The YaarAnād Virtual Baiṭhak Series is an online public-learning and documentation initiative of The Anād Foundation, developed as an extension of the Foundation’s oral-history, archival, and cultural documentation work.
The series is also linked in spirit with the World Music Heritage Series conceived and produced by Bhāī Baldeep Singh for Anād Records. It seeks to honour excellence, memory, and living practice in the fields of music, arts, dance, theatre, literature, scholarship, craft, and cultural heritage.
For legal, statutory, banking, tax, audit, CSR, and formal institutional purposes, the Foundation’s legal name is The Anad Foundation. The form Anād is used as the Foundation’s preferred cultural, scholarly, programme, publication, and public-facing style.
Purpose
The YaarAnād Virtual Baiṭhaks were conceived as intimate online gatherings for conversation, remembrance, listening, learning, and public engagement.
They create a space where artists, scholars, musicians, writers, dancers, theatre practitioners, teachers, tradition-bearers, and cultural workers may be heard in their own voices. The format allows the Foundation to document not only performance, but also memory, reflection, process, training, lineage, humour, struggle, and the ethical dimensions of artistic life.
Connection with Oral Histories
The series forms part of Anād’s larger concern for sūkham virsā — intangible heritage. Many aspects of cultural life survive through spoken memory, personal experience, teaching, anecdote, demonstration, and conversation.
The Virtual Baiṭhaks therefore serve as a living extension of oral-history work: recording voices, stories, insights, artistic journeys, and reflections that may otherwise remain undocumented.
Series I — Commemorating Gurū Nānak
YaarAnād Virtual Baiṭhak Series I marked the 550th Prakāś Gurpurb of Sāhib Srī Gurū Nānak Dev Ji, remembered across traditions as “Hindū-kā-Gurū, Mussalmān-kā-Pīr” — the Gurū of the Hindus and the Pīr of the Muslims.
The series honoured the expansive human, spiritual, musical, poetic, and civilisational presence of Gurū Nānak, whose teachings continue to speak across communities, languages, geographies, and generations.
Series II — Commemorating Gurū Teg Bahādur
YaarAnād Virtual Baiṭhak Series II marked the 400th Prakāś anniversary of Sāhib Srī Gurū Teg Bahādur Ji, the ninth Sikh Gurū, revered as “Hiṅd-kī-Cādar”.
Gurū Teg Bahādur’s martyrdom stands as one of the most profound acts of moral courage in history. He offered his life in defence of freedom of conscience and the right of others to practise their faith. In Sikh memory, his sacrifice is associated with the protection of the Hindu tilak and janēū, and more broadly with the defence of spiritual freedom, dignity, and human responsibility.
He was also a poet of extraordinary depth. His Bāṇī in Srī Gurū Granth Sāhib carries a rare stillness, ethical clarity, and contemplative force. Within the musical memory of the GurSikh world, he is also remembered in connection with rāga, singing, and the pakhāwaj tradition; the rāga Jaijaiwantī is uniquely associated with his Bāṇī in Srī Gurū Granth Sāhib.
Format
The Virtual Baiṭhaks may include:
- conversations with artists, scholars, and tradition-bearers;
- music, poetry, theatre, dance, and literary reflections;
- oral-history documentation;
- archival listening and viewing;
- commemorative sessions;
- public-learning discussions;
- reflections on pedagogy, practice, memory, and cultural responsibility.
Season Summaries
Season I — Gurū Nānak 550
The first season of the YaarAnād Virtual Baiṭhaks was conceived in the commemorative context of the 550th Prakāś Gurpurb of Sāhib Srī Gurū Nānak Dev Ji.
This season brought together conversations, reflections, performances, and cultural engagements that honoured Gurū Nānak’s expansive legacy across music, poetry, spirituality, thought, dialogue, travel, and civilisational memory. It reflected the many ways in which Gurū Nānak continues to speak across communities, languages, geographies, and traditions.
Season I also helped establish the Virtual Baiṭhak format as an online space for listening, remembrance, and public learning during a time when digital gatherings became increasingly important for continuity.
Season II — Gurū Teg Bahādur 400
The second season of the YaarAnād Virtual Baiṭhaks marked the 400th Prakāś anniversary of Sāhib Srī Gurū Teg Bahādur Ji.
This season focused on the moral, poetic, musical, philosophical, and historical significance of the ninth Sikh Gurū, revered as Hiṅd-kī-Cādar. The sessions reflected upon his Bāṇī, martyrdom, contemplative depth, ethical courage, and his enduring place in the defence of freedom of conscience and human dignity.
Season II also created space for wider artistic and scholarly reflection, connecting music, literature, memory, history, devotion, and public culture with the commemorative moment.
Monthly Session Archive
The YaarAnād Virtual Baiṭhaks were organised and documented across monthly session pages. These month-wise pages preserve the sequence of conversations, participants, themes, posters, announcements, recordings, and related materials from the series.
Visitors may use the dropdown menu under YaarAnād Virtual Baiṭhaks to access the monthly archive.
The monthly records are retained as part of the Foundation’s public documentation and institutional memory. Their formatting, links, images, and language may reflect the period in which the sessions were first announced or conducted.
Selected Participants / Featured Voices
Across the two seasons, the YaarAnād Virtual Baiṭhaks brought together artists, scholars, musicians, writers, performers, and cultural practitioners from India and abroad.
Selected participants / featured voices included Abida Parveen, Aruna Sairam, Daler Mehndi, Jasbir Jassi, Sardool Sikandar, Parvathy Baul, Prahlad Tipaniya, Uday Bhawalkar, Shabnam Virmani, Navtej Sarna, Wajiha Ather Naqvi, Dr. Giusy Caruso, Tiziana Portoghese, Giuliana Soscia, Luigi Polsini, Zhenya Strigalev, Dominique D’Williancourt, and others.
This list is indicative and may be expanded or corrected as archival records, episode lists, posters, and programme notes are reviewed.
Public Archive
Where available and appropriate, recordings, notes, photographs, links, and related materials from the Virtual Baiṭhaks may be preserved as part of the Foundation’s public and archival record.
Access may depend on permissions, copyright, privacy, technical quality, cultural sensitivity, and the Foundation’s documentation policies.
Living Memory
The YaarAnād Virtual Baiṭhaks affirm that heritage is not preserved only in objects, books, buildings, or recordings. It also lives in conversation, listening, memory, affection, debate, testimony, and shared presence.
Through these gatherings, Anād seeks to keep cultural memory available for students, researchers, practitioners, communities, and future generations.