How Irish-Indian women have forged enduring cultural links for centuries to come

The relationship between India and Ireland is centuries old, and has only been strengthened by the continued migration of both the Irish and Indian diaspora. To celebrate the start of spring and to mark St Brigid’s day, the Irish Embassy in New Dehli hosted Looking East, a captivating multimedia exhibition that explores three centuries of connection between Ireland and India.

The exhibition was originally curated and developed in Dublin and was on display at EPIC: The Irish Emigration Museum Dublin, before travellingto India. The exhibition launched on 29 January 2025 at the Lokayata Art Gallery with an exciting panel discussion, moderated by Professor Sucheta Mahajan and featuring historian Catherine Healy, Irish-Indian author Cauvery Madhavan and Sheetal Khanna from the Honorary Consulate in Kolkata.

The panel highlighted the valuable contributions of Irish and Indian women in art, culture, history and literature.

Looking East brings to light the complex and dynamic relationship between Ireland and India, shaped by migration, cultural exchange, and shared experiences of colonial rule. The launch of Looking East in Delhi focused particularly on women-centric stories of shaped experiences in India andIreland.

As highlighted by Catherine Healy, EPC’sHistorian in Residence: “Our mission is to share the history of Ireland’s diaspora and the impact made by Irish people across the world including in lesser known destinations of Irish migration like India so I am delighted that this EPIC exhibition is now open in Delhi.” By hosting and sharing this exhibition in India, it helps to strengthen and reinforces those key cultural bonds between our two nations.

The Embassy celebrated these intrinsic links at Durga Puja, where Irish artists Lisa Sweeney, Richard Babington and Johnny O’Reilly from Irish spectacle company Macnas, and Sanjib Saha from Behala Nutan Dal, created an amazing work of art that honours both the Hindu goddess Durga and the Celtic goddess Danu.

Similarly, this sentiment of connections between our historical Saints and India’s Godesses can be seen on St Brigid’s day. As noted by Cauvery Madarrvan: “When I first heard of St Brigid I was quite struck by the similarities between Indian women in mythology, Indian goddesses and St Brigid and how powerful a woman she was.”