Tribulations and Instability in Anita Rau Badami’s novel “Can you hear the night bird call?” Vijayalaxmi Religion & Literature Page 2 of 6 Summing up Day 2 – January 30, 2015 Session – I Primitive Religions & Modern Literature 10:00 AM – 11:30 AM Chair: Prof. Sukhbir Singh Karanth’s Mookkajji and Choma: Negotiating Religion and Modernity, Deepthi. S “Bankim Chandra, Bharat Mata and Bhawani Mandir: The Ascetic Hero in Anandamath, Kishore Kumar Reddy A. Religious Consciousness and Early Modern Fiction: British and Indian, Santanu Majumdar The Impact of Oriental Religions on Western Literature, B. Gopal Rao. New England Puritanism and America’s Dark Romantics, Srirupa Chatterjee Summing Up 11:30 AM – 11:45 AM TEA BREAK Session – II Literature as Alternative Religion Chair: Dr. Murali Krishna 11:45 AM – 01:30 PM Religion as counter-discourse in Dalit Literature, Aparna Singh Dalit Theology and Literature: A Reading of Kalyana Rao’s Untouchable Spring, Christopher K W Religious Undertones in the Select Poems of Contemporary Indian Women Poets Writing in English, Pradip Kumar Patra. Reframing Identities: A Dalit View on Spiritual Salvation Out of Religion, Pratibha Somkuwar Religious tolerance in Lyudmila Ulitskaya’s novel “Daniel Stein, Interpreter, Subhash Kumar Thakur Ambedkar and Religion, Vinayaka Kumar Religion & Literature Page 3 of 6 Critic or Cynic: Reading Kabir’s Poetry from a Gendered Lens, Urvija Priyadarshini 01:30 PM - 02:15 PM : Session III – Hinduism & Buddhism in Literature LUNCH Chair: Prof. Pradip Kumar Patra 02:15 PM - 03:15 PM A Feminist Philosophizing of the Hindu Theology: Hindu Feminism as Maverick, Ansh Sharma The coloniser’s Hinduism and the Indian Novel, Hegde M. G. Symbolism in Indian Literature as a Source of Hinduism, Rajeev Nair N V Treatment of Hinduism in the Portrayal of Savitri in R.K.Narayan’s The Dark Room, Sudarsan Sahoo Buddhism and Dalit Literature, Alpana Gupta Summing UP 03:15 PM – 03: 30 PM : TEA BREAK Session IV – Islam, Christianity, and Judaism, in Literature Chair: Prof. Siddique Ali 03:30 PM - 05:30 PM Tolstoy’s Haji Murad: An Appraisal from an Islamic Point of View, Akhtar Jamal Khan Shahriar Mandanipour’s ‘Censoring an Iranian Love Story’: The tyranny of Religion and Metafiction, Sharmistha Das In Verse – Ghalib and Religion, Tejaswani , K Concept of Christianity in Dostoevsky’s Novel “The Crime and Punishment”, BHRK Prasad The Garden of Eden and Macondo: A Perspective on Ideal Society in One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Dnyandeo Salu Kale Religiosity, Spirituality and Terrorism: A Judeo-Christian Perspective, Melissa Helen Religion & Literature Page 4 of 6 Faith Vs Reason: Christianity, Rational Egoism And Dostoevsky’s Crime And Punishment, Vaibhav Shah Judaism and Literature, Boddupally Giridhar Materiality and the spiritual intent: the use of stories in Jain exegesis, Sheel Parekh From Jewishness to Americanization: Literary Manifestations, Swati Mukerji Summing UP Day 3 – January 31, 2015 10: 00 AM – 10: 15 AM TEA BREAK 10:15 AM – 01:00 PM Session – I Literature as Critique of Religion Plenary Talk: Prof. Sumita Roy Chair: Prof. A. Karunaker Valorization of Religion in Kipling’s Kim, Anju Gupta Mughal Discourses of Christ and Christianity in the Indo-Persian literature, Gulfishan Khan Between the Sacral and the Secular: Gendered Violence in Bapsi Sidhwa’s Ice-Candy-man (1988), Kiran S N Religion as the Offending Force in the Poetry of Agha Shahid Ali and Mahesh Dattani’s ‘Final Solutions’ Mridula Sharma Remedy to Religious Intolerance is “Humanity As Religion” A Study of Meena Alexander’s Select Poems, Rajkumar K., Sudam Shankar Secular and Non-Secular Fronts Of Religion: Indian Literatures during the Nationalist Phase, Shobha M Literature as Critique of Religion, Trishna Duarah Kalita Summing Up 01.00 PM – 01:30 PM 01:30 – 02:30 PM Religion & Literature Valedictory Lunch Page 5 of 6 Religion & Literature Page 6 of 6