Concepts Of Time Ancient And Modern

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From the Jacket: Third in the series of dialogues organised by the IGNCA on a single unified theme which is of perennial value and relevande was Time (Kala). As in the previous two on space (Akasa) in 1986 and quest for form (Akara) in 1988, all dimensions of the theme were exploted through science, philosophy, humanities and the arts. The theme of Time (Kala) was explored through a series of workshops on temporality and logical structure in the Indian perspective, and concept of time in the Buddhist tradition. A multi-media exhibition was held. A final seminar was held in November 1990 where over sixty delegates from twelve countries and a dozen disciplines were engaged in profound and meaningful dialogue for six days. The disciplines included: Astrophysics, Physics, Biology, Philosophy, Archaeology, Art and Architecture, Geology, Mathematics, Comparative Religion, Art History, Anthoropology, Musicology, Poetry, Literature and Painting.

The volume comprises a selection of 54 papers presented at the seminar. Each paper brings a penetrating insight into this all permeating and pervading preoccupation of Man since the dawn of awareness of his being and becoming. The papers are grouped into eight sections:

(1) Time: Concepts;

(2) Time: The Philosophic Discourse;

(3) Time: Geological and Biological;

(4) Time: Social and Cultural;

(5)Time: Ritual;

(6) Time: Response of the Arts;

(7) Time: Consciousness; and

(8) Time: Transcendence and Immanence.

Together, the volume unfolds the multiple dimesnions of Time, inner and outer, as experience, thought, expression and communication. The scientific theories of Time in classical and new physics are illuminated, geological and biological rhythms as they have pulsated through matter and evoluitionary theories are debated. The complexities of the multilayered discourse on time in speculative thought, philosphic systems are unfolded and the notions of time as tools of governance and polity in history are made explicit. The metaphors of time as point or duration, stillness or movement, arrow or circular, spiral or conical run through the papers at the theoretical level and are considered in the arts, architecture, sculpture, marionette, painting, music, dance and the experience of ever present Now, transcendental and immanent, which filters through the papers. The volume concludes with the record of the final session where Dr. Karan Singh spoke and H.H. the Dalai Lama gave the final benediction. Ably and sensitively edited by Kapila Vatsyan, the conceiver, visualiser, and organiser of seminars, exhibitions, and other other multimedia performances, it is a rare collection of reflections on a theme of all times which is the preocupation of many in all continents and disciplines.

About the Editor:

Kapila Vatsyan, artist and art historian, has broken fresh ground in establishing the inter and intra relationships of different domains of knowledge and creativity. Her work moves from the East and West, principally Sanskrit and English, and a direct experience of the arts as performer, art historiam. They focus attention on the inter relationship of the concept, the idea, word (literature) and creative interpretation in architecture, sculpture, painting, music, and dance. The kinetic image enables her to delve deeper in the textual and oral sources and identity, and the fundamental geometrical forms which govern form and structure of the arts. The titles of some amongst her twenty publications are self- explanatory: Classical Indian Dance in Literature and the Art; Traditional IndianTheatre: Multiple Streams; The Theoretical Basis of Asian Aesthetic Tradition; Gita Govinda and the Artistic Traditions of India( 6 volumes); and The square and the Circle of the Indian Arts. Over the last ten years, her work as scholar and conceiver of institutions has cumulatively come together to establish a new integral vision and approach to the arts in the multifaceted programmes of the Indra Gandhi National Centre for the Arts. As academic Director, she has launched and stimulated work in hitherto unexplored fields of the relationship of the arts with the fundamental sciences, specially astrophysics, microbiology, technology, anthropology and metaphysics. The efficiency of this new and fresh approach is evident in her deft General Editorship of IGNCA's publications under Kalatattvakosa series and kalamulasastra Series; Concepts of Space; Ancient and Modern; Prakrti: the Integral Vision in 5 volumes, etc.