- The Hon’ble Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, will address the gathering through a special video message
- Union Minister for Culture and Tourism Gajendra Singh Shekhawat to inaugurate the event
- Delegates and Ambassadors from 50 nations to participate in the three-day international conference at Vigyan Bhawan
- International deliberations on 10 themes related to global cultural connections
New Delhi: The Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA), under the Ministry of Culture, Government of India, is organising Brihattar Bharat: International Conference on ‘Bharat’s Cultural Connections across the Globe’ from 14th to 16th October 2026 at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi. Organised under the Global Engagement Scheme of the Ministry of Culture, the conference will bring together delegates, ambassadors and scholars from 50 nations to deliberate on India’s historical and contemporary cultural connections with the wider world. Participants from countries including China, Japan, Mongolia, Indonesia, Srilanka, Nepal and Iran, among others, will contribute to discussions on shared cultural heritage and civilizational exchanges.
The inaugural session will commence at 10:00 AM on 14 October at Vigyan Bhawan. The Hon’ble Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, will address the gathering through a special video message on the occasion. Shri Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Union Minister of Culture and Tourism, will be the Chief Guest. Shri Vivek Aggarwal, Secretary, Ministry of Culture, will deliver the introductory remarks, while Dr. Sachchidanand Joshi, Member Secretary, IGNCA, will deliver the welcome address. Dr. Arvind Kumar, Joint Secretary, will propose the vote of thanks.
The conference marks the centenary of the Greater India Society, also known as Brihattar Bharat Parishad, established in Calcutta on 14 October 1926 by a generation of Indian scholars, with Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore as its spiritual guide. The Society laid the foundation for systematic scholarly engagement with India’s wider civilizational interactions. The conference seeks to renew this intellectual endeavour through fresh research, interdisciplinary perspectives and international collaboration.
The concept of Brihattar Bharat refers to the wider civilizational sphere shaped by the transmission, adaptation and interaction of Indian cultural, philosophical, artistic, linguistic and religious traditions across regions and continents. Rather than a political or imperial construct, it represents a long history of reciprocal cultural exchange through maritime trade, pilgrimage, scholarship, diplomacy, migration and intellectual contact. These connections are reflected in Sanskrit and Pali inscriptions found in Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia and the Malay Peninsula; monumental heritage sites such as Angkor Wat, Borobudur, Prambanan and Bagan; and Buddhist manuscripts and monastic traditions linking India with Central Asia, China, Korea and Japan. The Ramayana and the Mahabharata have also inspired literary and theatrical traditions across several Asian cultures, while shared artistic forms, musical traditions, craft practices, knowledge systems, cuisine and diaspora cultures continue to reflect these enduring exchanges.
An exhibition titled ‘Common Cultural Heritage of Asia’ will be organised during the conference, highlighting shared heritage and historical cultural connections between India and other Asian countries. The conference will examine these linkages across Southeast Asia, East Asia, Central Asia, West Asia, Europe, South Asia and the global Indian diaspora, emphasising cultural dialogue, adaptation and mutual enrichment.
The academic deliberations will centre on ten themes: ‘Early Linkages and Civilisational Interface; Religious Traditions’, ‘Knowledge Systems and Philosophy’; ‘Languages across Civilisations: Transmission, Transformation and Literary Bridges’; ‘Ideas Visualised in Art; Textile and Attire Traditions’; ‘Cuisine and Culinary Exchanges’; ‘Cultural Expressions and Fusion; Performing Arts and Living Traditions’; ‘Trade and Commerce as Carriers of Goods and Ideas’; and ‘Diaspora Communities, Cultural Preservation and Civilisational Continuities’. The discussions will explore early cultural encounters and archaeological evidence; the transmission of religious traditions, philosophical ideas and scientific knowledge; the spread of languages, scripts, manuscripts and literary narratives; and the expression of shared cosmologies through architecture, sculpture, painting and visual arts. They will also examine the movement and adaptation of textiles, attire, ingredients and culinary practices; the evolution of shared customs, festivals and cultural expressions; the transmission of dance, music, theatre, puppetry and storytelling; and the role of maritime and overland trade networks, merchant communities and diaspora populations in preserving cultural identities and sustaining civilizational continuities.
The conference is being organised as part of the Brihattar Bharat Scheme (2026–2031), administered by IGNCA under the Global Engagement Scheme of the Ministry of Culture. The initiative aims to advance research, documentation, publication, preservation, promotion and digitisation of shared cultural and civilizational heritage through collaborative research, archival projects, exhibitions, publications, outreach programmes and international academic partnerships. It will also encourage joint research and publications, identify new areas for documentation, explore joint nominations for UNESCO’s Memory of the World Programme and multinational nominations for Intangible Cultural Heritage, and support the proposed Brihattar Bharat Portal for the sustained documentation, preservation and global dissemination of shared heritage.
Through plenary lectures, thematic sessions, cultural presentations and international scholarly dialogue, the three-day conference seeks to bring Brihattar Bharat studies into wider academic and public discourse and strengthen cooperation in understanding, documenting and preserving India’s cultural connections with the world.
