University Level

National Level

Convened one-week (valid for CAS as per UGC) workshop titled 'Ebb and Flow: Emerging and Declining Trends in History and Allied Disciplines' as Discipline Co-ordinator for History, Teaching Learning Centre, Teaching Learning Centre @ Central University of Punjab, Centre for Excellence for Curicullum and Pedagogy, Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya National Mission on Teachers and Teaching Scheme (PMMMNMTT), Ministry of Human Resources & Development, March 15 – 19, 2021 (online).

Organised workshop titled “Conceptualising Caste and Religion Prior to Colonialism in South Asia,” Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, Delhi. July 28, 2012.

International Level

Organised panel “Accessing Notions of Communities through South Asian Literary Texts, c.1550-c.1800,” the Annual Conference of Association of Asian Studies, San Diego CA, March 21, 2013. 

Organised panel “Rethinking the Alamgiri Regime, 1658-1707,” 42^nd Annual Conference for South Asian Studies, University of Wisconsin, Madison WI, October 17-20, 2013. 

Organised workshop “Developments in in the Islamic World, c.1600-c.1800,” Department of Middle Eastern Studies, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, May 27-30, 2016.

SCHOLARLY PRESENTATIONS/SPEECHES/SESSIONS CHAIRED (underline indicates event/panel I organised; asterisk indicates solo invited lecture not part of a conference; many of these lectures were delivered in a combination of English, Punjabi and/or Hindi)

"Physical Education and the Social Sciences," in International Conference on Physical Education and Exercise Sciences (ICPEES) organised by Department of Physical Education, Department of Physical Education, Punjabi University, Patiala, March 22-24, 2023. 

"Bakhtawar Khan and the Writing of History during Aurangzeb's Reign," in the national seminar on Mughal Empire: Art, Architecture and Historiography, UGC-Centre for Advanced Studies, Department of History, Aligarh Muslim University, March 13-15, 2023. 

“Studying Medieval Indian History after the Vernacular Turn: Comparing Data from Punjab and Rajasthan,” in the international conference Communities, Cultures and the Environment: Forging Interactions and Identities, Department of History, University of Delhi, 24-25 February, 2023.

Invited Lecture (online mode), "The Place of non-Persian Sources in Studying Medieval India," as part of Meet the Scholar Initiative, Department of History, Maulana Azad National Urdu University, Hyderabad, October 14, 2022. 

Invited Lecture, "Translation, History and Literature," English Literary Society (student body), Central University of Punjab, September 30, 2022.

Invited Lecture, "Exploring the Relationship Between History and Literature," as part of NSS Day, Panjab University - Rural Centre, Kauni, distt. Muktsar, September 27, 2022. 

Invited lecture, “The Fort at Bathinda: From a Desert Outpost to an Inner-city Landmark,” as part of the series “History and Heritage: The Afterlife of Monuments”, India International Centre, Delhi, May 27, 2022.

Invited expert lecture “Saadat Hasan Manto,” Dept of Languages, Guru Kashi Campus, Punjabi University, Talwandi Sabo, May 13, 2022.

Invited panelist for seminar on Historiography of Punjabi Translation held at Punjabi University: Guru Kashi Campus, Talwandi Sabo, March 31, 2022.

“The Portrayal of Shah Jahan in Some Seventeenth-century Narratives of the War of Succession,” as part of Seveneteenth Century in India: Events, Society, Thought and Art organised (online) by Insititute of Iranian Studies, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna, April 7 – 10, 2021.

* “Narratives of the War of Succession of 1658: An Introduction,” Ashoka University, Sonepat, Haryana, April 6, 2021.

“A War of Succession for the Mughal throne (1658) as Described in Muhammad Saleh Kamboh's Shah Jahan Nama,” as part of the 9th Biennial Convention of the Association for the Study of Persianate Societies at University of Chicago Centre, New Delhi, March 11-13, 2020. CANCELLED/POSTPONED DUE TO CORONAVIRUS EPIDEMIC.

* “Qissa Subhash Bose: A Ballad of World War II by an INA soldier from Rohtak District,” Ashoka University, Sonepat, Haryana, November 4, 2019. CANCELLED/POSTPONED DUE TO SEVERE POLLUTION IN DELHI-NCR REGION

“Sects and Religions of Seventeenth-century North-West India as Reported in the Bahr-ul Asrar,” as part of the 2-day National Seminar Study of ‘Sacred Spaces’ and ‘Cults’ in Pre-Modern North-West India organised by North-West Regional Centre, Indian Council of Social Sciences Research (ICSSR) & Department of History, Panjab University at Panjab University, Chandigarh, March 18-19, 2019.

“Texts and Contexts: A two-way Relationship,” in panel titled ‘Politics of Translation’, for Translation: Challenges and Possibilities, Punjabi University: Guru Kashi Campus, Talwandi Sabo, March 17, 2019.

*Keynote Speaker, “Jallianwala Bagh Massacre and the Crumbling of British Empire” at an eponymous symposium, Government Brijindra College, Faridkot, March 5, 2019.

“Islam and Authority during Aurangzeb’s Reign,” for the workshop Religious Authority in Islam in South Asia: Fragmentation, Plurality and Exclusivity, as part of the series Authority in Islam: The Dialectics of Fragmentation and Plurality, Islamic Studies Program, School of Global & International Studies, Indiana University held at Indiana University Gateway, Delhi, January 18-19, 2019.

