BIC TALKS

399. Hegemony, Revolt and Selfhood (Masterclass: 3 of 3)

The Masterclass Hegemony, Revolt and Selfhood: India's Encounters with Languages explores three defining moments in India's linguistic journey: the arrival of Sanskrit, Persian, and English. Each language came from beyond India's borders, gained a foothold, and extended its influence across diverse cultures, communities, and tongues. Their dominance shaped not only communication but also identity, politics, and thought. Thus, becoming inseparable from the larger story of India itself. These lectures will trace how each language consolidated its power, how resistance took form, and how new voices emerged in the process. Strikingly, in every encounter, it was not the imperial language that endured, but the languages rooted in the soil (the desa, the nadu) that reshaped and redefined the cultural landscape. As we step into an uncertain digital future, this series asks whether India's linguistic resilience will once again carry it forward, as it has so often before. Language between Nationalism and Technology In today's charged climate, languages carry the weight of both nationalism and digital futures. This session asks how India's linguistic diversity will evolve in the twenty-first century, and whether the voices of many can thrive amid the pulls of technology, identity, and the search for cultural belonging. In this episode of BIC Talks, G N Devy delivers a masterclass. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in Sep 2025. Subscribe to the BIC Talks Podcast on your favourite podcast app! BIC Talks is available everywhere, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Castbox, Overcast, Audible, and Amazon Music.

398. Hegemony, Revolt and Selfhood (Masterclass: 2 of 3)

The Masterclass Hegemony, Revolt and Selfhood: India's Encounters with Languages explores three defining moments in India's linguistic journey: the arrival of Sanskrit, Persian, and English. Each language came from beyond India's borders, gained a foothold, and extended its influence across diverse cultures, communities, and tongues. Their dominance shaped not only communication but also identity, politics, and thought. Thus, becoming inseparable from the larger story of India itself. These lectures will trace how each language consolidated its power, how resistance took form, and how new voices emerged in the process. Strikingly, in every encounter, it was not the imperial language that endured, but the languages rooted in the soil (the desa, the nadu) that reshaped and redefined the cultural landscape. As we step into an uncertain digital future, this series asks whether India's linguistic resilience will once again carry it forward, as it has so often before. Decline and Transformation Sanskrit reigned for millennia, Persian for centuries, English for decades. Yet, none endured unchallenged. Each gave way to the resilient desi-bhashas, rooted in the land and people. This lecture traces the rise, fall, and transformation of languages in India, and what these shifts reveal about power and imagination.

397. Hegemony, Revolt and Selfhood (Masterclass: 1 of 3)

The Masterclass Hegemony, Revolt and Selfhood: India's Encounters with Languages explores three defining moments in India's linguistic journey: the arrival of Sanskrit, Persian, and English. Each language came from beyond India's borders, gained a foothold, and extended its influence across diverse cultures, communities, and tongues. Their dominance shaped not only communication but also identity, politics, and thought. Thus, becoming inseparable from the larger story of India itself. These lectures will trace how each language consolidated its power, how resistance took form, and how new voices emerged in the process. Strikingly, in every encounter, it was not the imperial language that endured, but the languages rooted in the soil (the desa, the nadu) that reshaped and redefined the cultural landscape. As we step into an uncertain digital future, this series asks whether India's linguistic resilience will once again carry it forward, as it has so often before. Language and Hegemony Explore how Sanskrit, Persian, and English reshaped India across centuries. Each entered from outside, claimed cultural power, and ruled the imagination, but India remained a linguistic civilization defined by diversity. This talk uncovers why language became both a tool of hegemony and the essence of India's selfhood. In this episode of BIC Talks, G N Devy delivers a masterclass. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in Sep 2025. Subscribe to the BIC Talks Podcast on your favourite podcast app! BIC Talks is available everywhere, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Castbox, Overcast, Audible, and Amazon Music.

396. Sama, Dana, Danda, Bheda: Friends, Rivals, or Just Trading Partners?

Trust is thin, history is long, and the consequences? Unforgiving. India and China share a long border and a longer shadow. Security risks and market hopes pull in opposite directions. In a world of shifting power, India must choose with care. This evening explores that choice through the ancient philosophical and logical Indian discipline of Purva Paksha. Each speaker first presents the other's case, fully and fairly, before offering their own. The aim isn't to score points, but rather, to see clearly: where trust frayed, where interests align, and where wisdom might guide policy. Expect a rigorous, humane conversation that values nuance over noise, and context over heat. If you've wondered how India can guard its borders while growing its future, this format offers you a chance to learn through respectful debate. For those who prize thoughtfulness, this is a rare chance! In collaboration with: Takshashila Institution In this episode of BIC Talks, Manoj Kewalramani will be in conversation with Pranay Kotasthane. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in Sep 2025. Subscribe to the BIC Talks Podcast on your favourite podcast app! BIC Talks is available everywhere, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Castbox, Overcast, Audible, and Amazon Music.

395. Reading the City Reading Ourselves

Sundar Sarukkai's second novel published recently titled Water Days is a reflective look at the changes in his home city, Bangalore, how everyday life gets formed and what happens to the city insidiously and quietly. He explores migration and the changing social fabric, patriarchy, language, linguistic conflicts, power, and who gets to belong in the melting pot that is Bangalore. Water Days is not just a novel about a city; it is a novel about what it means to belong when everything around you is changing. Sarukkai does not romanticise Bangalore, but he listens carefully to it, and implores you to do so as well. Somak Ghoshal says of the novel in Mint: "Water Days is as much a call to reckon with the transformation of a city as an object lesson in empathy, observation, and community living. As urban India becomes divisive, unliveable, and intensely self-serving, it is chroniclers like Sarukkai who continue to do the work that no policy maker or political leader is doing – inspiring us with feelings to make us more concerned and caring citizens." In this episode of BIC Talks, Sundar Sarukkai will be in conversation with Stanley Carvalho. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in Sep 2025. Subscribe to the BIC Talks Podcast on your favourite podcast app! BIC Talks is available everywhere, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Castbox, Overcast, Audible, and Amazon Music.