In essence, LokManthan emerges as a beacon for celebrating Bharat’s rich heritage and fostering unity among its diverse cultural threads.
Next week, Hyderabad will host the fourth edition of the biennial national colloquium, organized by Pragna Pravah (New Delhi), and Pragna Bharati (Telangana). This year’s event will be inaugurated by the President of India, Droupadi Murmu. Previous editions, held in Bhopal, Ranchi, and Guwahati, have highlighted the colloquium’s commitment to inclusivity and regional diversity, offering a refreshing alternative to the major centres like Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, and Kolkata where such events are typically staged.
In essence, LokManthan emerges as a beacon for celebrating Bharat’s rich heritage and fostering unity among its diverse cultural threads. This biennial colloquium offers a platform for thinkers, academicians, and activists to explore and cherish the cultural tapestry of India, particularly the often-neglected Lok (folk) traditions.
In independent India, the civilizational wisdom of Bharat remained largely underappreciated. The LokManthan, in such context, serves as a critical mass to revisit and restore the values and knowledge of India’s historical and glorious past in the political, social, scientific, intellectual, and cultural. Moreover, it is uniquely relevant today, given the lack of genuine dialogue in intellectual spaces dominated by ideologically narrow perspectives, which often disregard the profundity of India’s ancient knowledge systems. LokManthan represents an antidote to such fragmentation by reinvigorating the roots of Bharatiya thought and fostering a unity that resonates with Bharat’s civilizational ethos.
RECLAIMING DECOLONIZED IDENTITY
For centuries, India’s identity has been subjected to external definitions, often through colonial narratives that artificially divided society along rigid lines. Colonial powers carved up communities and geographies, labelling them as “tribal” and “non-tribal” or “civilized” and “uncivilized,” with these divisions lingering into the postcolonial era. LokManthan emerged to reclaim and restore these fractured identities, as seen in its 2016 theme, “Decolonizing the Indian Mind.” This call to decolonize appealed to reconnect with the cultural roots that unified Bharat across regions and generations.
India’s Lok traditions are expressions of a harmonious, holistic culture that bridges urban and rural divides. Crafts, music, dance, and lore, all contribute to a civilizational continuity that LokManthan brings into focus. For example, the arts of Northeast India celebrated at the colloquium highlight a regional heritage deeply interconnected with the rest of Bharat. By featuring these unique traditions, LokManthan not only preserves them but affirms that the Lok cultural ethos reflects Bharat’s true, undivided identity. This gathering challenges the intellectual biases that seek to disconnect people from their roots, offering a vibrant counter-narrative to homogenizing forces.
CONTEMPORARY RELEVANCE
In a world of rapid globalization, where foreign ideologies and lifestyles often take precedence over indigenous wisdom, LokManthan stands as a reminder of the importance of preserving Bharat’s unique cultural framework. Yet, the colloquium’s goal extends beyond merely preserving tradition; it also addresses current national challenges, like social fragmentation, environmental conservation, and cultural identity. Through its diverse colloquia, LokManthan emphasizes the depth and wisdom of Bharatiya traditions as a source of sustainable values. By gathering an array of voices—from academicians to artists—it cultivates a shared understanding of India’s foundational values, such as unity, respect for nature, and cultural harmony.
Each LokManthan event aims to encompass the whole of Bharat, celebrating the regional identities that enrich the national landscape. For instance, LokManthan 2022, held in Assam, delved into the cultures of the Northeast, underscoring these practices as intrinsic to Bharat’s cultural identity. This way, the colloquium goes beyond being a cultural festival; it is a movement that emphasizes the need for a future that honours India’s past. The gathering acknowledges that modern issues—whether environmental, social, or ideological—can often be better approached through indigenous solutions embedded in Lok traditions, which hold ecological wisdom and social balance at their core. LokManthan, therefore, serves as a collective intellectual space where India’s traditional values are cherished as contemporary solutions, defying the imposition of purely Western paradigms.
NURTURING DIALOGUE AND UNITY
One of LokManthan’s most potent contributions is its role as a platform for dialogue across ideological, regional, and social lines. Unlike many intellectual spaces that remain bound to narrow ideological outlooks, colloquium promotes genuine conversation and varied perspectives, essential for a society as diverse as Bharat. Unity in such a setting is not an imposed ideal; it grows organically out of shared values and mutual respect.
The diverse offerings of LokManthan—lectures, performances, art exhibitions, and regional cuisine—go beyond cultural exhibitionism. These profound expressions of communities across Bharat connect past traditions with present relevance. Each event, from traditional dances to local culinary traditions, reaffirms the inclusiveness of Lok culture. These activities do more than celebrate; they reinforce a national consciousness that sees Bharat not as fragmented but as unified by an ancient cultural oneness.
Moreover, its emphasis on dialogue challenges divisive narratives often pushed by media, academia, and entertainment, which tend to separate Bharat into incompatible identities. Through its programs, the colloquium brings thinkers, artists, and public figures together in a common forum to discuss challenges that Bharat faces today, reaffirming a collective civilizational identity. For instance, the colloquium in Assam bridged the geographic and cultural distinctions between Northeast India and the rest of the nation, portraying the region as an integral part of Akhanda Bharat (indivisible Bharat). LokManthan’s gatherings reinforce the strength that diversity brings to India’s unity and fortify the idea that cultural continuity, rather than division, lies at the heart of the Indian identity.
EMBRACING THE CONTINUITY OF LOK TRADITIONS
In a time of polarizing ideologies and homogenizing forces, LokManthan champions Bharat’s unity-in-diversity ethos as essential to its identity and resilience. It is an intellectual and cultural churning, a process of rediscovery that seeks to reinstate harmony and unity within the richness of India’s traditions. Colloquium’s message of decolonizing the Indian mind and reaffirming civilizational identity resonates deeply today when much of India’s wisdom is often undervalued or misinterpreted through limited ideological frameworks.
With mainstream intellectual spaces increasingly closing off authentic dialogue and civilizational insight, the role of LokManthan becomes all the more significant. By embracing a multitude of backgrounds and perspectives, LokManthan both protects and promotes the distinctive unity of Bharat, resisting fragmentation while upholding the unique cultural threads that contribute to the whole. LokManthan’s true importance lies in its role not only in preserving cultural heritage but also in building a modern Bharat that respects its roots while embracing a shared future vision. Through this event, Bharat reclaims its story, revitalizes its identity, and sets the stage for a more cohesive, future-ready society grounded in unity, collective wisdom, and the timeless values of its Lok traditions.
* Prof Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit is the Vice Chancellor of JNU.