Between the Everyday and the Enchanted: Journeying the Western Himalayas through Art, Culture and Society
Between the Everyday and the Enchanted
Journeying the Western Himalayas through Art, Culture and Society
An interdisciplinary course is divided across four sessions that introduces you to the breathtakingly diverse and ecologically attuned landscape of the Western Himalayas, especially the state of Himachal Pradesh, widely known as “Dev Bhoomi” or Land of the Gods.
Duration: Two hour sessions | Dates: April 19th, 26th, May 3rd and May 10th.
Landscape of the Western Himalayas
Diversity of art forms
Cultural practices
What You Will Learn
The course will provide a creative perspective on the relationship between landscape and culture in the context of mountain life. Whether it is understanding the making of Shimla, the erstwhile Summer Capital of the British Raj, or navigating the peerless arena of the world-famous Pahari School of Miniature Art, the Western Himalayas have been astonishingly instrumental in uniquely shaping the identity of the subcontinent. Ploughing through a diversity of resources, from paintings, photographs, architecture, popular narratives to travel literature, philosophy and other multi-media entities, the course will emphasize the inherent connections between nature and culture, identity and imagination. Ultimately, it will shed a diverse light on the uniqueness underscoring highland living, where history and geography fuse together in one, dynamic whole.
Meet Your Instructor
Dr. Siddharth Pandey
Siddharth Pandey is a writer, academic, and artist from the Himalayas, currently based in Delhi NCR. He is the 2025 Writer-in-Residence at the International Centre Goa and holds a PhD in English and Materiality Studies from the University of Cambridge. He has held fellowships at Yale, the Paul Mellon Centre, and Ludwig Maximilian University. His book Fossil was a finalist for the 2022 Banff Mountain Literature Awards. His work spans cultural history, art, ecology, and literature, published in academic journals and South Asian media. As a photographer, he has collaborated with London’s Victoria and Albert Museum and Durham’s Oriental Museum. He served as a jury member for the Queen’s Commonwealth Essay Competition. A self-taught musician, he composes Pahari, classical, and folk-inspired tunes, shared on his YouTube and Instagram.