MONDAY, August 3
8–9 am Registration of participants (IUC lobby)
9–9.40 am Opening addresses
Executive Secretary or a representative of the Inter-University Centre, Dubrovnik
H.E. Arun Goel, Ambassador or a representative of the Indian Embassy in Croatia
Representative of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts
Representative of the International Organizing Board of the DICSEP
Morning Sessions
10 am–11.30 am
First Session: Mahābhārata
Renate Söhnen-Thieme
Circumambulation of the Earth in the Mahābhārata—Conquest of the Directions or Guided Tour of Tīrthas?
Simon Brodbeck
The Plan to Capture Yudhiṣṭhira in the Droṇaparvan
Per-Johan Norelius
The King who Fell from the Sky: Origin and Development of the Story of Vasu Uparicara
11.30 am–12 pm Coffee break
12–1.30 pm
Second Session: Mahābhārata
Arti Dhand
New God, Old Shoes: Kṛṣṇa in the Udyogaparvan of the Mahābhārata
Zuzana Špicová
Vadha as a Genre in the War Books of the Mahābhārata
Paola Maria Rossi
The Figure of Sarasvatī in the Mahābhārata: Between Dharmic-Brahmanical Values and Traces of Vrātya Culture
Afternoon Sessions
4.30–6 pm
Third Session: Mahābhārata
Przemysław Szczurek
The Promise and Condition of Śalya
Yaroslav Vassilkov
Cultural and Historical Background of the Nalopākhyāna
Marion Rastelli
The Vaiṣṇavadharmaśāstra: Its Structure, Sources, and Aims
6–7.30 pm
Book Presentations
Mislav Ježić, Ivan Andrijanić and Sven Sellmer
-
- Form and Meaning, Comparative Context and History of Sanskrit Epics. Dubrovnik International Conference on the Sanskrit Epics and Purāṇas DICSEP publications, vol. 8. Zagreb: Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts / Delhi: Dev Publishers, 2026.
- The Bhagavadgītā, the Sanskrit Epics and their Impact. Dubrovnik International Conference on the Sanskrit Epics and Purāṇas DICSEP publications, vol. 9. Zagreb: Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts / Delhi: Dev Publishers, 2026.
- Form and Meaning, Comparative Context and History of Sanskrit Epics. Dubrovnik International Conference on the Sanskrit Epics and Purāṇas DICSEP publications, vol. 8. Zagreb: Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts / Delhi: Dev Publishers, 2026.
TUESDAY, August 4
Morning Sessions
10-11.30 am
First Session: Digital Approaches to Sanskrit Texts
Sven Sellmer
Formulas and Formulaic Structures in Mahābhārata Triṣṭubhs
Oliver Hellwig
Infinitive-Kāma Compounds in the Mahābhārata
Kengo Harimoto
Chronological Stratification in the Epics and Purāṇas: Evidence from Stylometric Seriation
11.30 am–12 pm Coffee break
12–13.30 pm
Second Session: Mahābhārata
Kenji Takahashi
The Theory of Dream and Sleep in the Vārṣṇeyādhyātma (Mahābhārata 12,203–210)
Ivan Andrijanić
Tracing Early Vedānta in the Mokṣadharmaparvan
Afternoon Sessions
4–6.30 pm
Regional Conference on International Dialogue on Indian Civilization—INDIC
Round table discussion on promoting Indian civilization through the translation and scholarly study of the Sanskrit epics and Purāṇas.
Opening address: Representative of Indian Council of Cultural Relations (ICCR).
