The fourth edition of Research Day at SRM University-AP was held on Saturday, February 19, 2022. The missile woman of India, Dr Tessy Thomas appreciated the efforts of SRM AP in entering into new areas of research and encouraged the scholars to contribute to the country’s growth by developing indigenous technologies. The Research day is conducted as a breakthrough opportunity for the faculty members, research scholars and students of SRM University-AP to exchange and exhibit their ideas on research.

In her keynote address, Dr Thomas explicated that the DRDO’s efforts positioned the nation among the top few countries in the world with multilevel strategic capability. These include the Agni series, anti-ballistic missile programmes, underwater weapon systems, main battle tanks, multi-range radar systems, electronic warfare, fighter aircraft, Light Combat Aircraft and its variants, and airborne early warning and control systems.

Delivering the welcome address, Prof D Narayana Rao, Pro-Vice-Chancellor, SRM University – AP highlighted that India needs to gradually move from a net consumer of knowledge to a net producer of knowledge as India emerges as one of the world’s largest economies.“Therefore, SRM University-AP provides faculty members and research scholars the required support to carry out research in new domains of knowledge” he added. He further talked about the 25 years vision of SRM University-AP in research and development starting from 2022 to 2047. During the next 25 years, the faculty members and research scholars of SRM AP will pursue significant and outstanding research in the areas of water resources and management, blue economy, self-diagnostic medical devices, new-age medicine, hydrogen as a potential replacement of fossil fuels and many more novel branches of scientific knowledge.

University Vice-Chancellor Prof V S Rao recollected the interaction he had with Dr Tessy Thomas in BITS Pilani Hyderabad campus and invited Dr Thomas to visit the SRM University-AP campus physically to converse with the students. During interaction with students and faculty members, Dr Tessy Thomas elaborated how industrial and academic collaborations facilitate the development of indigenous technologies.

Among 285 submissions from students and from the faculty community of SRM AP on various thematic areas, selected papers were awarded gold and silver medals. Prof V S Rao, Vice-Chancellor; Prof D Narayana Rao, Pro-Vice-Chancellor; Prof Sudhindra Nath Panda, Dean – Faculty & Academic Affairs; Prof B V Babu, Dean-School of Engineering and Sciences; Prof R S Desikan, Associate Dean-in-charge, School of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences (SLASS) & School of Entrepreneurship and Management Studies (SEAMS); Prof T Ragunathan, Associate Dean-in-Charge (Engineering)-School of Engineering and Sciences gave away the medals and certificates. Further, a special issue of abstracts that comprises all the submitted abstracts was unveiled on behalf of Dr Tessy Thomas for public readership.

Dr Murali Krishna Enduri, Assistant Professor, Department of Computer Science Engineering was the convener and Dr Anandarao Suvvari, Assistant Professor, Department of Economics; Dr Sabyasachi Chakrabortty, Assistant Professor, Department of Chemistry; and Dr Lakshmi Sirisha Maganti, Assistant Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering were the co-conveners of the Research Day-2022.

The School of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences is glad to announce that Dr Saurabh Todariya has published his paper titled “Aesthetic Delight and Beauty: A Comparison of Kant’s Aesthetics and Abhinavagupta’s Theory of Rasa” in the Journal of Dharma Studies published by Springer Nature. It is published in collaboration with Consciousness Studies Program, National Institute of Advanced Studies (IISc Campus), Bangalore.

Anything that is pleasurable to perceive is defined as beautiful. However, the notion of beauty takes different interpretations with respect to the lens it is viewed through. It is either rooted in one’s personal feelings or by virtue of something universal residing in the object. Through his paper, Dr Todariya seeks to explore this question by comparing the Philosophy of German Philosopher, Kant and the great Indian Philosopher of the 9th Century, Abhinavagupta. He proposes that appreciation of beauty is only possible when the personal and egoistic involvement is suspended with respect to the beautiful object.

The research is significant in the domain of cross-cultural philosophy and looks into aesthetics from a philosophical point of view, relatively an underexplored area in Indian Academia. Dr Todariya also aims to work on comparative aesthetics, especially on the notion of Hermeneutics and Art in Indian and Western Aesthetics in the future.

Abstract of the Research

The study aims to address the existing research gap through a thematic comparison between the aesthetics of Kant and Abhinavagupta. This paper explores Kant’s notion of aesthetic judgment based on disinterestedness with Abhinavagupta’s analysis of sādhāraṇīkaraṇa. We argue that the notions of “disinterested judgment” in Kant and sādhāraṇīkaraṇa in Abhinavagupta point towards the impersonal nature of aesthetic delight which makes the universality of aesthetic experience possible. Hence, aesthetics in both Kant and Abhinavagupta are not the personal and subjective experience, but a kind of universality based on the ability to experience impersonal joy. However, the notion of aesthetic delight in Kant is confined to the agreeable mental states only, while in Abhinavgupta the notion of rasa includes both positive as well as the negative mental states like fear, disgust, etc. In this regard, the paper will also analyse the affinity between the notion of sensus communius in Kant and sahṛdaya in Abhinavagupta which highlights the importance of aesthetic community and the impersonal nature of aesthetic delight.