Within the framework of the Spain-India Dual Year 2026 and with the collaboration of the Casa de la India and the Embassy of India, on the upcoming Wednesdays, May 6 and Thursday, May 7, Casa Asia and the Instituto Cervantes present a day of Spain-India Encounter.
This day emphasizes the dialogue between Spain and India through activities such as the Indian Hispanism Forum, the reading of poems by Spanish authors translated into Bengali, Hindi, Marathi, and Urdu, and a round table that will reflect on the studies of India in Spain. Free entry with prior registration.
The Instituto Cervantes in Madrid (Calle Alcalá, 49) will host this day on May 6 with the following program:
9:30 AM – Inauguration
Luis García Montero, director of the Instituto Cervantes
José Pintor Aguilar, general director of Casa Asia
Guillermo Rodríguez Martín, director of Casa de la India
Swetow Tyagi, second secretary, Embassy of India in Spain
10:00 AM – 11:30 AM – Indian Hispanism Forum
Presenter: Shyama Prasad Ganguly, Hispanist
Participants: Vibha Maurya, Hispanist; Vijaya Venkataraman, Hispanist, and Sonya Gupta, Hispanist. Moderated by: Álvaro García Santa-Cecilia, academic director of the Instituto Cervantes
11:30 AM – 12:00 PM – Musical break (15 minutes)
12:00 PM – 12:30 PM – Legacy to the Caja de las Letras and tribute to the Indian Hispanist Vibha Maurya
Presenter: Luis García Montero, director of the Instituto Cervantes. Participants: Vibha Maurya, Hispanist, and María Gil Bürmann, director of the Instituto Cervantes in New Delhi
12:30 PM – 1:15 PM – Multilingual poetic reading
Presenter: María Gil Bürmann, director of the Instituto Cervantes in New Delhi, and participants Bengali: Shreyashee Nag, Hindi: Pooja Anil Bharwani, Marathi: Sumant Palorkar and Urdu: Priya Jayant Khobragade.
1:30 PM – 2:30 PM – Round table «Studies of India in Spain: a reflection»
This round table proposes to undertake a dialogue and reflection on the studies of India in Spain. It starts from the premise of the scarce presence of these studies in Spanish universities, which do not offer degrees or master’s programs specifically dedicated to the Indian subcontinent. This contrasts with the greater presence of East Asian studies, which, although still insufficient, are much better represented than the studies of India.
To this end, this table will feature Eva Fernández del Campo, specialist in Indian art from the Complutense University; Antonia Navarro Tejero, who has been linked to the Spanish Association of Interdisciplinary Studies on India over the last few decades, present in several Spanish universities; and Òscar Pujol Riembau, author of the Sanskrit-Spanish Dictionary. Presented and moderated by Yasmin Paricio, coordinator of Politics, Society, and Educational Programs, Casa Asia.
6:00 PM – 7:00 PM – Colloquium on the teaching of Spanish in India
Participants Gaurav Kumar, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU); Srivani Tumu, English and Foreign Languages University (EFLU); Vikash Kumar Singh, Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU). Presented and moderated by: María Gil Bürmann, director of the Instituto Cervantes in New Delhi.
7:00 PM – 7:15 PM – Musical break (15 minutes)
7:15 PM – 8:00 PM – Presentation of the publication The Creation of the Kijote Kathakali
Participants will include María Gil Bürmann, director of the Instituto Cervantes in New Delhi; Guillermo Rodríguez Martín, director of Casa de la India; Nacho García, playwright and Mónica de la Fuente García, artistic director.
For its part, the Casa de la India in Valladolid (Calle del Puente Colgante, 13) will host the day the following day, May 7, with this programming:
10:30 AM – 11:00 AM – Reception at the Palacio de Santa Cruz
Antonio Largo Cabrerizo, rector of the University of Valladolid
11:00 AM – 12:00 PM – Visit to the Historical Library of Santa Cruz; 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM – Visit to the Tagore Library of José Paz and the Center for Asian Studies; 1:00 PM – 2:30 PM – Round table «Rabindranath Tagore and Letters in Spanish» at the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters; 4:45 PM – 7:00 PM – Visit to the Casa Museo Cervantes and the historic center of the city; 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM – Poetic reading at Casa de la India; 8:00 PM – Group photograph at the statue of Rabindranath Tagore at Casa de la India.