School of Humanities
The School of Humanities is engaged in research in the broad areas of philosophy, psychology, literature, fine arts, and culture. Research in the School currently focuses on philosophical foundations of sciences; cognitive sciences; scientific and philosophical studies of consciousness; Indian psychology and philosophy; history and philosophy of biology; archaeometalurgy and analysis of ancient metals; and translations of literary classics in Kannada into English.
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Prasanna Khanvilkar
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Mr. Prasanna Khanvilkar is a doctoral student in the School of Humanities at the National Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS), conducting research on donative patronage during the early historical Western Deccan. He holds a Master's degree in Ancient Indian Heritage Culture & Archaeology from Deccan College Post-Graduate Research Institute, Pune. His professional experience includes serving as a Research Assistant in the Department of Palaeography, Epigraphy & Numismatics at the Indian Institute of Heritage, Noida (Formerly National Museum Institute), and working as a research intern on the Government of India's Department of Science and Technology project on "Scientific Investigation, Digital Documentation and Conservation of Petroglyphs of Konkan."
His research interests include Ancient Indian History and Culture, ancient and medieval Indian scripts, and environmental archaeology.
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prasanna.khanvilkar@nias.res.in
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A Shifting River, Shifting Narratives: The Sacred Landscape of Mahabodhi
Bodh Gaya, where the Buddha attained enlightenment, was a major Buddhist sacred site for nearly two thousand years. This paper argues that its sacred landscape was far larger than the three commonly excavated sites. Drawing on historical, archaeological, and geospatial evidence, it identifies 40 features showing that Mahābodhi extended in all directions from the Mahabodhi Temple. The study also suggests that the Lilajan’s present course, about 250 metres east of the temple, differs from the historical Nirañjanā, which lay roughly 1.5 kilometres further east.
Quantum Effects in Biology
This book intends to give a systematic exposition of the validity of quantum principles in biological systems. There are two types of applications of quantum theory in physical systems — the "trivial applications" and "non-trivial applications". Since every object in this universe consists of atoms and molecules, they should be described by the laws of quantum theory — which we call trivial applications.
Dr. Raja Ramanna and Ancient Indian Traditions
Dr. Raja Ramanna, an internationally renowned nuclear physicist and founder and Director of the National Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS), had deep interests in Western classical music as well as in ancient Indian traditions.
Are Plants Conscious? Vegetal ‘Being’ in the Caraka Saṁhitā
This study discusses notions of plant consciousness within the classical Ayurveda text, the Caraka Saṁhitā (CS) and its ideas on vegetal ‘being’. Drawing extensively from Cakrapāṇidatta’s commentarial gloss on the CS, the Āyurvedadīpikā, it begins by pointing to two frequently conflicting conceptualizations and positions ascribed to plants within the text: (a) plants as material agents of therapy and (b) plants as sentient and conscious ‘beings’.