If anyone is wondering why tents are going up all over the Piazza, it’s all in preparation for the ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival which returns to London this weekend at the British Library presenting a sumptuous showcase of South Asia’s literary heritage, oral and performing arts with 31 scheduled events.

Download a full programme

In January earlier this year the Library exhibited a facsimile of one of the four original Magna Carta documents from 1215, now held at the British Library in London, at the Diggi Palace in Jaipur (Magna Carta at the ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival). Hosting the London Festival is a wonderful way of participating in the South Asia Year of Culture besides having an opportunity to showcase our own rich collections from South Asia. These include paintings, miniatures, drawings, over 80,000 manuscripts covering history and poetry to medicine and religion, the writings and papers of diplomats and travellers and administrators, outstanding photography, some 600,000 printed books and periodicals, countless recordings and much more besides.

Leaves from the Dara Shikoh Album
Right: Dara Shikoh with a tutor, attributed to Chitarman, c. 1630 (British Library Add.Or.3129, f.33v)
Left: Lady with a narcissus, perhaps Mumtaz Mahal, attributed to Bishndas, 1631-33 (British Library Add.Or.3129, f.34r)

An opportunity to find out about our collections takes place at 12.45 in the Piazza in Ten South Asian Treasures of the British Library.  Our curators will highlight

• Zoroastrian Treasures in the British Library
• Abu'l-Fazl's  Akbarnamah
• Two centuries of Indian Print
• The Lucknow Album
• The Dara Shikoh Album
• The Gentil Atlas
• India Office Records
• The Dakani manuscript Pem Nem

The ghats at Haridwar. Watercolour by Sitaram, 1814-15 (British Library, Add.Or.4783)

Other sessions with BL Asian and African curators are:

Illustrious Journeys: The Forgotten Art of Sitaram
JP Losty introduced by Malini Roy
Sita Ram was the artist of ten magnificent albums of drawings of views on the Ganges and Yamuna from Bengal to Delhi and beyond. Two volumes were sold in London in 1974 and subsequently dispersed but it was not until the British Library acquired the remaining eight volumes in 1995 that Sita Ram's true status and patronage were revealed. J.P. Losty takes us on an imaginative journey following the Governor-General Lord Hastings' travels of 1814-15 with Sita Ram’s meticulous, detailed and inspired watercolours.

The Rise and Fall of Mughal Art
JP Losty, Katherine Butler Schofield, Susan Stronge and Malini Roy in conversation with William Dalrymple (Presented by Aga Khan Foundation)
No Indian dynasty made more of their love for art, and especially painting, than the Mughals. Five authorities on Mughal painting tell the remarkable story of how a Muslim dynasty came to patronise some of the greatest figurative paintings in world history, from the beginnings of the atelier during the reign of Akbar through to its heyday during the reign of Shah Jahan and its decline under Aurangzeb.

Knowledge Networks from the Medieval to the Contemporary World
Arthur Dudney, Gagan Sood, James Caron, Layli Uddin and Paniz Musawi Natanzi in conversation with Nur Sobers-Khan
The circulation of ideas in the early modern world demonstrates the complexity of knowledge flows and networks, of translation, retranslation, reinterpretation and innovation. The movements of information and thought from East to West and back provide fascinating insights into the nature of scholarship and the movement of ideas.

Prince Gauhar and Khiradmand rescued by the simurgh. By Govardhan II, 1734-9 (British Library, Johnson Album 38, f.51r)

In addition to the literary events there will be musical performances in the piazza and the entrance hall:

• Morning Music (Saturday): Bhakti: Invoking the Muse  with Arundhathi Subramaniam & Vidya Shah
• Evening Music (Saturday): Kabir Cafe with Neeraj Arya
• Morning Music (Sunday) with Amrit Kaur Lohia

If you can make it,  don't forget to visit the BL Treasures Gallery which will be open exhibiting the Dara Shikoh album, Mughal manscripts and Hindu and Buddhist treasures.

Ursula Sims-Williams, Asian and African Collections
Twitter Links: @BLAsia_Africa,  #ZEEJLFatBL