The Mendicant Prince

By Aruna Chakravarti (Picador India: 2022)

Chief Guest: Ms Sharmila Tagore

Discussants: Shri Bishwajit Bhattacharyya, formerly Additional Solicitor General, Supreme Court of India; Ms Anita Agnihotri, novelist; Ms Madhulika Liddle, novelist; Ms Aanchal Malhotra, historian and writer; and Dr. Aruna Chakravarti,
academic, creative writer, translator and author of the book

Moderator: Ms Shuma Raha, novelist

Coordinator: Maj. Gen. (Retd.) Ashok K. Mehta
 

The Rise of Bangladesh: Partnership with India

Panelists: Amb. Pankaj Saran, former Deputy NSA and High Commissioner to Bangladesh; Lt. Gen. (Retd.) Satish Nambiar, former Deputy Chief of Army Staff and Director, United Services Institute; Amb. Pinak Ranjan Chakravarti, former Secretary, Ministry of External Affairs and former High Commissioner to Bangladesh; and Dr. Sreeradha Dutta, Senior Fellow, Vivekanand Foundation and Centre Head, Neighbourhood Studies

Chair: Maj. Gen. Ashok Mehta

Bangladesh, one of the youngest countries, after some glitches, is making rapid progress in political and security stability, enabling stunning economic growth and rise in human development indices. Relations with India have seen highs and lows but are now on a positive trajectory. The panel will discuss the rise of Bangladesh

Conscience, Creativity and Courage: Response to Crisis

Speaker: Ashok Vajpeyi

Moderator of the series: Suhas Borker

Introduction: Vinay Kumar, Secretary General, Press Club of India (PCI)

The series ‘Conversations with Media’ is jointly organised by IIC and PCI and is hosted by them alternately every month

Problems of Critically Editing a Codex Unicus: The Mahābhāṣyadīpikā of Bhartṛhari

Speaker: Saroja Bhate, former Professor, Department of Sanskrit and Prakrit Languages, University of Pune

Chair: Madhav M. Deshpande, Professor Emeritus, Sanskrit and Linguistics, University of Michigan

The Mahābhāṣyadīpikā is a commentary on the well-known treatise on Sanskrit grammar, the ‘Vyākaraṇamahābhāṣya’ of Patañjali. It is written by Bhartṛhari, the author of the celebrated work on philosophy of language, the ‘Vākyapadīya’. This commentary owes its importance not only to the fact that it is the oldest available commentary on the Vyākaraṇamahābhāṣya, but also to the fact that it is a mine of information on many other knowledge systems such as Sāṁkhya and Mīmāṁsā. Unfortunately, only a small part of this commentary has survived, that too, in a single manuscript. The single manuscript further poses a few problems, because it is written by multiple scribes, and contains folia with blank spaces in the middle of lines left by the scribes when they failed to understand the writing of the original scribe. There exist three different critically edited texts of this commentary published by different scholars at different times. The lecture will survey all the three editions with a view to finding out the method and means used to overcome the problems faced while editing a Codex Unicus.

Organised by IIC-International Research Division with the support of Ministry of External Affairs

Registration link

https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_3-k32ok_S_GDGL8wStlWrw

Kathasatisagar: Folklore of Jammu-Kashmir

By Raj Nehru and C.K. Gariyali (Prabhat Prakashan: 2022)

Release of the book followed by a discussion

Discussants: Ms Sudha Pillai, IAS (Retd.), former Secretary, Ministry of Labour and Employment, Govt. of India; Shri Virendra Qazi, Founder Chairman, Lalleshwari International Trust; Dr. Advaitavadini Kaul, academic and writer; Dr. J.M. Kaul, former Dean, Maulana Azad Medical College; Prof. Raj Nehru, Vice Chancellor, Shri Vishwakarma Skill University, Haryana, and co-author of the book; and Dr. C.K. Gariyali, IAS (retd.), co-author of the book

Connecting with the Mahabharata

By Neera Misra and Rajesh Lal (Garuda Books: 2022)

Release of the book followed by a discussion

Chairman: Shri Mohan Bhagwat, Sarsanghchalak, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh

Discussants: Shri K.N. Shrivastava, Director, IIC; Shri Deepak Rai, Managing Director, Muse India; Ms Neera Misra, Chairperson and Founder, Draupadi Dream Trust and co-author of the book; and Air Vice Marshal (retd.) Rajesh Lal, co-author of the book

(68 min; 1942; b/w; English)
Director: Roy William Neill

With Basil Rathbone, Nigel Bruce, Lionel Atwill

Sherlock Holmes helps a scientist escape the clutches of the Gestapo in Switzerland and gets him to England. The man has invented a revolutionary new bombsight that will significantly aid Britain's war effort. Now that he's in England he should be safe, right?

(59 min; 2002; English/Dari with English subtitles)
Director: Simon Broughton

Recipient of the Documentary Prize, Golden Prague Festival in 2022

The Taliban's prohibition of music was the most severe in history. Apart from unaccompanied chants, all music was banned and instruments were broken and burnt. This film documents the remarkable moment when the country was reconnected with its musical culture. Shot in Kabul and Peshawar (Pakistan) in January 2002, two months after the fall of the Taliban, this film is an introduction to the music of Afghanistan and the way it's been caught in the crossfire of conflicting regimes over the past 25 years. The film features, Sarinda-player Mashinai, forced to work as a butcher under the Taliban; singer Aziz Ghaznawi, who had no option but to sing for them; female singer Naghma, whose tapes flooded the Kabul bazaar as the Taliban fled; rare footage of Sufi gatherings where Islam and music fervently meet; Ensemble Kaboul, the best of the traditional Afghan groups in exile, formed when the very survival of Afghan music seemed under threat.