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Authors in Conversation
Exploring Enduring Colonialism: Classical Presences and Modern Absences in Indian Philosophy
With Keynote Speaker A Raghuramraju
(Moderated by Nilambar Chakrabarti)
Sunday, November 22, 2026
6:00 PM IST
Online (Microsoft Teams)
Free Admission
Academic Discourse Overview & Abstract
Enduring Colonialism: Classical Presences and Modern Absences in Indian Philosophy examines the apparent absence of new philosophical systems in India over the past several centuries, despite the rich and diverse traditions of Indian philosophical thought. The book explores the decline of traditional philosophical schools and Sanskritic studies, while asking how classical ideas continue to survive and shape contemporary Indian intellectual life.
Prof. A. Raghuramaraju examines the relationship between India and the West, particularly the different ways in which each civilisation has negotiated its past and its modernity. The book also considers the emergence of a contemporary philosophical consciousness in India and analyses Vaddera Chandidas’s Desire and Liberation: The Fundamentals of Cosmicontology as an important example of new philosophical thinking in contemporary India.
Through questions of absence, continuity, and the contemporary, the work invites a reconsideration of how Indian philosophy has evolved and how its classical traditions continue to inform philosophical inquiry today.
Prof. A. Raghuramaraju examines the relationship between India and the West, particularly the different ways in which each civilisation has negotiated its past and its modernity. The book also considers the emergence of a contemporary philosophical consciousness in India and analyses Vaddera Chandidas’s Desire and Liberation: The Fundamentals of Cosmicontology as an important example of new philosophical thinking in contemporary India.
Through questions of absence, continuity, and the contemporary, the work invites a reconsideration of how Indian philosophy has evolved and how its classical traditions continue to inform philosophical inquiry today.
Distinguished Keynote Speaker(s)
A Raghuramraju
Keynote Speaker
Profile →
Prof. A. Raghuramaraju is Professor in the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences at the Indian Institute of Technology Tirupati. He holds a Ph.D. from IIT Kanpur and works across Indian philosophy, Continental philosophy, social and political philosophy, bioethics, feminism, and the relationship between technology and society.
He is the author and editor of several significant works in contemporary Indian philosophy, including Debates in Indian Philosophy: Classical, Colonial and Contemporary, Enduring Colonialism: Classical Presences and Modern Absences in Indian Philosophy, Modern Frames and Premodern Themes in Indian Philosophy, and Calibrating Western Philosophy for India. His Debates in Indian Philosophy received the CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title recognition in 2007.
Prof. Raghuramaraju has also served as visiting faculty and held academic and advisory positions at several institutions in India and abroad. His work engages closely with questions of Indian intellectual traditions, modernity, colonialism, Gandhi, and the encounter between Indian and Western philosophical traditions.
He is the author and editor of several significant works in contemporary Indian philosophy, including Debates in Indian Philosophy: Classical, Colonial and Contemporary, Enduring Colonialism: Classical Presences and Modern Absences in Indian Philosophy, Modern Frames and Premodern Themes in Indian Philosophy, and Calibrating Western Philosophy for India. His Debates in Indian Philosophy received the CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title recognition in 2007.
Prof. Raghuramaraju has also served as visiting faculty and held academic and advisory positions at several institutions in India and abroad. His work engages closely with questions of Indian intellectual traditions, modernity, colonialism, Gandhi, and the encounter between Indian and Western philosophical traditions.
Session Moderator
Nilambar Chakrabarti is a doctoral research scholar in Philosophy at Jadavpur University, a Sylff Fellowship recipient, and former Research Fellow at Smith College in South Asian Studies. He regularly moderates the Poorvam Cite It! and Authors in Conversation academic symposia series.