On July 10, the Vivekananda International Foundation (VIF) organized a talk on ‘‘Varna, Ashrama and the Indic Religious Tradition” by Prof. Arvind Sharma, Birks Professor of Comparative Religion in the School of Religious Studies at McGill University in Montreal, Canada and formerly part of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS). This was the third talk in the series of lectures and discussions on Indic religious traditions.

On 17th June 2024, Vivekananda International Foundation (VIF) organised a Vimarsh lecture on ‘Religion, Dharma and the Indic Religious Tradition’ by Prof. Arvind Sharma. Prof. Sharma, formerly of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), is the Birks Professor of Comparative Religion in the School of Religious Studies at McGill University in Montreal, Canada. He has also taught at various universities in the United States (Northeastern, Boston, Temple, Harvard), Australia (Queensland, Sydney), and India (Nalanda).

On June 12, the Vivekananda International Foundation (VIF) organized a talk on 'The Story of Indian Warfare' based on the book 'India’s Battlefields from Kurukshetra to Balakot' written by Col. Ajay Singh (Retd), an author of seven books. He is the recipient of the Rabindranath Tagore International Award for Art and Literature 2022 and the Bharat Literary Award 2023. Dr. Arvind Gupta, Director, VIF, delivered the opening remarks in which he briefly talked about India’s remarkable military history and the various regional literature that is available on it.

The Mughal expansionist tendencies sowed seeds of animosity with the Ahoms. A desire for political supremacy and territorial expansion in the northeast appears to have been a guiding motive of the Mughals under Emperors Jahangir, Shah Jahan and Aurangzeb. The rich natural resources of Assam enhanced Mughal greed. Between 1615 and 1682, the fortunes of both the Ahoms and the Mughals fluctuated. By the end of the 17th century, the Mughals had lost their hold over northeastern India due to persistent military defeats.