Celebrating Literary Heritage: Literary Events at IIT Gandhinagar Highlight Classical Indian and Indo-Persian Works

We’re delighted to announce two special events hosted at IIT Gandhinagar featuring the works of renowned visiting scholars. The first event, held on October 19, 2024, showcased Illuminating Worlds: An Anthology of Classical Indian Literature, the latest book by Professor Srinivas Reddy, a Fulbright-Nehru fellow and guest professor at IIT Gandhinagar. On October 21, 2024 we hosted a talk entitled Amir Khusrau: The Indo-Persian Poet as a Storyteller by visiting scholar Professor Sunil Sharma, Professor of Persianate and Comparative Literature at Boston University. Both events saw a fantastic turnout, with literature enthusiasts, students, and scholars joining in to celebrate these literary milestones.

Prof Srinivas Reddy’s Illuminating Worlds is a captivating anthology that brings together two and a half millennia of Indian literary history. As with any anthology, there were challenges in selecting materials, but passages from important texts like the Vedas, Mahabharata and Sangam poems were included. This book offers readers a sweeping glimpse of India’s rich literary heritage, showcasing centuries of stories and voices in one compelling collection. Professor Reddy added, “I hope people read this book so they can get a sense of the vast richness, and diversity of the classical literary tradition of India which existed in three main literary streams: Sanskrit, various Prakrits and classical Tamil.”

The second event highlighted the fascinating life and times of the Indo-Persian poet Amir Khusrau in which Prof Sunil Sharma shared his thoughts on the famed poet as well as Indo-Persian culture, stating, “I’m happy to talk about a subject on which I have spent a large part of my career. I’m glad you mentioned Indo-Persian culture because it’s important to address the larger cultural elements that inform literary production.”

These events gave attendees a chance to dive into the fascinating worlds of Indian and Indo-Persian literary traditions, sparking lively discussions and insightful exchanges with the authors.