IHC Samanvay 2026 is a celebration of the vibrant diversity of our sacred land that has nourished us for millennia. It is also a gentle, yet much needed, reminder of how the environment is interconnected in a shimmering web that binds us all with an invisible strong thread.
The holy rivers born in Himalayan glaciers and forests meandering to the sea form many confluences on the way marking pilgrimages where diverse cultural streams have mingled for millennia. Regional folklore, folk songs, music, dance, stories bear testimony to this.
The call of the Mountains, Forests, Rivers, Desert and the Sea continues to be irresistible. It has never been only spiritual and metaphysical. Our wise ancestors had presciently consecrated this land to protect it from the avarice of man.
IHC Samanvay 2026 is an invitation to all seekers, creative persons and performers to share, inspire and renew our resolve to conserve our shared heritage.
ABOUT SAMANVAY
Initiated in 2011 by the India Habitat Centre, IHC Samanvay - Celebrating Ideas and Indian Languages is the only Indian platform of its kind, bringing together authors, scholars, translators, musicians, performing artists and experts in almost every field in a striking annual celebration of India’s boundless linguistic diversity and wealth.
The Festival not only addresses the specific concerns of India’s written and oral languages and literary traditions, it furthers the scope of the term ‘Indian Languages’ by interpreting and exploring the concept of ‘language’ beyond the limits of verbality and by bringing in visual, musical, performative, technological idioms into its purview.
Samanvay has hosted some of the most celebrated as well as path breaking new voices in Indian literature –
Vinod Kumar Shukla,
Ambai,
Manglesh Dabral,
Rajendra Yadav,
Virender Dangwal,
Arundhati Subramaniam,
Arupa Patangia Kalita,
Sister Jesme,
Nalini Jameela,
Meena Kandasamy,
Kutti Revathi,
Desraj Kali,
K. Satchidanandan,
Sitanshu Yashaschandra,
Udaya Narayan Singh,
Arunava Sinha,
Jerry Pinto,
Namvar Singh,
Manoranjan Byapari,
Shashi Deshpande,
Tenzin Tsundue among others.
Languages covered include, but are not limited to Hindi, Bengali, Urdu, Telugu, Gujarati, Tamil, Malayalam, Punjabi, Santali and Khasi.
