India’s cultural heritage receiving growing recognition internationally: PM Modi

The ‘Brihattar Bharat: International Conference on Bharat's Cultural Connections Across the Globe’ examines India’s historical and contemporary cultural relationships with societies worldwide. Its central idea is that India’s cultural legacy extends beyond its political borders. This matters because shared culture can connect communities across countries and generations.

The conference is hosted by the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts under the Ministry of Culture. Delegates, ambassadors and scholars from different countries are discussing India’s wider civilisational heritage. Their discussions cover cultural connections formed in the past as well as those continuing today.

The event is being held at Vigyan Bhawan from October 14 to 16. It also marks the centenary of the Greater India Society, founded in 1926. Prime Minister Narendra Modi said India’s music, dance, cinema and cuisine continue to connect the country with societies around the world.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi identifies four forms of Indian culture as global connectors: music, dance, cinema and cuisine. These forms can travel widely because people encounter them through performances, films, food and cultural exchange. They make India’s heritage visible and familiar to societies beyond the country.

The article presents these forms as continuing connections, not merely historical influences. Modi said they connect India with societies across the world. This places both traditional and popular cultural expression within India’s wider international cultural presence.

The conference at Vigyan Bhawan examines such historical and contemporary connections. It brings together delegates, ambassadors and scholars from different countries. Modi also said India’s cultural heritage is receiving growing recognition internationally. The government’s efforts to preserve monuments and manuscript heritage support that broader recognition, while cultural forms such as cinema and cuisine keep connections active in public life.

The Greater India Society was founded 100 years ago, on October 14, 1926, in then-Calcutta. The conference is marking its centenary, making the event a commemoration of an important institution in India’s cultural and intellectual history. The anniversary links today’s global cultural discussions with an earlier generation of Indian scholars.

The society is also known as the Brihattar Bharat Parishad. The IGNCA said it was established by a generation of Indian scholars, with Rabindranath Tagore as its spiritual guide. Its founding provides the historical background for the present conference’s focus on India’s cultural legacy and civilisational connections beyond borders.

The centenary is being marked now because the conference opened on October 14, exactly the date on which the society was established in 1926. The event runs through October 16 at Vigyan Bhawan. It brings current delegates, ambassadors and scholars into conversation with that earlier cultural vision.

The Greater India Society was established by a generation of Indian scholars in then-Calcutta on October 14, 1926. The society is also known as the Brihattar Bharat Parishad. Its founding reflected scholarly interest in India’s cultural legacy and its connections with the wider world.

Rabindranath Tagore was the society’s spiritual guide. The article does not describe him as its founder or give details of specific activities he directed. It identifies his role as guiding the society’s early intellectual and cultural outlook.

The society’s history is being recalled during the ‘Brihattar Bharat’ conference, which marks its centenary. The conference is hosted by the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts and focuses on India’s historical and contemporary cultural connections beyond its borders. Delegates, ambassadors and scholars from different countries are taking part in those discussions.

The Gyan Bharatam initiative preserves India’s manuscript heritage. Manuscripts are handwritten or otherwise recorded documents that carry texts and knowledge. Monuments are physical structures or sites. Preserving them therefore involves protecting different kinds of heritage, even though both help maintain India’s cultural record.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the government is preserving manuscript heritage through Gyan Bharatam, alongside preserving monuments. This places written cultural materials within the government’s broader heritage work. The article does not provide details about the initiative’s specific techniques, collections or locations.

The distinction matters because cultural heritage exists in more than one form. Monuments preserve visible buildings and sites, while manuscripts preserve written material. Both can support understanding of India’s past and civilisational connections. At the conference, this preservation effort sits alongside discussions of India’s cultural links with societies around the world.

Antiquities are old objects with cultural, historical or archaeological importance. They may include artworks, sculptures, manuscripts or other heritage objects. In the article, the term appears in connection with efforts to bring culturally significant objects back from foreign countries.

When a country succeeds in recovering an antiquity, the object returns from abroad to its national cultural sphere. It can then be cared for, studied and presented as part of the country’s heritage. The article does not name any specific object or describe a particular return. It reports instead that such efforts have gained renewed momentum.

This development supports wider recognition of India’s cultural heritage. It also complements the preservation of monuments and manuscripts mentioned by Modi. By seeking the return of antiquities, India is addressing heritage held outside its borders while the conference discusses cultural connections that have historically crossed those borders.

Cultural heritage is the collection of places, objects, knowledge and creative traditions inherited from earlier generations. It can include monuments, manuscripts, music, dance, cinema and cuisine. Societies preserve it because it carries historical memory and helps later generations understand their cultural identity.

The article gives several examples. The government is preserving monuments and manuscript heritage through the Gyan Bharatam initiative. India’s music, dance, cinema and cuisine connect it with societies around the world. Efforts to bring antiquities back from foreign countries also show how societies protect culturally important objects.

Sharing heritage across national borders can create understanding and lasting cultural relationships. The ‘Brihattar Bharat’ conference brings delegates, ambassadors and scholars together to examine India’s historical and contemporary connections with the wider world. It shows that preservation protects the past, while cultural exchange keeps that heritage active internationally.