CUPB organized special lecture on ‘Sahitya Perspective on Literature: Exploring Indigenous Traditions’

Bathinda, May 11, 2022: The History Dept. of the Central University of Punjab, Bathinda (CUPB), under the patronage of Vice Chancellor Prof. Raghavendra P. Tiwari, organized a special lecture on ‘Sahitya Perspective on Literature: Exploring Indigenous Traditions’. The keynote speaker of this programme was  Dr. Balram Shukla, Associate Professor, Department of Sanskrit, University of Delhi.
While addressing the participants, Dr. Balram Shukla stated that in the discipline of history, the translation of technical terms from one language to another, and the application of concepts from one tradition to another, create complications. This is because special words originated under different cultural circumstances have a substantial difference in their semantics when applied to other cultures and there is a lack of substituted words in other languages that convey the same expression. This is why examples of translation are rarely found in ancient Indian literature, and Indian knowledge traditions taught us about the concept of transformation rather than translation.
In his talk, Dr. Balram Shukla explores the questions of the relationship of our modern terminology with the reality of past social and cultural formations in the domain of literature. He defined that the word Sahitya conveys the meaning of literature, which is of everyone’s interest and beneficial for all. He added that in the real sense, Sahitya is above differential ideologies. It is something that gives comfort to the author and the reader/audience from different backgrounds. The distinguished speaker quoted extensively from Sanskrit, Persian, Punjabi, Hindi, and Urdu poetry in support of his contentions.
At the outset, Dr. Harit Meena, HoD, Dept. of History, welcomed the participants. Dr. Vikas Rathee introduced the distinguished speaker. Prof. Kuldip Singh expressed his gratitude towards Dr. Balram Shukla for enlightening the participants with his words of wisdom. Prominent among the others was Punjabi poet Dr. Neetu Arora and her students from University College Ghudda. Towards the end, Dr. Ashwani Kumar and Dr. Rajni Sahota thanked everyone for making this programme a success.