An international group of scholars gathered last week at Miranda House, University of Delhi, in India’s capital city for a series of roundtables dedicated to the theme of “India and Ireland: Shared Histories and Interconnected Pasts.”
The gathering was organized by Jill Bender, visiting associate professor at the Keough-Naughton Institute for Irish Studies in the University of Notre Dame’s Keough School of Global Affairs and associate professor of history at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro; Dhiraj Mehra, director for initiatives in India for Notre Dame Global; and Miranda House faculty members Sneh Jha and Ms. Madhu. The event drew remarkable support and interest from students and faculty of the host college, an international cohort of speakers, and the Embassy of Ireland, India.
Irish Ambassador to India Kevin Kelly inaugurated the proceedings with a reception at his official residence on the evening of March 9, followed by opening comments the next morning. In his remarks, Kelly acknowledged how the relationship between India and Ireland has been “created and complicated by colonialism” and by their respective relationships to Great Britain. The focus of the academic gathering, however, was on the many direct links between Ireland and India and on the movement of people from one country to the other throughout their shared histories. The ambassador added that the diasporas of both nations have been a source of strength for them at a global level and welcomed participants as they prepared to share research, artwork, and historical projects that examine the complex connections between the two countries.
The colloquium’s researchers took on the organizers’ call to illuminate both popular and lesser-known aspects of Indian and Irish ties. In recent years, scholars have not only explored these links as parallel experiences, but also as shared experiences — recognizing how these connections or networks were forged and maintained and emphasizing the ways in which these relations were mutually constituted and informed by distinct but analogous experiences of British rule. Comparative work, in particular, allows us to examine or question accepted paradigms and draw conclusions about shared human experiences across geographical space and time.
The papers presented at Miranda House built on this scholarship in meaningful ways and promised to take our understanding of the Irish-Indian connections in new directions. Scholars from universities in India, Ireland, and the United States offered a range of insights on several major themes that reveal connections stretching beyond the confines of the traditional roundtable format.
Several presenters brought seldom-heard voices to the forefront by examining the experiences of South Asian laborers in Ireland, the experiences of Irish individuals in South Asia, and the shared experiences of Irish and Indian people in Britain or under British colonial rule. For example, Catherine Healy (EPIC, The Irish Emigration Museum) examined Irish and Indian domestic servants in British households, Mark Doyle (Middle Tennessee State University) looked at South Asians in 18th- and 19th-century Ireland, Arthur Duff (WEFT Foundation) presented on Irish Presbyterians in India, Jay Roszman (University College Cork) portrayed educated Catholics in the imperial system, and Arunansh Goswami (Scindia Research Centre) discussed Irishmen serving in the Maratha ranks.
Across several roundtables, delegates highlighted female voices and the role of gender in shaping Irish-Indian networks and engagements. In this effort, Jane Ohlmeyer (Trinity College Dublin) highlighted non-elite Irish women and biracial children in India to challenge the notion that empire was a predominantly male space, and Jyoti Atwal (Jawaharlal Nehru University) and M. Satish Kumar (Queen’s University Belfast—GIFT City Campus) examined notable female Irish activists in India: Margaret Cousins and Margaret Noble, respectively.
Other papers inquired into the various methods of control and displays of power employed in both Ireland and India, and the lasting, often traumatic, repercussions of these practices. Of note in this vein, Jill Bender (University of Notre Dame/University of North Carolina at Greensboro) examined Sir Hugh Rose’s efforts to introduce military reforms in Ireland based on his experience in India; Pushkar Sohoni (IISER Pune) compared architectural styles as strategies of empire and assertions of power; and Sucheta Mahajan (Jawaharlal Nehru University) discussed memory work in the aftermath of partition.
The theme of partition, alongside Tom Bartlett’s (University of Aberdeen) paper on Irish recruits to India from 1750-1830; Patrick Griffin’s (University of Notre Dame) discussion of Lord Cornwallis and his comparative interests in America, India, and Ireland; and Robert O’Sullivan’s (University of Notre Dame) comments on the Irish-American press’s reporting on the 1857 Uprising recognize that the connections between Ireland and India, and their shared experiences under colonial rule, had an impact on and far beyond the shifting borders of the two countries.
Finally, Kristin Mahoney’s (Michigan State University) study of Æ and theosophy, Projit Mukharji’s (Ashoka University) paper on artist Frank Leah, and Irish artist Michelle Boyle’s exploration of intersections between identity and landscape revealed that the engagement between Ireland and India — and the often conflicted sense of identity that could accompany it — surfaced in other modes of creative expression and could shape one’s experience with the natural and spiritual worlds.
Together, these presentations made clear that studying the “Shared Histories and Interconnected Pasts” of Ireland and India promises not only to continue to tell us much about both countries, but also to shed light on broader topics, such as migration, violence, gender, empires, decolonization, language, education, hunger, and, even, love.
Hosts and cultural activities
The host institution for the gathering was Miranda House, an all-women’s college at the University of Delhi.
Faculty and students from the college’s History Society welcomed participants to their distinctive brick campus, a quiet refuge in the heart of Delhi’s university district. Miranda House, founded in 1948, shortly after India’s independence, aspires to steer its women towards introspection and self-learning that will help them lead with global social issues in mind. This gathering drew a large audience of students and faculty, all eager to participate in the event’s organization and contribute with thoughtful questions and comments as the panelists shared their research.
As a special addition to the meetings, several female delegates from Ireland and the United States offered a workshop on comparative women’s history to a full classroom of Miranda House participants. According to organizer Jill Bender, “It was an absolute delight to meet with the students of Miranda House. Their thoughtful and intelligent questions suggest a promising future for Irish-Indian academic engagement.” Bender gave special thanks to the History Society’s faculty advisers who served as co-organizers, Sneh Jha and Ms. Madhu, and to the many students who served as moderators, time-keepers, facility hosts, and campus guides.
After the two-day proceedings at Miranda House, international visitors took advantage of their time in Delhi to explore several of the city’s monuments and sites that are intimately linked to the Irish experience in India. First was a guided tour of the Viceregal Lodge, residency for five viceroys during British rule, current offices of the vice-chancellor of the University of Delhi, and home to an extensive archive that includes a permanent photography exhibit of the Uprising of 1857. The group also visited Coronation Park, site of several coronation Durbar celebrations; Flagstaff Tower, an important site during the Uprising of 1857; the Maidens Hotel, a colonial heritage landmark; and Nicholson Cemetery, which holds the remains of Brigadier-General John Nicholson along with Irish, English, and Scottish Christian residents of Delhi. Many participants made personal visits to Delhi’s top historical and cultural sites associated with their areas of study, including the Red Fort, the Partition Museum, India Gate, and the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Park.
This gathering of international scholars is only the beginning of the formation of deep connections among its distinguished participants. Thanks to the support of the Keough-Naughton Institute for Irish Studies, Notre Dame Global, and Miranda House, this group of researchers was able to “practice what they preach” by contributing to global, comparative collaboration.
Originally published by at irishstudies.nd.edu on March 18, 2026.