A Symposium in Honor of the Retirement of Dr. Padma Kaimal, Batza Family Chair in Art History
In honor of the retirement of Professor Padma Kaimal, Batza Family Chair in Art History, the Colgate University Department of Art will host a two-day symposium exploring how understanding rivers, and more generally, water, can deepen our thinking about monuments, cities, and human history. The symposium will include presentations by visiting scholars of South Asian history, religion, and art, whose research focuses on the impact of water on the location, design, maintenance, and funding of the built landscape.

Schedule

Friday, April 17, 2026

• 4 p.m. | Welcome
• 4:15 p.m. - 4:45 p.m. | Keynote Talk by Dr. Padma Kaimal
• 4:45 p.m. - 6:30 p.m. | Session 1: Thinking with Water

Saturday, April 18, 2026

• 8 a.m. - 9 a.m. | Light Breakfast/Coffee/Tea***
• 9:15 a.m. - 12:15 p.m. | Session 2: Water and Sacred Power
• 12:30 p.m. - 1:30 p.m. | Lunch Break
• 1:45 p.m. - 3:45 p.m. | Session 3: Water and Identity

Register for the Symposium

Registration encouraged, but not required, w/the exception of event marked with ***

Speakers 

• Dr. Divya Agrawal, independent scholar
  Forthcoming
• Dr. Elizabeth Cecil, Timothy Gannon, associate professor, Department of Religion, Florida State University
  The Descent of the Gaṅgā in the Land of the Khmer
• Dr. Richard Davis, professor emeritus and research professor of religion, Bard College
  Kaveri and Ganga: Two Chola Rivers
• Dr. Robert DeCaroli, Department of History and Art History, George Mason University
  The Baby and the Bathwater: Ritual and Medicinal Bathing in Early South Asia
• Dr. Mary Beth Heston, professor emerita of art and architectural history, Department of Art and Architectural History, College of Charleston
  The Shape of Water 
• Dr. Janice Leoshko, associate professor emerita, Department of Art and Art History and Department of Asian Studies, University of Texas, Austin
  Where Have All the Nāgas Gone?
• Dr. Leslie C. Orr, professor, Department of Religions and Cultures, Concordia University, Montreal
  Rivers, Waterbodies, and the Medieval Temples of Southernmost Tamilnadu
• Dr. Charlotte Schmid, director of studies, École française d'Extrême-Orient, India
  Kāvēri, the Beloved of the Kings
• Dr. Tamara Sears, associate professor of art history, Department of Art History, Rutgers University-New Brunswick
  All Routes Lead to Rivers: Looking at Temple Towns through Topography and Text