New Delhi, Mar 1 (IANS) In a significant step for India’s cultural diplomacy, the country will send its first officially organised national youth arts delegation to the 1st Youth Delphic Games of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), scheduled to be held in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.

The 65-member Indian delegation will depart for Bishkek on March 22, which currently holds the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Chairmanship. The Games are being hosted by the city administration in collaboration with the International Delphic Committee, the apex body that organises Delphic Games across the CIS region.

This marks the first time that an Indian team of artists will participate as a formally constituted national delegation at an international multi-disciplinary cultural competition, on lines comparable to global sporting events.

The Indian contingent includes 41 young artists drawn from across the country — 21 from Delhi, 10 from Himachal Pradesh, four from Karnataka, and one each from Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Uttarakhand and Haryana. Participants will compete in a wide array of disciplines, including folk music, classical and contemporary dance, singing, pop music, DJ arts, visual arts, arts and crafts, and piano.

Officials say the delegation reflects India’s cultural diversity and aims to showcase the country’s artistic heritage to fellow SCO member nations, while strengthening people-to-people ties through youth engagement.

The delegation will be led by B. H. Anilkumar, IAS (Retd.), as Chief of Mission, with S. Siva Kumar serving as Deputy Chief of Mission. Renowned Latin and ballroom dancer Sandip Soparrakar has been appointed Chief Choreographer.

India will also be represented on the international jury panel. Bharatanatyam guru Sneha Venkatramani from Bengaluru and visual artist Sulbha Joshi from Uttarakhand have been selected to serve as jury members during the Games.

Bijender Goel, founder of the Modern Pythian Games movement, has been officially invited to address a special session of SCO member nations during the event.

In his address, Goel is expected to outline his vision for reviving the ancient Pythian Games in a contemporary format through the Modern Pythian Games framework — an integrated online and offline cultural ecosystem. He is likely to emphasise the potential of the arts and culture sector to evolve into a more structured and sustainable global industry, projecting an economic contribution exceeding €1,000 billion worldwide. His remarks will also focus on the role India and the SCO nations can play in advancing cultural exchange, youth participation and long-term cultural diplomacy.

The Delphic Games draw inspiration from the ancient Pythian Games, which were held in Delphi, Greece, with historical records dating back to 582 BC. The original games celebrated excellence in music, poetry, dance, and the arts, alongside athletic competitions.

The modern Olympic revival, by contrast, traces its origins to 1894, under the leadership of Pierre de Coubertin, who re-established the ancient sporting tradition begun in 776 BC.

Proponents of the Modern Pythian Games describe them as a contemporary effort to revive what they call the world’s oldest cultural games after a gap of over 1,600 years, positioning the initiative as a cultural counterpart to the Olympic movement.

The Modern Pythian Games movement has gathered momentum in recent years. Its concept was presented at the Delphi Economic Forum in Greece in April 2022. In December 2023, New Delhi hosted the 1st International Pythian Games Festival with participation from 22 nations.

The first National Cultural Pythian Games were held in Panchkula in 2024, drawing more than 5,000 artists and participants; the second edition was held in Bengaluru in 2025, with over 3,500 participants.

Organisers have announced plans for the 3rd National Cultural Pythian Games in Ranchi, the 1st Global Youth Cultural Pythian Games in Dubai in October 2026, and the inaugural full-scale Pythian Games, envisioned as an “Olympics of Arts and Traditional Games” to be staged in Athens in 2027.

India’s participation in the inaugural SCO Youth Delphic Games, officials say, marks a milestone not only for the country’s young artists but also for its broader cultural engagement on the international stage.

--IANS

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