The Basham Lectures (1995-2002)

Abstract

This lecture series is in honour of Professor Arthur Llewellyn Basham, Historian and Asian scholar. A guru of South Asian history, Arthur Llewellyn Basham epitomized the otherwise intangible notion of Oriental Civilizations. His classic work, The Wonder that was India, published before he came to Canberra, is an encyclopedic survey of the subcontinent before the coming of the Muslims in the sixteenth century, ranging in subject matter across language, literature, religions, government and the arts. Joining the ANU in 1965 as Professor of Oriental (later Asian) Civilizations, he served as Dean of the faculty of Asian Studies from 1968 to 1970. In 1971 he presided over the world's famous conference of researchers on Asia, the International Congress of Orientalists. Basham retired from the University in 1979, but maintained his connections as a Visiting Fellow on several occasions during the early 1980s. He died in Calcutta in 1986.