Understanding Sufism in South Asia

The Department of History, of The Bhawanipur Education Society, had arranged a webinar on 21^st  November, 2021 entitled ‘Understanding Sufism in South Asia’.  

The speaker invited to deliver the webinar was Professor Amit Dey, Ashutosh Professor of Medieval and Modern Indian History, in the Department of History, Centre for Advanced Studies, Calcutta University. The webinar began at 12:00 pm with a welcome address by Ms. Paromita Chakraborty from the Department of History.

Professor Dey began his lecture highlighting the historiography of Sufism in the Indian subcontinent situating it in the wider academic, political and cultural terrains. He moved on to discuss the major strands of Sufi silsilas and their Sufi teachings in medieval India. The speaker drew fascinating parallels withe Sufi ideals as reflected in the philosophies of M. K. Gandhi and Maulana Azad. Concluding his hour long talk with bringing Sufism at the threshold of contemporaneity, the speaker exhorted all listeners to continue to engage in studies of Sufism to revive vibrant religious and cultural dialogues as mastered by the Sufi pirs. 

An invigorating hour and half question and answer session followed where students put up excellent and relevant questions to the speakers. The webinar ended after two hours and thirty minutes with a vote of thanks by the head of department, Professor Piu Chatterjee. Students of the departments of History and English and faculty from different colleges of Kolkata had attended the webinar bringing the number upto sixty five.