Scholars to uncover Asia’s rich identity via historical journeys

Aksheev Thakur

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New Delhi, February 15

Historians and scholars from five countries will share insights on how the movement of pilgrims, scholars and traders crisscrossing Asia led to the diffusion of ideas and beliefs thereby stimulating economic growth and innovation in arts at an upcoming conference in Delhi.

The conference titled ‘Asia on the Move: Histories of Mobility and the Making of Asia’ will be held at the India International Centre from February 22 to 24.

The adaptation of cultural influences to local needs and how this amalgamation enriched Asia’s regional diversity will be part of the scholarly discussions.

Eighteen prominent scholars from India, Hungary, Russia, US and Uzbekistan will attend the conference. It will be inaugurated by former Jammu and Kashmir Governor and life trustee of the IIC NN Vohra.

The conference will begin with an exhibition, Travelling Relics: Spreading the Word of the Buddha. It will showcase how the worship of Buddha’s relics brought different regions together in shared religious practices.

Introducing the event at a curtain raiser briefing on Thursday, IIC president and former Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran said, “The scholars will be looking at Asia through the eyes of these travellers. We don’t want the event to be too oriented to scholars. It is for the public.”

Saran said the idea was not to reduce Asia to a singular entity or framework, but to retrace the histories and geographies of travel, faiths and cultural influences.

Six working sessions at the conference will include the journeys of Buddhist texts and preachers to east and Southeast Asia and Russia; ethnographies and travelogues by Persian scholar and astronomer Al-Biruni; medieval traveller Ibn Batuta and Portuguese explorer Fernao Mendes Pinto.

IIC Director KN Shrivastava said, “During the conference we will encounter pioneering scientists and philosophers, who travelled in person and made the sub-continent a hub of interaction between east and west through their works. We will also discover figures rarely written about like wandering musicians and traders.”

Using archival photographs and newspaper clippings, the exhibition will showcase the significance of relics of Buddha in religious emergence from Mauryan times and how their meaning shifted with the emergence of archaeological studies, Buddhist activism and relic diplomacy.

Historian Himanshu Prabha Ray, curator of the exhibition, said, “Relic and image worship were important features in the expansion of Buddhism across the country. As archaeological sites associated with the life of Buddha came to be discovered in the 19th century, identified and reported about widely in the print media, the interest not only caught the imagination of the populace, but more so, entered public discourse on India’s Buddhist past.”

She added that during the 19th century, the significance of the relics of Buddha and his disciples underwent dramatic change. On the one hand, the search for Buddhist relics and material remains became part of the emerging discipline of archaeology in India. Alongside philological and textual study, these material remains were mapped onto the history of Buddhism.

Conference on Feb 22-24

India International Centre will host a two-day conference from February 22 to 24. With a focus on understanding how, far from being an idealist, single-faceted phenomenon, pan-Asianism was actually diverse. It will open up a new era in travel literature — journeys through Asia over the centuries and the records of Asian travellers.