International conference

Cultural Encounters and Interactions: Ottoman, Mughal, Vijaynagar Empires and Beyond
Centre for Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University and Bilgi University, Istanbul
7, 8 and 9 November 2015
Committee Room SSS1 JNU

Saturday, 7th November

Registration and Tea: 10.30-11.00 AM
Opening Remarks: Najaf Haider, Suraiya Faroqhi, Vijaya Ramaswamy 11 AM-11.30 AM
I.

Trans-border Movement of Objects and their Implications: 11.30 AM- 1 PM

Chair: Suraiya Faroqhi
Tlay Artan (Sabanci University, Istanbul): How Far and How Fresh? Can Flowers Travel?
Shireen Moosvi (CAS in History, AMU): India and the Ottoman Empire: Silver Flow from the
Americas - Possible Economic Consequences
Lunch: 1 PM - 2 PM

II.

The Material and the Cultural: 2 PM- 3.30 PM

Chair: Shireen Moosvi
Vijaya Ramaswamy (CHS, JNU): The Cultural Life of Textiles in the Vijayanagar Period
Suraiya Faroqhi (Bilgi University, Istanbul): Heaps of Stone and Little Saplings: the Material
Culture of Peace Making according to Luigi Fernando Marsili and Nucman Efendi
Tea: 3.30 PM-3.45 PM

III.

Imperial Politics and National Identity: 3.45 PM-6 PM

Chair: Sucheta Mahajan
Joshua Shannon-Chastain (Bilgi University, Istanbul), For Queen, Company and Sultan: BritishIndian Officers and Ottoman Contingents in the Crimean War, 1853-1856
Shamir Hasan (CWAS, AMU), Ottomans, Jews and the Palestine Question
Sanjay Garg (NAI, Delhi), God Save the Caliph: India, Turkey and First World War
Conference Dinner: 7.30 PM (University Cafeteria)

Sunday, 8th November

I.

State and Law in Comparative Perspective: 9.00 AM-11.15 AM

Chair: M. Erdem Kabadayi
Farhat Hasan (Department of History, DU), Developing Comparative Perspectives for the Study
of State in Mughal and Ottoman Empires
Baak Tu (Bilgi University, Istanbul), Imperial Discretion, Punishment and Sexual Violence in
18th-century Anatolia
Tea: 10.20-10.35
Ishrat Alam (CAS in History, AMU), Berniers Description of Mughal and Ottoman Empires: A
Comparison

II.

Cultural Encounters in Concrete: 11.15-1.15 PM

Chair: Najaf Haider
Himanshu Prabha Ray (LMU, Munich): Cultural Landscapes of a late Mughal Monument
Ali Nadeem Rezavi (CAS in History, AMU): Ottoman and Mughal Architecture: Influences and
Variances
Ruchika Sharma (CHS, JNU): Hindu-Muslim Encounter in the Reuse of Material in the
Karimuddin Mosque
Lunch: 1.15 PM - 2.15 PM

III.

Servitude in Empires: 2.15 PM - 3.35 PM

Chair: Himanshu Prabha Ray
Hlya Canbakal(Sabanci University): Slaves and Slavery in Ottoman Bursa, 1460-1880
Shadab Bano (CAS in History, AMU), Slaves and Domestic Slavery in Mughal India
Tea: 3.35 PM - 3.50 PM

IV.

Intertextuality, Sexuality and Gender Relations: 3.50 PM - 5.50 PM

Chair: Farhat Hasan
Sonia Wigh (CHS, JNU): From Rahasya to Lazzat: Understanding sexuality in Indic and
Persianate traditions
Puneet Hundal (CHS, JNU): Masculinity and the Ethics of the Hero in the fourteenth century
Indo-Persian Romance
Shivangini Tandon (Gargi College, DU), Representations of Women and Gender Relations in
Biographical Narratives: Comparing the Mughal and Ottoman Tazkiras

Monday, 9th November

I.

Music and Miniatures as Signs of Cultural Identity: 9.00 AM-10.30 AM

Chair: Tlay Artan
Merih Erol (Ko University, Istanbul), Music and Rethinking the Imperial Past in Turkey
Dhir Sarangi (CFFS, JNU), Reception of Indian Miniatures of the Eighteenth Century in France
Tea: 10.30-10.45

II.

Cultures in Conflict: 10.45-1.00 PM

Chair: R. Mahalakshmi
Ranjeeta Dutta (JMI, Delhi): Battles and Temples at Crossroads: Narratives of Encounter and
Interface in the Vijaynagar Empire
Shounak Ghosh (CHS, JNU), A Climate of Fear: Diplomatic Encounters in Sixteenth Century
Eurasia
AyenurKorkmaz (Sabanc University, Istanbul): Religious Conversion and Mass Violence in
the Late Ottoman Empire: The Islamized Armenians

Lunch: 1-2
III.

Mercantile Transactions and Cultural Exchange: 2 PM- 4.15 PM

Chair: Vijaya Ramaswamy
Ruquia Hussain (CAS in History, AMU), Mughal Commercial World and the Turkish
Merchants of Surat
Nishat Manzar (JMI, Delhi), Connecting Mughal India with the Ottoman Empire: European
Merchants as Interpreters of Cultures
Tea: 3.30-3.45
Chander Shekhar (Dept. of Persian, DU), Sword Making and Trade Links between India and
Turkey in the Eighteenth century: A Study of Taid i Bisarat

IV.

Changes in Climate and Habitation: 4.15 PM-5.45 PM

Chair: Neeladri Bhattacharya
Semih elik (EUI, Florence), Climate Change, Famine and Empire Building in Ottoman
Anatolia, c. 1800-1850
M. Erdem Kabadayi (Bilgi University, Istanbul), Urban structural change from the late Ottoman
Empire to the early Turkish Republic