Three Days International Conference on "Indian Inputs to Central Asian Art and Culture" at Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, New Delhi, India in collaboration with Association for Central Asian Civilizations & Silk Road Studies, UK/USA

Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, New Delhi, India in collaboration with Association for Central Asian Civilizations & Silk Road Studies, UK/USA will be organizing a three day International conference on “Indian Input to Central Asian Art and Culture” from 29th  March to 31st  March 2018 at IGNCA, Delhi, India. India and Central Asia can be said to have enjoyed many streams of common cultural traits, which have been sustained from early times to the modern period. With the opening of many borders and initiation of cross-cultural dialog, it is extremely important to understand and document these mutual interchanges and interactions in the field of history, culture, religion and philosophy. This can only be achieved through direct contact as existing source materials have been shaped by European scholars. It is now extremely important that these interchanges should be sourced byIndian scholars also. There was a close interaction between Indian and Central Asian arts. In Central Asia Buddhist shrines and cave-temples were embellished with magnificent sculptures and murals on Indian models. A good deal of Indian influence from Kushan, Gupta, Vakataka, and Pala periods is noticeable in Central Asian art. Gandhara, Ajanta, Kashmir, Mathura and Nalanda were the main sources of inspiration to the Central Asian artists. Also, a famous Kashmiri monk Vairochana spread Buddhism in Central Asia. This conference focuses on the relevance of India as the mid-point connecting East and West, and North and South.  The topics of the presentations can be selected from a wide range of subjects related to the Conference theme from diverse fields, including art, archaeology, history, literature, sociology, religion, and philosophy.