Illustrated lecture by Prof. Philip Lutgendorf, scholar of South Asia, Emeritus Professor of Hindi and Modern Indian Studies, University of Iowa and author of the award winning book The Life of a Text: Performing the Ramcaritmanas of Tulsidas (University of California Press: 1991), Hanuman's Tale: The Messages of a Divine Monkey (Oxford University Press, New York: 2006) among others

Chair: Prof. Ananya Vajpeyi, Fellow, Centre for the Study of Developing Societies

The poet-saint Tulsidas’s immensely popular retelling of the Ramayana saga, Ramcaritmanas (ca.1574 AD), is structured as an allegorical Himalayan sacred lake symmetrically bounded by four seven-tiered ghats. The narrators (in order of appearance) are the human author Tulsidas, the Vedic sage Yajnavalkya, the god Shiva, and a crow named Bhushundi. Whereas the first three are either human or (in Shiva’s case) divine-anthropomorphic, the final one is an avian form. Why did the poet choose this unusual figure to conclude whose epic narrative and to deliver, in effect, the “last word”? 

(Collaboration: American Institute of Indian Studies)
 

By Dhananjay Hegde from Mumbai, disciple of Pt. Venkatesh Kumar and Pt. Vinayak Torvi. Recipient of the Sanskriti-Madhobi Chatterji Memorial Fellowship

(Collaboration: Sanskriti Pratishthan)

With Susmit Sen, well-known music composer, guitarist and the founding member of the iconic band, Indian Ocean; and Krishnendu Bose, the National Award and multiple award winning documentary filmmaker. Together they will recreated some of the pieces that Susmit has composed for the films of Krishnendu, along with film clips and ending with the chilling Bay of Blood, the film on the Bangladesh genocide of 1971.
 

Technology and Society: Hierarchies and Contestations
 

Inaugural session panel discussion: Technology of Future and Future of Humanity
Coordinator: Savita Singh

Speakers: Andrew Feenberg, American philosopher, Canada Research Chair in the Philosophy of Technology, School of Communication, Simon Fraser University, Vancouver; Douglas Kellner who works at the intersection of "third-generation" critical theory, George Kneller Chair in the Philosophy of Education, the Graduate School of Education and Information Studies, University of California, Los Angeles; Andrew T. Lamas who teaches urban studies and critical theory at the University of Pennsylvania; Immaculada Kangussu, Faculty, Universidade Federal de Ouro Preto, Brazil; T.K. Naveen, Associate Professor (Multi. Disc.), Humanities and Social Sciences, IIT-Delhi; Anita Gurumurthy, Executive Director and Senior Fellow (Research & Policy Engagement), IT For Change; Ashok Vajpeyi, Hindi-language poet, essayist, literary-cultural critic, noted cultural and arts administrator, and a former civil servant; Manoranjan Mohanty, well-known political scientist, China scholar, and Distinguished Professor, Council for Social Development; Savita Singh,  Professor and Director, School of Gender and Development, India Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), Delhi; and Manindra Nath Thakur, Associate Professor, Centre for Political Studies, School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University

Chair: Manoranjan Mohanty

For details of the Colloquium, kindly please visit: https://fcsr.in

(Collaboration: Association of Creative Theory & Foundation for Creative Social Research; International Herbert Marcuse Society, USA; The Raza Foundation; and Shanti Sahyog)
 

Celebrating Time Travel: An Anthology of Poems of Poets’ Childhood Memories
Edited by Amarendra Khatua and Mandira Ghosh (Authorspress: 2024)

Discussants: Dr. Usha Mujoo Munshi, Chief Librarian, IIC; Dr. Amarendra Khatua, Former Secretary, MEA & DG, ICCR & Poet, Diplomat & Editor of the book; and Ms. Mandira Ghosh, poet, researcher, writer, and co-editor of the book

Chair: Ms Rajni Sekhri Sibal, Writer & Former IAS Officer

An evening of the Punjabi poetry 
Recited and sung by Rekha Raj, Shumita Didi and Poonam Singh

Conceptualised by Reena Nanda

Chalo Faqiran de Mele attempts to revive interest in the Punjabi language through its rich literary heritage. Guru Nanak Dev is revered as the founder of the Sikh religion and his teachings in the Guru Granth Sahib are in the form of the poetical Shabads set to specific ragas. Not just a holy book, it is one of the greatest works of literature that also includes 14 other Sants of the Bhakti tradition like Kabir. Among them, Baba Farid is the only Muslim of the Chishti Sufi silsila. Bulleh Shah and Shah Husayn hugely popularised by Nusrat Fateh Ali and Abida Parveen composed in Panjabi and called themselves Faqirs, not beggars but humble disciples of their particular Murshid/Guru. They recited and sang their poems amongst the populance at large who have kept this oral tradition alive, that, today, constitutes a large body of Punjabi literature. 
 

Panelists: Prof. Siddhartha Mitra, Jadavpur University; Prof. Shreekant Gupta, Delhi School of Economic, University of Delhi; Prof. Surajit Mazumdar, Jawaharlal Nehru University; and Dr. M. Zakaria Siddiqui, Jamia Millia Islamia

Chair: Prof. Partha Sen, Delhi School of Economics

Organised by the IIC Sectoral Policy Group on Economics

The Routledge Companion to Indian Ethics: Women, Justice, Bioethics and Ecology

Edited by Purushottama Bilimoria & Amy Rayner (Routledge India: 2024)

Discussants: Prof. Arvind Sharma, Birks Professor of Comparative Religion, Faculty of Religious Studies, McGill University, Canada; Hon’ble Justice Ms Nagma Khan, Additional Civil Judge (Senior Division), Firozabad; Prof. Shashiprabha Kumar, Chairperson, Indian Institute of Advanced Studies, Shimla; Dr. Manindra Nath Thakur, Centre for Political Studies, School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University; and Prof. Purushottama Bilimoria, Distinguished Professor of Law and International Philosophy, O. P. Jindal Global University, Visiting Professor, Ashoka University,  Principal Fellow, University of Melbourne and Co-Editor of the book

Moderator: Prof. Savita Singh, School of Gender and Development Studies, Indira Gandhi National Open University