India, Sri Lanka and the SAARC Region

This book examines the historical and socio-cultural connections across the SAARC region, with a special focus on the relationship between India and Sri Lanka. It investigates hitherto unexplored narratives of history, popular culture and intangible heritage in the region to identify the cultural parallels and intersections that link them together. In doing so, the volume moves away from an organised and authorised heritage discourse and encourages possibilities of new understandings and re-interpretations of cross-cultural communication and its sub-texts.
Based on original ethnographic work, the book discusses themes such as cultural ties between India and Sri Lanka, exchanges between Arthur C. Clarke in Sri Lanka and Satyajit Ray in India, cultural connectivity reflected through mythology and folklore, the influence of Rabindranath Tagore on modern dance in Sri Lanka, the introduction of railways in Sri Lanka, narrative scrolls and masked dance forms across SAARC countries, Hindi cinema as the pioneer of cultural connectivity, and women's writing across South Asia.
Lucid and compelling, this book will be useful for scholars and researchers of cultural studies, South Asian studies, cultural anthropology, sociology, popular culture, cross-cultural communication, gender studies, political sociology, cultural history, diplomacy, international relations and heritage studies. It will also appeal to general readers interested in the linkages between India and Sri Lanka.

Lopamudra Maitra Bajpai is a visual anthropologist, author and international columnist. Her work focuses on the history, popular culture and intangible cultural heritage (ICH) of India and South Asia. She was recently deputed as Culture Specialist (Research) at the SAARC Cultural Centre, Colombo, Sri Lanka, and has also been Research Grant Fellow at the Indian High Commission, Sri Lanka. A former assistant professor from Symbiosis International University, Pune, India, she continues to teach at universities in India and abroad. She has represented India at various international conferences, especially concerning ICH. Her latest book, Stories of the Colonial Architecture: Kolkata-Colombo, was released at the Kolkata International Book Fair, 2019.