The conference opens with a keynote address by distinguished poet, critic, film-maker, and translator Dilip Chitre at 7 pm on Wednesday, June 6. The sessions of scholarly papers will convene from 9 am to 5 pm on Thursday through Saturday, June 7-9. The conference concludes with a sitar concert by Bhaskar Chandavarkar at 2 pm on Sunday, June 10. A more detailed schedule will be available soon at the conference web-site at: http://www.macalester.edu/~icm9/

For students, scholars, and others who are not presenting papers, there will be a nominal registration charge to attend the conference. Attendees should notify Prof. James Laine (laine@macalester.edu) by no later than May 31 and send a check payable to Macalester College ($25; $10 for students) addressed to the address below.

This conference is the ninth in a series of international conferences which began at the University of Toronto in 1984. The other venues have been: University of Pune (1987), University of Heidelberg (1988), Arizona State University, Tempe (1991), SNDT University, Mumbai (1992), Center for Indian Studies, Institute of Orientology, Moscow (1995), Tilak Maharashtra Vidyapeeth, Pune (1997), and University of Sydney (1999). Ten volumes of papers from previous conferences have been published with several more to come.

The Ninth International Conference on Maharashtra welcomes the attendance of all who may be interested in learning more about Maharashtra's dynamic historical and cultural ties to other regions of South Asia and the world beyond.