NEW DELHI: The SAARC Cultural Centre and the Ministry of Culture’s India Gandhi National Centre for the Arts is holding a three-day seminar on Hindu cultural trails in which five countries, including India are participating, in the capital. The inaugural day of the seminar on Monday saw panel discussions in which scholars from Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka participated.
The first two days of seminars will have scholars participating and the third day will comprise a trip to Vrindavan. Rajya Sabha MP Karan Singh inaugurated the event on Monday.“The idea of the seminar is to promote pilgrimage, tourism, conservation of heritage, architecture, trade and commerce and architectural values among the SAARC countries,” said Sachchidanand Joshi, member secretary, IGNCA.
The sessions will range from intangible heritage and pilgrimage, tourism, archaeology and architecture, pilgrimages, temples, traditions, geography, governance, education and healing. Discussions will be held on ‘Ayurveda, myths and reality’, identification of Hindu temples in the northern province of Sri Lanka, trends of Hindu religious pilgrimage between Sri Lanka and India, issues of conservation in Majuli in Assam would be a part of the seminar. During the seminar, 38 scholars from India and 15 from the other four countries will present their arguments.
Last year, the cultural trail was on Buddhism and was held in Kathmandu. The next trail is being planned to be on Islam. The venue is yet to be decided.“This is an opportunity for the SAARC countries to revive a dialogue about inherited spaces... The various topics being addressed include art, architecture, archaeology, intangible heritage, pilgrimage, temples, governance, education, traditions and geography,” said Bindu Urugodawatte, deputy director, research, SAARC Cultural Centre, Colombo.