The Tamil Heritage Trust - Prof. S. Swaminathan Heritage Award 2021 awarded to Dr. G Sankaranarayanan

Press Release 

 

“The Tamil Heritage Trust - Prof. S. Swaminathan Heritage Award 2021 awarded to Dr. G Sankaranarayanan” 

 

Monday, August 9th, 2021.

Chennai

 

The city-based Tamil Heritage Trust (THT) has announced Dr. G. Sankaranarayanan as the recipient of the second, annual THT - Prof. S. Swaminathan Heritage Award. 

 

The Award was instituted by THT in 2020 to honour the work of individuals under the age of fifty who have made significant contributions to deepening the general public’s knowledge of Indian heritage, widening the audience for heritage appreciation, and in the process strengthening our existing knowledge base of heritage assets and resources. 

 

The award is named for Prof S. Swaminathan, retired Professor from IIT-Delhi and co-founder of the Tamil Heritage Trust, whose books, monographs and talks on many facets of India’s heritage continue to be a source of inspiration for heritage enthusiasts. Just in its second year, the award has garnered the interest of several noteworthy individuals in the field of history and heritage studies. The winner this year was chosen from a pool of more than twenty nominations drawn from across the country by a distinguished 6-member jury comprising historians, scholars and public intellectuals. 

 

Accepting the Award, Dr. G. Sankaranarayanan, an Assistant Professor of Sanskrit at the National Sanskrit University, Tirupati, said, “I am greatly humbled by this recognition bestowed on me by the Tamil Heritage Trust. I believe that the pursuit of knowledge and scholarship in any field enriches society when it is shared as widely and freely as possible. THT has been a dedicated and trustworthy bridge between academia and the general public in the field of history and heritage. It is my pleasure to accept this award and along with it the responsibility of continuing my work as a heritage researcher and communicator." 

 

Prof. S Swaminathan, Co-founder and Trustee of THT, said, “Dr. G. Sankaranarayanan is a young and committed educator with an abiding passion to speak to audiences, large and small, and illuminate their minds on the beauty, sophistication and grandeur of Indian temples, literature, art and culture. A scholar in multiple Indian languages, he is emerging as an important and respected voice in the field. It is the responsibility of organizations such as ours to connect individuals like Sankaranarayanan to global platforms and intellectuals, and facilitate mutually rewarding collaborations and research projects.”

 

THT was founded as a non-profit Trust in the year 2010 with a vision to put the common man in touch with the rich storehouse of knowledge that is Indian heritage. The Trust which is entirely volunteer-driven attempts to deliver this through several initiatives - monthly public talks, annual thematic conferences, site seminars and study tours to places of historical interest, workshops on temple architecture and museum collections and an outreach effort through schools to sensitize young students to Indian heritage. 

 

The award which carries a citation and a cash prize of Rs 25,000 will be presented to Dr. G. Sankaranarayanan at a ceremony to be held later this month. The winner is scheduled to deliver the Award Lecture on a topic of his choice on the 4th of September, 2021.  


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For more information, please contact: 

Badri Seshadri – 98840 66566 

Siva Thiagarajan – 98842 94494