SAMHiTA-Bharat ki Soch Public Lecture Series

Diurnal Medicine: The Rajballabhiya Drabyaguna and the Making of a Regional Medical Tradition in Bengal, 18th to 20th Centuries
 

Speaker: Dr. Projit Bihari Mukharji, Professor of History, Ashoka University, recipient of the Pfizer Award, Guggenheim Fellowship and grants from National Science Foundation of the USA, and the Social Science & Humanities Research Council of Canada. He is the author of Nationalizing the Body: The Medical Market, Print, and Daktari Medicine (2009); and Brown Skins, White Coats: Race Science in India, 1920-66 (2022).

Chair: Dr. Burton Cleetus, Centre for Historical Studies, JNU

The Sanskrit Dravyaguna genre, which developed from earlier Nighantu texts, catalogued medically significant substances (dravya) along with their uses. Focusing on Bengal, the lecture traces the transition from a widely used Dravyaguna attributed to the 11th-century physician Chakrapanidatta to an 18th-century work ascribed to Raja Rajballabh, a Baidya courtier in the court of Bengal’s post Mughal Nawabs. By tracking the evolution of this text, particularly through the early print editions, the lecture revisits the dynamics of the transition from manuscript to print in the context of medical knowledge.

Second lecture of the series on “Health, Wellness and Nutrition”, organised by IIC- International Research Division and Bharat ki Soch Foundation
 

From Death to Immortality: The Great War of the Mahabharata
by Kavita A. Sharma and Indu Ramchandani (BlueOne Ink, 2025)

Discussants:  Prof. Sukrita Paul Kumar, Eminent Poet, Critic & Academic, Guest Editor Indian Literature; 
Dr. Sarvchetan Katoch, Associate Professor of English. Shaheed Bhagat Singh College, DU; Dr. A. K. Merchant, General Secretary of Temple of Understanding India Foundation; Kausalya Srinivasan, Bharatanatyam Dancer; Dr. Kavita A. Sharma, Educationist, former Director IIC, Former Vice Chancellor, South Asia University & Author of the book; Indu Ramchandani, Editor, Transcriber, Compiler and Author of the book
 

Understanding Gulf Migration Through Fiction, Cinema and Cultural Networks

Discussants: Md. Shafeeq Karinkurayil, Associate Professor at MISHA, MAHE, author of ‘The Gulf Migrant Archives in Kerala’; Ratheesh Radhakrishnan, Associate Professor at the School of Arts and Aesthetics, JNU, works on Malayalam cinema and cultural politics in Kerala; Ratheesh Kumar, Associate Professor at the Centre for the Study of Social Systems, JNU, engages with interdisciplinarity, cultural processes and social theory; Sebastian Thejus Cherian, Assistant Professor at the Centre for French & Francophone Studies, JNU and working on the representation of Gulf migration in Malayalam cinema

Moderator: Vijayalakshmi Rao, Professor at the Centre for French & Francophone Studies, JNU, whose research engages with French and Francophone literature, displacement and Gulf migration narratives.

This discussion examines Gulf migration through literary, aesthetic and sociological perspectives, foregrounding questions of representation, gender, language and cultural transformation. Focusing on Kerala’s long history of migration to the Persian Gulf, it explores how migrancy reshapes social life, media cultures and regional imaginations across Malayalam and global contexts.

(Collaboration: ICSSR Northern Regional Centre)
 

Mindfulness for All

An immersive mindfulness programme with cross-sector panel discussion with experiential practice, exploring stress, emotional balance in life. The session offers practical tools to cultivate mindful awareness in everyday living.
The programme will begin with a flute recital by Pankaj Mishra, flutist-vocalist, direct disciple of late Jagannath Ghoshal and bansuri-shehnai maestro Pandit Rajendra Prasanna followed by a panel discussion. 
Discussants: Dr. Sanjiv Saigal, Principal Director & Head of Hepatology and Liver Transplant Medicine at Max Super Speciality Hospital, Saket; Anuradha Joshi, senior educationist, National Teacher Awardee (2015); Pallavi Singh, Vice President–Human Resources at a global multinational bank; Narender Singh Rawat, Vice President and Chairman of the Umpire Committee, Taekwondo Association of India; Debika Mitra, Co-Founder, Escapades for the Soul, and a Certified Mindfulness Coach. 
Moderator: Nidhi Jarwal, faculty at Miranda House, University of Delhi, and Program Coordinator at the National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights (NCDHR)
 

