Harappans and their Contemporary Cultures
 

Speaker: Dr. V.N. Prabhakar, archaeologist and presently Visiting Faculty at the Archaeological Sciences Centre, Indian Institute of Technology, Gandhinagar

 

The Harappan Civilization is one among the four Bronze Age Civilizations of third millennium BCE that flourished for nearly 700 years in the river valleys of Indus-Ghagger-Hakra in modern India and Pakistan. The Harappans in order to cater to their economic prospects interacted with different cultures all around the Greater Indus Valley, the Kashmir Neolithic complex,  the Kulli and Helmand cultures on the west and northwest and reached as far as Central Asian region and also with Mesopotamia. Thus, the Harappans were enterprising in establishing cultural contacts with several contemporary ones, for various purposes of trade, extraction of raw materials of various kinds for catering to both domestic and external needs. This lecture will focus on some of these contemporary cultures of Harappans, with the aid of illustrative slides supported by distribution maps

 

 

 

By Devika Rao with her disciples, Prisha Shukla and Vyshnavi Rao from the UK

 

A meeting of the traditional and the modern, this is a new dance choreography that uses traditional Indian dance styles, animation and visual effects  to explore personal stories of strong women in  the 21st century

 

 

By Arshad Ali

 

Followed by

Sitar Recital

By Purbayan Chatterjee

 

 

 

Illustrated lecture by Gautam Hemmady

An exhibition of major themes and trends in the history of Indian matchbox label design

From the collection of Gautam Hemmady

 

Preview on Friday, 27 May 2016 at 18:30

 

As part of this exhibition, there will be a talk in the Annexe Lecture Room II on

WEDNESDAY, 1 JUNE 2016 AT 18:30

Matchbox Labels

Illustrated lecture by Gautam Hemmady

 

Book Discussion Group

 

Vice Admiral (Retd.) Premvir Das, former Commander-in-Chief, Eastern Naval Command; Dr. Rakesh Mohan, Economist; and Smt Rami Chhabra, journalist will discuss The Turn of the Tortoise: The Challenge and Promise of India’s Future by T.N. Ninan (Gurgaon: Penguin, 2015)

 

Chair: Dr. Shankar Acharya, Economist and Professor, ICRIER

 

Modernity and Princely India: Mosques as Modern Heritage

Speaker: Dr. Jyoti Pandey Sharma, Professor in Architecture, Deenbandhu Chhotu Ram University of Science & Technology, Murthal, Haryana

 

Chair: Professor A.G.K. Menon

 

This presentation examines two mosque building endeavours by rulers of the princelystates of Bhopal and Kapurthala that were undertaken in the early decades of the 20thcentury. The Bhopal mosque drew high praise from Gordon Sanderson (who undertook a survey on behalf of the ASI to identify types of Modern Indian Buildings along with the craftsmen employed in their creation) as a specimen of architectural modernity, while the Kapurthala mosque did not form part of the survey. Both mosques demonstrated a high degree of internationalism, inspired by the vision of their respective patrons, who were champions of progress in their respective states. Both mosques, having remained relatively obscure both in scholarship and as places of interest with heritage worth, deserve a place in the repertoire of early modern, pre-independence Indian architecture

 

(110 min; 2015; dvd; English subtitles)

Directed by Pratik Sharma

 

Recipient of the Best Theme Award for Feature Film; and Jury Award for Best Actress, Rajasthan International Film Festival 2016

 

The story of a village where the houses have no toilet facilities and there are different rules and timings for men and women to use the common village toilet. The film deftly weaves together fiction with social issues through the character of Uganti to address the many problems faced by rural women across India for their basic amenities

 

Three books will be discussed: As If Women Matter: The Essential Gloria Steinem Reader, Edited by Ruchira Gupta (New Delhi: Rupa, 2016); River of Flesh and Other Stories: The Prostituted Woman in Indian Short Fiction, Edited by Ruchira Gupta (New Delhi: Speaking Tiger, 2016); and Prem Nagar: Town of Love by Anne Ch. Ostby; translated by Marie Ostby (New Delhi: Supernova, 2013)

 

Panelists: Prof. Vidhu Verma, Centre for Political Studies, School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru university; Prof. Baran Farooqi, Department of English, Jamia Millia Islamia; and Dr. Kusha Tiwari, Department of English, Shyam Lal College, University of Delhi 

 

Chair: Prof. Indu Agnihotri, Director, Centre for Women’s Development Studies

 

By Nishi Gupta from Varanasi, disciple of Smt Girija Devi, Pt Chhannulal Mishra