SACHI, The Society for Art and Cultural Heritage of India, and CIF, Cultural Integration Fellowship, invite you to

Monarchs in Indian Art

An Illustrated Talk
by Dr. Gautama Vajracharya

The mainstream Indian art is almost devoid of any representation depicting a monarch engaged either in a battle or in a hunting expedition. Such a non-violence approach of the artistic tradition differs drastically from the literary heritage of the country. Sanskrit literature, for instance, is full of detailed descriptions of the ruthless slaughter of an enemy in a battle and the bravery of a warrior king in killing the beasts of game. What is the reason for
such difference? A new investigation on this subject is the main focus of Dr. Vajracharya’s talk.

Sunday, March 2, 2008, 2:00 pm
Cultural Integration Fellowship
2650 Fulton Street at 3rd Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94118

Dr. Gautama Vajracharya is a Sanskrit scholar with a keen interest in South Asian art. He teaches Indian civilization and art history at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. His most recent publication is the Watson Collection of Indian Miniatures at the Elvejehm Museum of Art. He is also the author of
Everlasting Flower of Buddhist Art.

Film/Theater

Shakespeare in Asia, a celebration!
An Evening with Ismail Merchant
Producer and director Ismail Merchant of Merchant Ivory Productions addressed his life and work.
Stanford Shakespeare Institute, Stanford Film Society and SACHI

The Secrets of Satyajit Ray’s Art
Professor Dilip Basu spoke about Satyajit Ray and his films, followed by screenings of Ray’s Inner Eye, a documentary
of Ray’s teacher in Shantiniketan, Binode Nehary Mukherjee, and Ray’s little-known Parable of Two, a Bay Area Premiere.
SACHI and the Cultural Integration Fellowship Music/Dance

Kabir in Song: Musical Traditions of a Great Religious Poet of India
Featuring folk singer of Malwa and classical singer of Varanasi
Asian Religions & Cultures Initiative, Stanford University, SACHI and others Dance as a Living Language and The Essence of Indian Dance
Mallika Sarabhai, acclaimed star of Peter Brooks’ stage production and film, The Mahabharata, and Daksha Mashruwala,
distinguished classical dancer
SACHI and the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco Classical Arts

The Padshahnama
Milo Beach, then director of Freer/Sackler Galleries, Smithsonian Institution and curator of the exhibition, King of the World;
Padshahnama, a Mughal Manuscript from the Royal Library, Windsor Castle
SACHI, Palo Alto Art Center, and the Stanford Art Museum The Wonder that was Khajuraho
Khajuraho scholar Devangana Desai
SACHI and Mills College Art Department The Five Auspicious Events in the Life of a Jina: A Lecture on the Jain Arts and Culture of India
Saryu Doshi, honorary director, National Gallery of Modern Art, Mumbai
SACHI and the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco Desire & Devotion: Art from India, Nepal, and Tibet in the John and Berthe Ford Collection
A talk by Mr. And Mrs. Ford in conjunction with the exhibition
SACHI and the Cantor Arts Center

Sacred Images: The Tradition of Mithila Painting
A lecture by Malini Bakshi and David L. Szanton
SACHI and the the de Saisset Museum Auspicious Atmosphere: Indian Temple Facade & Ajanta Ceiling Paintings
A lecture by An Illustrated Talk by Dr. Gautama Vajracharya
SACHI The Treasury of the World: A Glimpse of Mughal Jeweled Splendor
A lecture by Meera Kumar
SACHI and the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco Architecture

An Architecture for India
“We build our buildings … and then our buildings build us.”
Charles Correa, a major figure in contemporary architecture worldwide
SACHI, Asian Art Museum, and the Palo Alto Art Center

Tall Tombs: Muharram Art in the Punjab
Tryna Lyons is an independent art historian with degrees from University of California, Berkeley and the American University of Paris.
SACHI adn the Asian Art Museum

Mughal Arts, Ideology and the Construction of Kingship by Dr. Catherine Asher
SACHI, Center for South Asia, the Cantor Arts Center, and the Interrogating Modernity Postcoloniality Research Workshop at Stanford University. Archaeology

The Origins and Decline of the Indus Valley Civilization
Jonathan Mark Kenoyer, leading scholar of Indus Valley Civilization and director of the
Harappa Archaeological Research Project (HARP)
SACHI and the Cantor Arts Center, Stanford University

Social Sciences

Jewish Communities in Cochin & Mumbai: Caste and Racial Stratification Among God’s Chosen People
A lecture by Ken Blady
SACHI Photography

From Kashmir to Kabul: The Photographs of John Burke and William Baker, 1860-1900
Omar Khan, creator of award winning website, www.harappa.com, a gateway to South Asian history
SACHI and the Cantor Arts Center, Stanford University Contemporary Art

Introducing contemporary artists Zarina Hashmi, Atul Dodiya, Shahzia Sikander, and T. Vaikuntham to Bay Area audiences
SACHI in cooperation with Mills College Art Department, Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, and Arts India West gallery Museum Exhibitions

Impossible Picturesqueness: Textiles in Mewar Painting by Rahul Jain
SACHI and the Asian Art Museum.

From Mind, Heart, and Hand: Indian, Persian, and Turkish Drawings from the Stuart Cary Welch Collection
SACHI, TIE, ICC and Asian Art Museum members Mithila Painting: The Evolution of an Art Form
Exhibition traces development of a vibrant painting tradition from its ritual and folkloric roots to its unique cultural
expression and internationally recognized art form
Museum of Craft and Folk Art, SACHI and other participants Textile Exhibitions

The Narrative Thread: A Women’s Embroidery from Rural India, an exhibition, and related talk, Kanthas & Folk Art
SACHI instrumental in bringing to the Bay Area an exhibition of works in the sujni tradition of Bihar, hosting Nirmala Devi from
Bihar for demonstrating the craft tradition in conjunction with exhibition opening, and organizing children’s workshop on Kantha Art.
Palo Alto Art Center, SACHI and Maitri

Weaving Magic: The Story of the Kashmir Shawl
Lecture and weekend display by Aditi Desai, avid collector of shawls from India and Europe
SACHI and the Asian Art Museum Traditions in Transition: Rabari Textiles in the Cyber Age
Judy Frater, former curator, Textile Museum, Washington D.C., author of Threads of Identity, a seminal study of rabari embroidery,
and a friend and advocate of the semi nomadic rabari people, settled in villages near Bhuj. Celebrated Authors and Book Readings

White Mughals: Love and Betrayal in Eighteenth Century India
Author William Dalrymple introducing his latest novel
SACHI and Society for Asian Art Husband of a Fanatic
Author of Passport Photos and Bombay London New York, Amitava Kumar speaks about his new book SACHI and CIIS (California Institute of Integral Studies)