BFAC Lecture

Date: Wednesday, 18 March, 2009, 9:04 PM
Dr. PADMA SUBRAHMANYAM Managing Trustee, BHARATAMUNI FOUNDATION FOR ASIAN CULTURE cordially invites you for a lecture (with visuals) byDr. R. NAGASWAMY, Former Director, Dept. of Archaeology, Govt. of Tamilnadu & Former Vice Chancellor, Sri Chandrasekharendra Sarasawati Visva Mahavidyalaya,Kancheepuram, at Subrahmanyam Hall (A/C) Old No: 5, IV Main Road, Gandhinagar, Chennai –600 020 from 6-30 to 7-30 PM followed by an interaction for 30 minutes.

Date: Friday, March 20, 2009Topic: Art of South East Asia with special reference toCombodia & Thailand.
Looking forward to your presence and participation:
BFAC Trustees:R. KrishnaswamiV. Jayaraman IRS., (Retd)P.R. KrishnakumarM. Krishna KishoreDr. Gayatri KannanB. Kannan

Profile of Dr.R. Nagaswamy:
Former Director, Dept. of Archaeology, Govt. of Tamilnadu and Former Vice Chancellor, Sri Chandrasekharendra Sarasawati Visva Mahavidyalaya, Kancheepuram, had obtained M.A., in Sanskrit from Madras University and Ph.D in Indian Art on Tantric Cult from Pune University. He served as Curator for Art and Archaeology, Madras Museum and was later transferred to Dept. of Archaeology. His mentor was Padma Bhushan Dr. T.N. Ramachandran, the great Archaeologist and Vedic scholar who served as Joint Director General of the Archaeology Survey of India (ASI). Dr. Nagaswamy was the first Director of Archaeology in Tamilnadu who made Archaeology very popular in this state. Has conducted many excavations and under his direction, the Thirumalai Nayak Mahal was restored and the sound and light programme installed. An expert in Epigraphy, Archaeology, Numismatics and in Tamil and Sanskrit literature, he was awarded the Kalaimamani Award by the Govt. of Tamilnadu. He has widely traveled both in the east and west and he is now specialising in South East Asian art. His single contribution was when he appeared as an expert witness in the London High Court for the Pattur Nataraja case and was mainly instrumental in getting the Nataraja idol back to India. He also initiated under water exploration at Poompuhar for the first time. Deeply interested in dance and music, he started the Natyanjali festival at Chidambarm with Dr. Kapila Vatsyayan and has himself produced over ten dance dramas (mainly historical themes) that have been staged in Germany, Sweden, England, Canada and USA. A scholar of international repute, he is the living authority on South Indian Bronzes. Author of several books, he has conducted several international conferences and exhibitions.