India and Her Futures
By Gopalkrishna Gandhi (Bloomsbury, 2025)

Discussants: Dr. John Brittas, Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha; Gopalkrishna Gandhi, Diplomat and Former Governor, West Bengal and author of the book

Chair: Kamal Haasan, Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha; Actor and Founder, Makkal Needhi Maiam
Moderator: Mrinal Pande, Author, Journalist and Former Chairperson, Prasar Bharati
 

To Mark International Women’s Day 2026
The 21st IAWRT Asian Women’s Film Festival: 12 to 15 March 2026

Details of the screening schedule and discussions

The 21st edition of the Asian Women’s Film Festival (AWFF) presents films from across Asia and beyond, spanning documentary, fiction, animation and curated regional programmes. The films reflect a wide spectrum of concerns – from labour, ecology, migration, memory, and identity to interior landscapes of desire, belonging, and resistance – articulated through diverse cinematic languages. The festival includes a special focus on animation through collaborations with partner festivals and initiatives such as AniMela, foregrounding women’s creative leadership in a field historically shaped by gendered exclusions. A curated package from Central Asia (Kazakhstan and the Kyrgyz Republic). The festival includes workshops, masterclasses, and discussions that address both practice and pedagogy. As the festival enters its third decade, it carries forward a simple yet powerful belief: that women’s stories, images, deserve visibility and celebration – and that feminist film cultures are sustained through shared spaces of watching, thinking, and being together.

Organised in collaboration with the India Chapter of the International Association of Women in Radio and Television (IAWRT); NFDC; Ministry of Information & Broadcasting; French Institute in India; French Embassy in India; Goethe Institut; Japan Foundation.

Screenings will be held in the Auditorium on 13, 14 and 15 March 2026 from 9:30 onwards. Some of the filmmakers will be present for post-screening discussions. The opening film will be I, The Song by Dechen Roder (Bhutan), while the closing film is Shadowbox by Tanushree Das and Soumyananda Sahi (India & France). The leading lady of the closing film, Tilottama Shome will also be present at the screening.  

Highlights of the festival include: Three masterclasses with celebrated Japanese editor, Keiko Okawa sharing insights from her long and influential engagement with cinematic form and editing practice.; Paromita Vohra; the Asanjo Collective, on filmmaking and Animation; one round table on Filmmaking Pedagogy, Discussions with present filmmakers on their films. All masterclasses, workshops, seminars are planned and driven by women.

Registration at the venue on a first come first serve basis.

Keynote Address: Dr Prasun Chatterjee, Chief, Geriatric Medicine, Apollo Hospital, New Delhi
Clinical perspectives on inflammAgeing, chronic disease prevention, and extending healthspan
 

Followed by a Panel Discussion with an interactive Q&A session, exploring how clinical medicine, nutrition science, and lifestyle interventions converge to regulate inflammation and influence ageing outcomes, featuring:
Discussants: Dr Pankaj Verma, Medical Director, Antara Integrated Wellness Centre, Gurugram; Dr Aarti Midha, Integrative Psychiastrist, Functional Medicine Practitioner, Jaipur; Dr Pratap Chauhan, Founder & Director - Jiva Ayurveda ; Ishi Khosla, Clinical Nutritionist, Founder – Celiac Society of India

Moderator: Dr Arjun Dang, CEO and Partner, Dr Dang’s Lab

A science-led programme exploring how chronic inflammation drives ageing and how the gut microbiome regulates immunity, metabolism, musculoskeletal integrity and cognitive function.

(Collaboration: Celiac Society of India, supported by Illness to Wellness Foundation)