The English and Foreign Languages University (EFLU) in Hyderabad, India, recently hosted a groundbreaking International Conference on Mahabharata Epic across Asia: Ancient Indian Knowledge System Transcending Spatio-Temporal Boundaries. This conference, held from May 29 to 31, 2023, aimed to explore the cultural and literary significance of the Mahabharata across Asia.
The esteemed event, funded by the Indian Council of Social Science and Research (ICSSR) and the EFL University, was organized under the mentorship of Professor E. Suresh Kumar, Honorable Vice Chancellor of the English and Foreign Languages University.
The conference was inaugurated by Shri Shankarand Ji, ShehSangthan Mantri from Bhartiya Shihsan Mandal (BSM), who emphasized the importance of determining one’s duty by understanding the purpose of life and set the tone for the Conference. He also emphasized on the spiritual and cultural exchanges in South-East Asia across politically sovereign Nation States in this region.
In this conference, Dr. Khum Prasad Sharma, General Secretary of the Literary Association of Nepal also delivered a keynote address on Foot-Prints of Mahabharata across South-East Asia: A Synchronic and Diachronic Study and set the tone of the conference bringing Tharu Mahabharata from Nepal in text and context. This conference foregrounded “unity in diversity” and simultaneously acknowledged “diversity within the assumed unity” and emphasized the requirement of more cultural and literary exchanges among all the political entities in this region. Dr. Jai Singh, Principal Investigator of the cluster, and the LAN collaborated to make this conference a phenomenon in South-East Asia, attracting over four hundred scholars from around twenty countries.
