Book Release and Exhibition at Jakarta, Indonesia

Shri Narendra Modi undertook a State Visit to Indonesia from 6-8 July, 2026. The visit of Prime Minister Modi marked an important milestone reflecting the shared commitment of the two leaders to achieve a substantial upwards trajectory in the India-Indonesia Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.
During the visit of Shri Narendra Modi, Hon’ble Prime Minister of India, both countriesannounced the commemoration of the “Tagore-Dewantara Year of Cultural and Educational Diplomacy”: fifteen months of festivals, films, fashions, textiles, literature, education and scholarship exchanges across two nations, from July 2026 to September 2027.

Hon’ble Prime Ministers initiative and visit remained of extreme significance for the Institute of Social and Cultural Studies. The inaugural events on 7 July, 2026 of “Tagore-Dewantara Year of Cultural and Educational Diplomacy” coinciding with other announcement did include a photo exhibition setup on “The Indonesian Odyssey of Rabindranath Tagore” curated by Arindam Mukherjee, Director, ISCS displayed at the Jakarta International Convention Centre (JICC), the venue of the community event addressed by both President Prabowo and Prime Minister Modi. The exhibition revealed numerous documents pertaining to Tagore’s visit along with his associates to Dutch East Indies, present day Indonesia in 1927. The exhibition aimed at providing an overview of Rabindranath Tagore’s historical visit to Indonesia which served as a paradigm of cultural exchanges between India and Indonesia. In order to understand how Tagore’s visit unfolded a succession of cultural exchange, various exhibition shell schemes were displayed shredding light on Tagore’s travelogue, rare documents and letters revealing his interests and enthusiasm compounding rich Indonesian culture and heritage through his poems in Java along with its translation in English and Dutch.
Hon’ble Prime Minister was also gifted the first copy of ISCS’s priced publication “Rabindranath Tagore’s Indonesian Odyssey, A Cultural Pilgrimage” by Prof. Arindam Mukherjee. The book is a joint publication of The Institute of Social and Cultural Studies (A Recognized by Ministry of Education, GOI) and Embassy of India, Indonesia. The publication is about what emerged from Tagore’s encounter with Indonesia in terms of cultural confluences, memories and creative traditions, later founding new expressions at Santiniketan. In other words the book is a live narration of how the hundred years back journey of Tagore to Indonesia turned out to be a reciprocal learning experience that continues to resonate through work and art life at Santiniketan giving light and life to the centuries old cultural sharing’s between both the countries.