Participants: Joanna Jurewicz, Przemysław Szczurek, Sven Sellmer, Yaroslav Vassilkov, Mislav Ježić, Simon Brodbeck, Ivan Andrijanić, Ivana Delić, Monika Nowakowska, Anna Trynkowska
6.30–7.30 pm
Supplementary Presentations: Mahābhārata Translation Studies
Monika Nowakowska
Chance, Fate, Destiny, Risk, and Luck in the Droṇaparvan 7,77–173—Final Observations after the Completion of the Polish Translation of the Part
WEDNESDAY, August 5
Morning Sessions
9–10.30 am
First Session: Purāṇas
Sanne Dokter-Mersch
Extreme Borrowing: the Bhaviṣyapurāṇa and the Viṣṇudharma
Prasad P. Joshi
The Devīmāhātmya in the Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa: Some Observations of Grammar and Style
10.30–11 am Coffee break
11 am–1 pm
Second Session: Purāṇas, Myth and Ritual
Hideki Teshima
The Historical Context of the Rājābhiṣeka Rite as Prescribed in the Purāṇas
Leonid Kulikov
Kumāra: Vedic (and Non-Indo-European?) Roots of a Purāṇic Legend
Mislav Ježić
The Myth of Churning the Ocean
1–2 pm
Third Session: Purāṇas and Beyond
Mai Oki
The Descriptions of Viśvarūpa Viṣṇu in Purāṇas, Śilpaśāstras, and Pāñcarātra Texts
Jef Pierce
Wilderness as Chora: The Liberating Environmental Ethos of the Devīpurāṇa
Afternoon Sessions
4–5.30 pm
Fourth Session: Bhagavadgītā and Mahābhārata Philosophy
Joanna Jurewicz
Chapter 11 of the Bhagavadgītā as a Structure of the Experience of bhakti
Philippe Swennen
A New Message in an Old Setting
Nataliya Yanchevskaya
Dharma and Time: Freedom and Destiny in the Mahābhārata
5.30–7pm
Fifth Session: Rāmāyaṇa
Priyamvada Nambrath
Ascetic Abundance and the Procedural Imagination: Re-Reading Bharadvāja’s Feast in the Ayodhyākāṇḍa
Chikamitsu Taniguchi
Tryambakarāya Makhi’s Hermeneutics of the Rāmāyaṇa, With Special Reference to Rāma’s Marriage
Chandra Bhushan Jha
The Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa as a Living Text: Its Reception in Modern Sanskrit Creative Writing
THURSDAY, August 6
Excursion
FRIDAY, AUGUST 7
Morning Sessions
10–11.30 am
First Session: Rivers and Forests
Prachi Pathak
Eco-Aesthetics of the Epic: Rivers and Woodlands in the Pilgrimage of the Ānandarāmāyaṇa
Bhagyashree Bavare
Gaṅgā as a River and the Goddess: Exploring her Dimensions Through Selected stotras
Dwaita Hazra Goswami
Forest Gods and Goddesses Across Classical Texts and Vernacular Territories: A Comparative Study of Araṇyānī, Araṇya Ṣaṣṭhī, and Bengal’s Regional Forest Deity Cultures
11.30 am–12 pm Coffee Break
12–13.30 pm
Second Session: Purāṇas
Christophe Vielle
The Vernacularisation of the Purāṇa-Itihāsa Tradition: The Kiḷippāṭṭŭs of Kerala
Kenneth Valpey
The Rhetoric of Reversals: Bharata’s Forest Wisdom in the Bhāgavata-Purāṇa
Rumyana Toleva
Samyama on the Kūrmanāḍī in Patañjali’s Yoga-Sūtra in the Context of the Teachings of the Kūrma-Purāṇa
Afternoon Sessions
4–5.30 pm
Third session: Ritual, Text, and Sacred Space
Natalia Lidova
The “Brahmayāga” Ritual (Atharvaveda-Pariśiṣṭa 19b) and/as a New Sacrificial Paradigm
Vishnupriya Srinivasan
Candrakaṇṭha Viṣṇu between Manuscripts, Print, and Mythic Recomposition: A Case Study from the Kāmākṣīvilāsa
Shailesh Shinde
Spatial Design and Sacred Geometry: Tracing Vāstu Traditions Within the Mahābhārata
5.30–7.30 pm
Fourth Session: Sacred Geography and Devotional Traditions
Valerie Stoker
The Multivalent Concept of Tīrtha in Mādhva Vedānta
Dominik Haas
Devotional Bead Strings and their Wearers in the Sanskrit Epics
Ute Hüsken
Vegavatī in Kanchipuram’s Sthalamāhātmyas: Text, Landscape, and Living Tradition
Danielle Feller and Sudha Berry
Cock and Bull Stories. The Origins of Garuḍa and Nandi as Vāhanas in the Sanskrit Epics
SATURDAY, August 8
Morning Sessions
9–10.30 am
First Session: Purāṇic Narratives and Their Interpretations
Madhavi Narsalay
Inter- and Intratextuality in the Account of Destruction of Dakṣa’s Yajña
Anuja Purandare and Madhavi Narsalay
Who is Gaṇeśa: A Creator of Obstacles or a Spiritual Form? (Study of the Mudgalapurāṇa and Gaṇeśapurāṇa)
Renuka Panchal and Madhavi Narsalay
Flora and Fauna in the Lunar Vrata Cycle of the Agnipurāṇa: A Philological and Comparative Study
10.30–11 am Coffee break
11 am–12.30 pm
Second Session: Nature, Landscape, and Sacred Space
Tameesham Pandya and Madhavi Narsalay
Prakṛti as the Living Biosphere: A Deep Ecological and Ecofeminist Analysis of the Devīmāhātmya
Chinmayi Deodhar and Madhavi Narsalay
Naimiṣāraṇya: A Backdrop for Narrations
Gauri Kulkarni and Madhavi Narsalay
The Sentient Forest as a Unique Persona in the Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa
12.30 pm
DICSEP participants convention: proposals and arrangements for the assessment procedure and publication of proceedings and for the next DICSEP conference
5–6 pm Guided tour through Dubrovnik for the interested participants
8 pm Get-together and dinner