Conferences & Symposia

Professor S. A. H. Abidi Memorial Society (Regd.) is happy to collaborate with the Department of Persian, University of Delhi for an online conference to commemorate the services of Professor Abidi in the field of Indo-Persian language, literature & culture.

For over 600 years, Persian language was the lingua franca of later Delhi Sultanates followed by The Mughal Empire and the Deccan Sultanates. A unifying environment known as Indo-Persian literature & culture took roots in this fertile soil with abundance of creativity in prose, poetry, translations, music and the fine arts. This period has left a timeless & vast source of authentic material for future generations to understand their socio-cultural history.

Professor Abidi was a tireless scholar who played a pioneering role in creating awareness, identifying, translating and publishing monumental works from Sanskrit such as Vikram Urvashi, Yogavashishtha, Panchakhyana & Dastan-e-Padmavat. He wrote over 2500 articles and 26 books and presented papers at numerous conferences, seminars and symposia. The Government of India awarded Padma Shri, one of the highest national awards for his priceless contribution in highlighting & preserving an important element of this country�s history & heritage. He left so much unfinished material that even seven years after his death, his students and other scholars are completing and publishing his works. Our Society itself, has produced two volumes of his works since his death and more are in the pipeline.

The international conference was held on 26-27 February 2021 and over 15 international scholars were invited to present papers on different facets of Indo-Persian Literature & Culture and legacy of Professor Abidi.