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 Dr. Pramod Pathak
Designation-Fellow
Email- drpvpathak@yahoo.co.in
EPBAX-
Duration of Fellowship September 2023 to August 2024
Research Project Evolving New Rational – Tarka – तर्क To Interprete The Vedic Texts
About:Dr. Pramod Pathak is basically a professional Chemical Engineer. He completed his. M. Tech. (Chemical Engineering) from I. I. T. Mumbai. Then he joined I.I.T. Mumbai as a Research Associate. After three years, he shifted to chemical industry. He has more than two decades of industrial research and production experience. He was on professional assignment to USA for 6 years. Then he shifted to the field of Solar and Alternative Energy Resources. He was with the Goa Energy Development Agency from 2013 – 2017. He developed a household gadget for solar water disinfection for a family type unit. He was also Chairman of the Goa State Environmental Impact Assessment Authority.
In 1980s he developed keen interest in the Vedic literature. He got registered as Ph. D. student with the Indological Research Institute associated with the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Mumbai. He received his Ph. D. in the year 1992 from the Mumbai University. His doctoral topic was –
Indra – Vr̥tra Myth in the R̥gveda and its Interpretation with Reference to the Tectonic Upheavals in the Indus River Valley Region
Short summary of the Ph. D topic – “In the R̥gveda text the demon Vr̥tra was the archenemy of the Supreme God Indra. Vr̥tra was perceived as a serpent – ahi and cloud - megha. He proposed Ahi- Vr̥tra to be a loosely formed earthen bund formed due to tectonic upheavals in the Indus Valley region. It was breached by hydrostatic pressure upstream, physical efforts and certainly not by rains”.
Abridged version of his Ph. D. thesis was published by Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Mumbai “Indra-Vritra Myth and Tectonic upheavals” (2001).
In continuation of his Vedic studies, he went into the Indo-Iranian textual studies correlating the R̥gveda text and the Indo-Iranian texts from the point of “Geo-Cultural Scenario”. He was also interested in the Indus Culture. He found a clue to understand and interpret some Indus Culture seals as pictorial representations of the Atharva Vedic hymns. He published his research in Indological journals of repute. He has presented research papers at many national and international conferences and chaired sessions. He has contributed articles for the encyclopaedia.
During his stay in USA he worked as a Visiting Professor at the University of Houston. He covered the subject of Indian History and culture. He was also invited to deliver series of lectures by the Vedānta Society, Oklahoma. He was invited for the Interfaith Meets held in USA to speak on Hinduism. He was a founder member of the Gandhi Library, Houston. He was invited in India and USA to deliver lectures on the Vedic literature and the Indus Culture. In 2012 he delivered Shah Memorial Lecture series at the Oriental Institute, Vadodara, Gujarat, on the topic of Vedic entities, their nature and the Indus Culture seals. It was subsequently published under the title, “Vedic Entities and Identities”.
During COVID times he conducted online classes in Indology and the Indus Culture for the BHISHMA Institute, Pune.
As an INFOSYS scholar – He was INFOSYS scholar at the Bhandarker Oriental Research Institute, Pune from Apr. 2022 to Sept 2022. He worked on the topic of “The Dragon Myth in the R̥gveda and its Global Perspective”. He has submitted his research findings to BORI. The book is in print.
Study tour to Azerbaijan – The Mythic Society, Bengaluru, sponsored him on a study tour to Azerbaijan from May 10th to May 25th 2023. He went to study the Hindu - Indo-Iranian pilgrimage centre near Baku and the northern branch of the Silk route passing through Azerbaijan. He has submitted the tour report to the Mythic Society and will be published in due course of time.
He was regular columnist for many dailies and magazines on the cultural topics. He has to his credit hundreds of articles.

Post-Doctoral assignments:=
1. Post-Doctoral assignment sponsored by K. R. Cama Oriental Institute, Mumbai.
In the year 1993-94, M/s K. R. Cama Oriental Institute, Mumbai, sponsored him to work on a project on Indo-Iranian texts. Monograph was subsequently published in “Journal of K. R. Cama Oriental Institute”, No. 61 (1997), Pp 28-98.
Title of the research topic:
“Geo-Cultural Scenario and the Vedic and the Indo-Iranian Texts”2. Post-Doctoral assignment sponsored by “International Centre for Cultural Studies” (ICCS), Nagpur, during 1996-98. The project work on completion was published in 1999 as a book titled: “The Afghan Connections”. Its second revised edition was published in 2022.3. Post-Doctoral assignment sponsored by the Department of Art and Culture, Goa State Government, Panaji.
Goa State Government sponsored a project in 2001-2002 to study the ethnic and historical aspects of the Tulasī vr̥ndavans and the Holy Crosses in the Goa State. The outcome of the Survey was published in 2003 by the Arts and Culture Department of the Goa State. It was co-authored by Mrs. Usha Pathak. It was published under the title:
“Living Traditions of the Emerald Land: Tulasi Vrindavans and Holy Crosses of Goa”4. The project on three Vedic entities was sponsored by Brahmachaitanayashram (ब्रह्मचैतन्याश्रम) at Badlapur, Dist Thane. Three monographs were published in Marathi:
विश्व निर्मितीचे विराट आकलन: पुरुषसूक्त -Cosmology in the Puruṣasūkta,
वैदिक रुद्रदेवाचे स्वरूप - On the Nature of the Vedic Rudra,
वैदिक मंत्रपुष्पांजली-The meaning and commentary on Mantra Puṣpāñjalī.
These were published by Hari Om Publication, Nashik in 2009.Other books and monographs on various topics:
How to Survive in Middle Management Cadre Without Blood Pressure, Heart Attack and Ulcer - a book on management technique based on his professional experience, BPI (India) PVT. LTD. (2002)
Rhymes to Remember – poems for primary school children on three parts; based on the Indian culture and social themes, co-authored by Mrs. Usha Pathak, Career Publications, Nashik
रामायणाचे वास्तव दर्शन (Factual studies in Ramayana) (Marathi)(1989). A monograph reviewing the Ramayana text from a technologist’s point of view.
वेदांची ओळख 1st Edn. (1998), Gautami Prakashan, Nashik, 3rd Edn. (2010), Nashik.
Introduction to the Vedas: Tradition and the Modern Approach, (2010), Gautami Prakshan, Nashik.
अध्यात्माचे विज्ञान आणि गणित (Science and Mathematics of Spirituality (Marathi) (2016), Nachiket Prakashan, Nagpur
In print:
असुरांच्या सुरस कथा – Based on the stories of Gods and the asuras as narrated in the Purāṇa texts. It is ethnological and technological exploration of stories in the Purāṇa literature.
पुरातत्त्वाच्या प्रांगणात – It is collection of articles on the Vedic entities, symbols, archaeological connections with the Vedic literature. It also narrates his interactions with the Archaeologists and Indologists over the period of last 3 decades.

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