International symposium , organized by Prs. Gérard Fussman and John Scheid
Charles Malamoud recalls that the term loka, which in Sanskrit designates the world, is related to the Latin lūcus, whose primary meaning is "clearing". The loka is a place of light, illuminated by the stars of day and night. However, it is not only perceived as a vast clearing opposed to the forest: the world cannot exist without the "non-world"(aloka) that surrounds it. Reflecting on the outskirts of the clearing therefore means grasping the forest all around with the same gaze, thinking about the necessary articulation between world and non-world. Over the past forty years, Charles Malamoud's work has played a key role in Indian studies in France and abroad, and continues to open up new avenues of methodological and conceptual investigation in the human and social sciences. Invited to pursue a long-standing dialogue with a particular dimension or theme of Charles Malamoud's work, the speakers will report on their current readings in disciplines as varied as the history of religions, linguistics, philosophy, anthropology, poetics and aesthetics. As a comparative perspective has always been at the heart of the work of Charles Malamoud, co-founder of the Centre Gernet (now Anhima), the symposium devoted to his work brings together Indianists and specialists from other cultural areas
