Lecture Series on the Works of Dharampal by Dr J K Bajaj [In-person]

A five-day immersion into Dharampal’s work, delivered through the J. K. Bajaj lecture series and hosted by the Centre for the Study of Indian Languages, offered a rigorous model of decolonial inquiry.

Day 1 opened with a sharp discussion on how “decolonisation” appears only rarely in Dharampal’s idiom—because the archival record, patiently assembled, can make the argument by itself. The sessions began with panchayats, drawing on British archival materials that Dharampal used to show how dominant narratives of India diverge from what colonial officials themselves recorded.

Day 2 turned to civil disobedience, moving beyond textual definitions to demonstrate British administrators’ perplexity at Indian protest—especially around house tax—marked by resilience, moral reasoning, and collective discipline.

Day 3, widely resonant, engaged The Beautiful Tree, revisiting indigenous modes of learning and transmission, and foregrounding the striking fact that British sources acknowledged widespread foundational literacy even while later policies undermined these systems.

Day 4 focused on science and technology, with Bajaj outlining unique technological traditions that demand further research.

Day 5 concluded with documentation work by Bajaj and colleagues on Ullavur and Kundrathur near Chennai, culminating in a call for sustained scholarly engagement and Centre for the Study of Indian Languages’s commitment to deeper collaboration.