Welcome to the Institute of Asian Studies

The Institute of Asian Studies, started in 1982 at Tiruvanmiyur, a spiritual centre hallowed in the ancient literary and cultural traditions of Asia, owes its inspiration to Drs. Shu Hikosaka of Japan and G. John Samuel of Tamil Nadu, two stalwarts in Tamil Studies.The consuming passion of these two scholars for Tamil literature led them to think in terms of a regional Institute for Asian Studies where self-motivated scholars would have ample scope to pursue research in depth. This was the genesis behind the birth of their brainchild, the Institute of Asian Studies.

The Cankam poems glorifying heroic deeds had a counterpart in the Kojiki anthology of Japan. The manyosu of that country echoed sentiments found in the love verses of the Cankam period. This similarity in imaginative vision struck Dr. Shu Hikosaka and Dr. G. John Samuel so deeply that they decided to enlarge the scope of the proposed Institute of Asian Studies and include in its programme of work a comparative study of literature in addition to purely literary studies. It was evident to them that the interaction between the culture of South India and that of East Asian nations had contributed a great deal to the cohesion that characterised the Asian ethos. The Institute of Asian Studies was conceived with the objective of strengthening the cultural ties between India and other nations of Asian.

The Board of Governors

Chairman of the Board of Governors, retired Supreme Court Justice V.R. Krishna Iyer, is a doyen amongst judges. In his long and distinquished service career, he has distinguished himself not only as a legal luminary and judge, but as a great scholar and thinker with broad interests.

Dr V.C. Kulandaiswamy, a noted scientist, educationist and poet, is the Vice-Chairman of the Board of Governors.

Dr N. Mahalingam, a leading industrialist of South India, with an abiding interest in Tamil studies, is the Treasurer of the Board of Governors. Dr N. Mahalingam's interests extend over a broad range from education to spirituality. An adherent of the VaLLalAr school of philosophy, his contribution to the upliftment of the poor has been very substantial.

IAS co-founder Dr. G. John Samuel, the Institute's Director, also serves on the Board of Governors as its Secretary together with these other eminent people:

Dr. (Mrs.) Kapila Vatsysyan	Mr. R. Krishnamurthy
Mr. A.R. Chandrahasa Gupta, I.A.S.	Mr. T.R. Sinivasan, I.A.S.
Dr. Kathir Mahadevan	Prof. Nayani Krishna Kumari
Dr. (Mrs.) Radha Thiagarajan	Mr. Mitsugi Kojima
Mr. V.R. Lakshminarayanan, I.P.S., (Retd.)	Mr. Iravatham Mahadevan, I.A.S. (Retd.)
Mr. Sampanthan

Growth of the IAS

• Conducting classes for the study of various languages
• Bringing out an Encyclopaedia of Tamil Literature
• Publishing a handbook of Asian Studies and
• Publishing a bi-annual Journal

The year 1984 saw the blossoming of three full-fledged research departments, Tamil, Kannada and Japanese. This was followed by the starting of the Departments of Manuscriptology, Telugu, Buddhism and Folklore. Today the Institute can boast of the following departments which have made considerable scholarly contributions:

Department	Faculty	Department	Faculty	Department	Faculty
Tamil Studies	15	Manuscriptology	10	Kannada Studies	5
Telugu Studies	5	Buddhism	4	Folklore	6
Japanese Studies	3	Translation	4	Multimedia (since 1997)	2

These Departments have to their credit many publications. Including the 27 staff members active in Library Services, the fast-growing computer section and the Publications Division. the total faculty and staff of the IAS now currently numbers 128.

The Institute of Asian Studies has in recent years become a magnet for research scholars from all over Asia, Europe and Ameria, enabling them to conduct their designated research projects in Asian languages and literatures under one roof with comprehensive support facilities, a select faculty of senior academicians, full digital interconnectivity with the global village community, and ideal accessibility to the heartland of South Indian culture. It is therefore not surprising that the IAS has undergone rapid expansion to become an internationally-recognized centre promoting inter- disciplinary investigation of the literary and cultural facets of pan- Asian culture.

Recently the Institute acquired two acres of choice land in Kañcipuram to launch a Bodhidharma Centre for Indian Philosophy, named after the South Indian Buddhist monk who traveled to China in the 8th century AD and there started the Ch'an (Japanese Zen ) school of Mahayana Buddhism.

Over the years, the JIAS has established itself as a respected research periodical carrying scholarly articles on various aspects of Asian Studies, particularly with a focus on South India. The JIAS is a veritable mine of information for students of Asian Studies and includes contributions by scholars writing not only on aspects of South Indian literature and culture, but also on many inter-disciplinary studies of pan-Asian culture.

The Journal of the Institute of Asian Studies invites junior and senior scholars to submit articles about aspects of South and East Asian culture from these disciplinary perspectives:

literature	linguistics	arts & humanities	social sciences
Eastern philosophy	religion	cultural anthropology	folklore

Articles are scrutinized by an editorial board consisting of:

• Dr. G. John Samuel, Editor-in-Chief
  
• Dr. M.S. Nagarajan, Editor
  
• Dr. P. Thiagarajan, Associate Editor
  
• Patrick Harrigan, M.A., Associate Editor

Ongoing projects of the Institute:

• Bodhidharma Centre for Indian Philosophy, Kañcipuram
• First International Conference Seminar on Skanda-Murukan to be hosted by the IAS in December 1998 (see section below)
• Pongal-2000 (see following section)
• Preservation and documentation of Tamil palm-leaf manuscripts
• Tamil-Tamil-English Dictionary in 20 volumes
• English-Tamil Dictionary in 20 volumes
• Encyclopedia of the Folk Culture of Tamil Nadu (English)
• Encyclopedia of the Folk Culture of Karnataka (English)
• Encyclopedia of Tamil Literature
• Encyclopedia of Telugu Literature
• Panirantu Tirumuraikal in Hindi and English translation
• Nalaayiru Tiviya Pirapantam: English translation in 6 volumes
• IraTcanya yAttirakam English translation in 6 volumes

Contact the Institute of Asian Studies

The Pongal-2000 Project is a collaborative undertaking of:

• Department of South & Southeast Asian Studies of the University of California-Berkeley (USA);
• Institute of Indology and Tamil Studies of the University of Cologne (Germany); and
• Institute of Asian Studies (India)

Workshop on the Conservation of Cultural Archives

The Conference will assemble in a single forum leading scholars and devotees for a wide-ranging exchange of findings and interpretations concerning the god and his cult. Papers presented as part of the proceedings of the First International Conference Seminar will later be published as a definitive reference volume devoted to Skanda-Murukan.

For details and latest updates, visit