Bengal’s literary and linguistic heritage spans Sanskrit, Pali, Persian, and dozens of dialects — and almost none of it is being systematically taught or preserved.This IHAR (Indian History, Awareness and Research) annual conference in Kolkata brings together scholars to discuss the extraordinary diversity of Bengal’s literary traditions — from the manuscripts held at the 242-year-old Asiatic Society of Kolkata to the oral traditions of its numerous regional dialects. Speakers trace how languages like Sylheti, Rajbanshi, and Bishnupuria have been sidelined in the homogenising push of standardised Bengali, and how colonial-era categorisation permanently disrupted the literary self-understanding of Bengal’s communities.The Asiatic Society’s administrator makes a direct appeal: the institution founded by William Jones in 1784 at Fort William holds an irreplaceable archive that most Bengalis have never visited. Its library and museum are open — but the intellectual inheritance they contain remains largely unknown to the people whose ancestors created it. The conference frames preservation not as nostalgia but as civilisational duty.

About the Speakers:
Lt. Col. Anant Sinha – Administrator – The Asiatic Society, Kolkata
Shri Prasun Roy – Author, Entrepreneur, IHAR Convenor (West Bengal)
Shri Surya Sarathi Roy – Heritage Conservationist, Historian, Author, Director IHAR (N. India)
Shri Deep Halder – Eminent journalist, Author
DR. Avishek Biswas – Academician, Author