Buddhism and Kerala

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This volume is an outcome of the inaugurual national seminar on Buddhism in Kerala done by the Centre in February 2020 under the aegis of the Honourable Vice-chencellor Prof (Dr) Dharmaraj Adat who has also written the preface. Leading scholars and academics in the field like Dr K Sugathan, Dr PK Pokker, Dr T Pavitran, Sri KP Ramesh, Smt Beena KR, Dr M B Manoj and Sri Anirudh Raman have contributed with their enlightening essays and research papers dealing with various aspects of Kerala and Buddhism from the ancient Asokan times to the present. This first comprehensive critical anthology of Buddhism in Kerala is for the young researchers and also for the reading public who are interested in the culture, history and society of Kerala and its polyphonic legacies that are vital in the present and future. The seminar was organized and the volume is edited with introduction by the Co-ordinator of the Centre for Buddhist Studies Dr Ajay S Sekher, Assistant Professor in the Dept of English and Research Supervisor who has authored and edited many volumes on Kerala and its composite culture and history.

Dr Ajay S Sekher is currently Assistant Professor of English at SSUS Kalady. He has authored, edited and translated more than ten volumes on culture and literature. He has been teaching in schools, colleges and universities since 2004. His papers and translations are published in EPW, Indian Literature, Littcrit, MRJ, MLS, Bhashaposhini, Matrubhumi, Madhyamam etc. His works critically engage with postcolonial subaltern studies, dalit studies, dalitbahujan and Buddhist studies especially in the contexts of Kerala culture and renaissance modernity. His published books include: Representing the Margin: Caste and Gender in Indian Fiction (New Delhi: Kalpaz/ Gyan, 2008), Samskaram, Pratinidhanam, Pratirodham: Samskara Rashtreeyatilekkulla Kuripukal (Mavelikara: Fabian, 2009), Sahodaran Ayyappan: Towards A Democratic Future (Calicut: Other, 2012), Dr BR Ambedkar (Kottayam: SPCS, 2015), Nanuguruvinte Atmasahodaryavum Matetara Bahuswara Darsanavum (Trivandrum: Mythri, 2016) and Putan Keralam: Kerala Samskaratine Baudha Atithara (Tvm: Kerala Bhasha Instititue, 2018). He has also edited a work, Kerala Navodhanam: Putuvayanakal (Trivandrum: Raven, 2017) with Dr SR Chandramohan. Dr Ajay Sekher edited an issue of Malayalam Research Journal on Literary Cultural Theories outside Europe. Translated the works of Toni Morrison, bell hooks, Tariq Ali and Frida Kahlo into Malayalam and Poykayil Appachan and numerous dalit writers into English. Ajay Sekher's ranslations are included in the Oxford Anthology of Modern Malayalam Literature and the Oxford Anthology of Malayalam Dalit Writing. He is also interested in painting and photography and has done solo and group shows all over Kerala like image/carnage in Kochi DH Art Centre and Calicut KLK Akademi Gallery in 2013 and Avarna at Fort Kochi David Hall in 2016. Also curated numerous art shows like Pada in 2015 at KLK Akademi Gallery, Kalady.

The Buddha was at the helm of the social hurricane in the world that broke the rock walls of Varna based society and manifested the liberation of the people and made the world more egalitarian by hitting hard at the exploiters and the elite. His gospel of love-ethics and compassion attracted all sorts of people into his democratic and inclusive community called the Sangha. The kings and the paupers found their way in and at times the compassionate one also relaxed his strict policies and democratic laws of the order, for the inclusion of all including the untouchables and women along with kings and emperors; masters and slaves; the untouchable and even the unseeable amicably. He was fulfilling his task as history entrusted it on him and initiated the unprecedented social and religious transformation in India.

The period needs to be historically analyzed to find the details of the social praxes employed by the Buddha to fulfill both the common people and the elites including the nobility and royalty. Unfortunately many historians have neglected this unique social change and intervention including the academic historians. But D D Kosambi stands out in this context as a unique model who dealt in detail with the history of Buddhism in India.