GUWAHATI, Aug 11 - The Sarat Chandra Sharma Prachyatattwa Adhyayan Kendra in association with the State�s Directorate of Museums is holding a two-day national seminar on the Mahabharata and the North East Region (Pragjyotish-Kamrup) at the Kanaklal Barooah Auditorium of the State Museum here on August 25 and 26.
The organisers said in a statement here that the seminar would be inaugurated by Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal at 9.30 am on August 25. This will be followed by the inauguration of an exhibition depicting the Assam connections in the Mahabharata, by Dr Dipak Kumar Sarma, Vice Chancellor of Kumar Vaskara Varma Sanskrit and Ancient Studies University.
Dr Abhiraj Rajendra Mishra, former Vice-Chancellor of Sampurnanda Sanskrit University, Banaras, will deliver the keynote address on the NE connections in the Mahabharata at the first session of the seminar, while Dr BR Mani, Director General of National Museum, New Delhi, Dr Sita Nath Dey, former Professor, Tripura University, Agartala and Justice Mukundakam Sarma will also speak in the session.
Dr Ramesh Kumar Pandey, Vice Chancellor of Lal Bahadur Shastri National Sanskrit Vidyapeeth, New Delhi, will speak on the influence of Pragjyotishpur on the Mahabharata in the second session of the seminar. Dr Lokenjit Singha of Manipur University and Dr Mukta Biswas and Dr Nalini Devi Mishra of Gauhati University will also speak in the session.
Dr Nandita Biswas, a former Cotton College teacher and Dr Thaneswar Sarma, former HoD of Sanskrit, GU, will speak in the third session of the seminar on August 25.
Popular Assamese play Sakunir Pratishodh will be staged by the artistes of the State's Cultural Affairs Directorate at the District Library Auditorium here at 6.30 pm on August 25.
On August 26, Artrika Ganguly of Jadavpur University, Dr Malini of Mahakavya Adhyayan Kendra, Jorhat and Dr Manjula Devi, HoD, Sanskrit, GU, will speak in the fourth session of the seminar.
Dr Sukanya Sarma of IIT Guwahati, Dr AK Das, former Professor of National Museum Institute, New Delhi and Dr Satish Chandra Bhattacharyya will speak in the fifth session.
In the sixth session of the seminar, Dr Paramita Das and Dr Malini Goswami of GU and former Tezpur University Dean Dr Pradip Jyoti Mahanta will speak, while in the seventh session, Prof Umakanta Deva Sarma, Bidhan Singha and Dr H Laisem Sarma will speak. The valedictory function of the event will be addressed by former Asam Sahitya Sabha President Kanak Sen Deka.
