Workshop on Onomastic Studies at the Indian Museum

 The Indian Museum (Ministry of Culture, Government of India) is hosting a Workshop on Onomastic Studies on Friday, September 26, 2025, 2:30 PM onwards, at ABC Hall, Indian Museum, Kolkata. The session will be led by Prof. Susmita Basu Majumdar, Professor in the Department of Ancient Indian History and Culture.

This workshop is a prelude to two milestones in India’s name-studies and inscriptional research communities: the Golden Jubilee Session of the Epigraphical Society of India and the 44th Session of the Place Names Society of India. It’s a timely gathering at the crossroads of onomastics (the study of names) and epigraphy (the study of inscriptions), two fields that often meet on stone, copper, palm leaf - and increasingly, in digital maps and gazetteers.

Why onomastics - and why now?

• Names as evidence. Place-names and personal names preserve strata of history - languages, routes, rulers, ecology. Reading them well can change how we date sites or reconstruct settlement patterns.

• Epigraphy’s bridge. Inscriptions don’t just record events; they anchor names in time and space, providing the hard data that lets scholars trace continuity and change.

• Maps and data. From district gazetteers to OpenStreetMap, consistent name standards matter for governance, heritage signage, and public memory.

What to expect

While the final program is announced on-site, attendees can expect:

• An accessible introduction to onomastic method - how scholars analyze and interpret names.

• Case vignettes from Indian epigraphy and historical geography (e.g., how a toponym travels across scripts or centuries).

• Discussion on standards and sources - gazetteers, museum records, archives, and field protocols.

• A look ahead to the Golden Jubilee of the Epigraphical Society of India and the 44th Session of the Place Names Society of India - and how students and researchers can plug in.

Who should attend

Students and researchers in history, archaeology, linguistics, geography, museum studies, as well as heritage professionals, librarians, and mapping enthusiasts. No specialist background required - curiosity about names and places is enough.

Event details at a glance

• Title: Workshop on Onomastic Studies

• Date & Time: September 26, 2025, 2:30 PM onwards

• Venue: ABC Hall, Indian Museum, Kolkata

• Speaker: Prof. Susmita Basu Majumdar, Professor, Dept. of Ancient Indian History & Culture

• Presented by: Indian Museum, Ministry of Culture, Government of India

• Occasion: Prelude to the Golden Jubilee Session (Epigraphical Society of India) and the 44th Session (Place Names Society of India)

If you care about how names carry memory - how a village name hints at a vanished river, or how a royal title survives in a neighborhood - this workshop will be a rich, hands-on afternoon. Arrive a little early to find seating and meet fellow participants.