BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//School of Public Policy and Global Affairs//NONSGML Events//EN CALSCALE:GREGORIAN X-ORIGINAL-URL:https://sppga.ubc.ca/events/event/ X-WR-CALDESC:School of Public Policy and Global Affairs - Events BEGIN:VEVENT UID:20171005T1653Z-1507222430.6988-EO-22925-2671@10.93.0.115 STATUS:CONFIRMED DTSTAMP:20261007T232756Z CREATED:20171005T161437Z LAST-MODIFIED:20181205T174216Z DTSTART;TZID=America/Vancouver:20171130T170000 DTEND;TZID=America/Vancouver:20171130T183000 SUMMARY: A Tryst with Destiny? The Politics of Buddhist Heritage and the Ma king of Modern India by Douglas Ober DESCRIPTION: An information session hosted by Douglas Ober\, Research Assoc iate\, UBC IAR One of the more curious incidents in the making of modern In dia occurred on the eve of Independence when a group of seventy-two women e ntered New Delhi’s Constituent Assembly and unfurled the newly chosen natio nal flag. In a last minute change decided only three weeks prior\, the Gand hian charkha or spinning wheel\, was replaced by […] X-ALT-DESC;FMTTYPE=text/html:

An information session hosted by Douglas O ber\, Research Associate\, UBC IAR

One of the more curious incidents in the making of modern India occurred on the eve of Independence when a gr oup of seventy-two women entered New Delhi’s Constituent Assembly and unfur led the newly chosen national flag. In a last minute change decided only three weeks prior\, the Gandhian charkha o r spinning wheel\, was replaced by the Buddhist chakra\, or dharma w heel\, as the flag’s central symbol. On the surface\, the choice may seem p erplexing considering that Indian Buddhism was said to have become ‘extinct ’ nearly eight hundred years before and less than one percent of India’s po pulation identified as Buddhist at the time. Yet demographic statistics are not always reliable indicators of cultural conscience. From the circulatio n of Buddhist relics in distant lands to the reinvention of Buddhist symbol s in contemporary state regalia\, the Indian government sponsored a wide va riety of Buddhist heritage programmes in the name of world pe ace\, Pan-Asian unity\, secularism and enlightened democratic values. In th is talk\, I will detail the important role that Buddhist heritage has playe d in the making of the modern Indian nation state from the time of the colo nial Viceroys up through the current government led by Prime Minister Naren dra Modi. Special attention will be paid to the early years of Independence and the enduring legacy of Buddhist diplomacy left by the country’s first Prime Minister\, Jawaharlal Nehru.

Event Poster

LOCATION:Room 120\, C.K. Choi Building GEO:49.267258;-123.257967 URL;VALUE=URI:https://sppga.ubc.ca/events/event/a-tryst-with-destiny-the-po litics-of-buddhist-heritage-and-the-making-of-modern-india-by-douglas-ober/ ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://sppga.cms.arts.ubc.ca/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2017/10/Doug-Ober-Talk-Poster-Draft-663x1024-1.png END:VEVENT BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:America/Vancouver BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:-0700 TZOFFSETTO:-0800 DTSTART:20171105T090000 TZNAME:PST END:STANDARD END:VTIMEZONE END:VCALENDAR