Panel Chair, The Mongols Mattered: Cultural, Social, and Commercial Changes During the Mongol Century, 5th AAS-in-Asia Conference, July 7, 2018, Delhi.

Invited Subject Expert for ‘History’, Workshop on Identification of Subject-wise Resources for Teachers, National Resource Centre for Education, Pt Madan Mohan Malviya National Mission for Teachers Training, Ministry for Human Resources Development (Govt of India) at National Institute for Education Policy and Administration (NIEPA), Delhi, June 6-8, 2018

“The Subject and World Literature: Literary and Historical Reportage of Aurangzeb's Accession (1658), c.1670-c.1730,” for World Literature: Postcolonial Perspectives, Departments of English, and Germanic & Romance Studies, University of Delhi, March 15-17, 2018.

Part of Round Table Discussion on 'New Questions and Approaches for Historians of South Asia', Hebrew University of Jerusalem (Mount Scopus Campus), May 23, 2017 (with Gyan Pandey, Ruby Lal, Yigal Bronner and Rotem Geva).

“The Evolution of Hindi Literary Traditions in late-Seventeenth Century Deccan,” for the conference Maratha-Mughal Relations Through North-South Historical Linkage on occasion of the ‘350th Anniversary of Visit of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj in Agra’ at Department of History and Culture, Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar University, Agra (UP) in association with Dept of History, Bhimrao Ambedkar Marathwada University, Aurangabad; Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR); and, Aurangabad Historical Society, February 19-21, 2017.

*“Evolution of Persian History-writing from Akbar's reign to Aurangzeb's Reign,” at the Centre for Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, September 21, 2016.

“The Present Memory of Mehar Singh's Adventures with the British Indian and the Indian National Army,” for “The Indian Predicament: South Asia in WWII,” at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Mount Scopus, June 5-6, 2016, as part of the European Research Council funded project Judging Histories.

*“Narratives of a War of Succession for the Mughal Throne,” Department of Asian Studies, University of Haifa, May 16, 2016.

“The bases of description and analysis of the religious sects in the Dabistan-i mazahib,” as part of the workshop “Developments in in the Islamic World, c.1600-c.1800,” Department of Middle Eastern Studies, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, May 27-30, 2016.

*“The Vachanika Rathor Ratansinghri: A Rajput View of the Contest Between Aurangzeb and Dara Shikoh,” Department of History, University of Delhi, February 10, 2016.

*“History of Rai/Raya: Persian Culture and the Making of an Autochthonous Indian Title, c.1000-c.2000,” Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, Delhi, September 30, 2015. http://nehrumemorial.nic.in/en/digital-archives/62-seminar/detail/1272-81-dr-vikas-rathee-28-9-15.html?tmpl=component (audio)

*“History of Rai/Raya: Persian Culture and the Making of an Autochthonous Indian Title, c.1000-c.2000,” Department of Asian Studies, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, June 3, 2015.

“Religion and Politics in the pre-Islamic Hindu past of Indo-Persian tawarikh: The case of the Khulasat al-tawarikh” for “Persianate Studies: A Conceptual Inquiry,” Yale Program in Iranian Studies, Yale University, New Haven CT, May 9-11, 2014.

“Hodgson’s ‘Islamicate’ and the Knowledge of Indian Society and Culture in Persian Language Works by Authors of Indian Origin” at the workshop “Reconsidering the Non-Muslim Other: Internal and External Religious Differentiation”, part of the on-going project “Being Muslim,” Department of Religious Studies, Vanderbilt University, Nashville TN, Sept 23-26, 2013.

“The ‘Amal-i Salih of Muhammad Salih Kamboh: A Shah Jahani Historian’s Treatment of Aurangzeb’s Enthronement,” for the panel “Rethinking the Alamgiri Regime, 1658-1707,” 42nd Annual Conference for South Asian Studies, University of Wisconsin, Madison WI, October 17-20, 2013. organised panel

“Sujan Rai Bhandari’s Khulasat-u-tawarikh: A Hindu Narrative of A Mughal War of Succession,” for the panel “Accessing Notions of Communities through South Asian Literary Texts, c.1550-c.1800,” the Annual Conference of Association of Asian Studies, San Diego CA, March 21, 2013. organised panel

"The Vachanika Rathor Ratansinghri: A late-Seventeenth Century Account of the War of Succession Amongst the Sons of Shah Jahan” at the 12th International Conference on Early Modern Literature of North India, Indian Institute of Advanced Studies, Shimla, Aug 5-8, 2012.

“Visiting Syncretism and Secularism through the Bitak of Laldas” at the workshop titled “Conceptualising Caste and Religion Prior to Colonialism in South Asia,” Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, Delhi. July 28, 2012. organised conference

“The Laldas Bitak: Conceptualising Mahamati Pran-nath’s Attempts to Bring Spiritual Awakening to Aurangzeb and Chhatarsal Bundela” at the workshop “Cosmopolitanism in the Early Modern World: The Case of South Asia (16th – 18th centuries): Sources, Itineraries, Language,” Centre d’Etudes de l’Inde et de l’Asie du Sud, CNRS, EHESS, Paris. May 24-25, 2012.

“Fani Kashmiri's Search for the utopian ideals of bahar (spring) and dust (friend) in the Dystopic Padshahi of Aurangzeb” at “History and Culture of Friendship in Precolonial South Asia,” Centre for South Asian Studies, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia. May 2-4, 2011.