123456 Standing in a book-lined room at Le Cercle Littéraire in Kala Ghoda last week, Céline Malraux is trying to solve a family mystery.The French author never met her grandfather André Malraux, who died two years before she was born. Now, fifty years after the death of the celebrated novelist, Resistance fighter and France’s first culture minister, she is retracing a journey that took him from New Delhi to Elephanta caves and Ellora monuments, and beyond.”I yearn for a serendipitous moment where suddenly I get it,” she says. “His fascination with Indian mythology, how he felt when he first saw the Elephanta caves. I’d really like to see India through his eyes.”For many Indians, Malraux is now little more than a footnote. But when he travelled through the country at Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru’s invitation in 1958, he was one of the most influential Western voices arguing that Indian art and civilisation deserved to be viewed on the same terms as those of Greece and Rome.That fascination, Céline explains, stemmed from questions that occupied him throughout his life. “Malraux was deeply interested in the human condition: death, suffering, absurdity of life,” she says. “He thought the answer lay in spirituality, in finding the sacred within art.”But she is wary of reducing his relationship with India to a familiar Western search for enlightenment. “Malraux didn’t see India simply as a land of spiritual quest. He always believed the country could connect spirituality and action.”The connection feels unusually tangible in Mumbai. Le Cercle Littéraire, where Céline was on Friday, is a short ride from Gateway of India, where ferries leave for Elephanta. The caves were one of the stops on Malraux’s 1958 state visit to discuss cultural exchange. “Nehru didn’t want Malraux to meet ascetics and sages,” Céline says. “He wanted him to see the potential of modern India. And Malraux understood that.”His itinerary reflects that. Hosted by the prime minister, he visited not only Elephanta caves and the rock-cut complexes of Ellora, but also Bhakra Nangal dam, one of the great symbols of India’s post-independence ambition.She pauses before quoting him. “Malraux once said that India’s fate is inseparable from the fate of the world. He knew that India’s experiment, modern statehood built upon an ancient civilisation, had significance far beyond its borders.”The visit deepened a friendship that had begun more than two decades earlier. Nehru and Malraux first met in Paris in 1936 and then in 1958. They then remained in touch until Nehru’s death, through years that would transform both men into global figures.”My grandmother, who accompanied him on the India trip, told me that only a few people can meet after twenty years and continue the same conversation,” Céline says.It is, in many ways, an unlikely friendship. Nehru was a rationalist and moderniser. Malraux, though politically engaged, was drawn to religion, mythology and the spiritual questions he found reflected in texts such as the Bhagavad Gita.Malraux described Nehru as a man who remained at “an enigmatic distance from India”, and yet each saw something in the other. “There was a kind of brotherhood,” Céline says. “They shared the same values on freedom and human dignity.”Nehru travelled to France several times after that, and on one visit Malraux walked with him personally through his landmark 1960 exhibition, Treasures of India: 5,000 Years of Indian Art, a show that introduced countless Europeans to Indian sculpture and painting, and quietly rewrote how the West understands Indian civilisation.Yet despite all this, Malraux has largely faded from Indian memory. “There are so many people who are more influential in shaping India’s own history,” Céline says. “What he shared with India was a one-sided love affair,” she laughs.What she has not made peace with, and perhaps does not want to, is how relevant some of his battles still feel. Malraux first made his name as an anti-fascist intellectual during the Spanish Civil War, warning about the rise of fascism before many others recognised the threat.”Last year marked fifty years since Franco’s death, and I saw people celebrating him,” she says. “You see this everywhere, a nostalgia for fascism. It is the perfect moment to speak about people who dedicated their work and risked their lives to fight it.”Art, she says, remains part of that struggle. “He made a film about Spanish war. It was Top Gun of 1930s,” she says with a laugh. “Art can be political. Sometimes it needs to be. We are at a moment when artists are very aware of that. Malraux was too.”As the evening in Kala Ghoda draws to a close, the conversation keeps returning to India: to Elephanta, to Ellora, to the places she is still moving through.For Céline, this trip is not simply about commemorating a famous intellectual. It is about following a trail left by someone she never knew, through a country that never forgot what he saw, even if it forgot him. “I’d really like to see India through his eyes,” she says.Get the latest India news and live updates. Download the TOI App.About the AuthorAkshay BhagwatAkshay Bhagwat loves to read, write, sing and discuss politics. He believes in the power of the people. In his previous lives, he was a political consultant and an environmental researcher.Read MoreEnd of ArticleFollow Us On Social MediaVideosPM Modi To Skip Khamenei Funeral; Bihar Governor, MoS External Affairs To Represent India: Report’In 3 Or 6 Months’: Stalin Predicts Early Polls, Says Vijay-led TVK Govt May Not Last Full TermExplained: Why The Akal Takht Has Summoned 87 Sikh Legislators Over Punjab’s Anti-Sacrilege LawIndia’s First Integrated Battle Groups Explained: A New Era of Border Readiness32 Years After the Pact, Rajasthan Finally Set to Get Yamuna Water from HaryanaPM Modi’s Seychelles Visit: Why This Tiny Island Is Key to India’s Battle for the Indian OceanMumbai Muharram Poison Plot: Why Police Are Investigating the Iran-Iraq Angle?Nah Tribal Body Claims PLA Occupied Ancestral Land, China Built Roads and Camps in Arunachal PradeshSC Defers Urgent Hearing on Plea Seeking CBI Probe Into Alleged Ram Mandir Donation EmbezzlementPakistani National Apprehended Near LoC, Poonch, Second Cross-Border Intrusion Reported In 2 Days123PhotostoriesPsychology says people who don’t have many close friends may be more selective in love, and that’s not always a bad thing10 timeless baby girl names inspired by courageous women warriors in history4 secrets the happiest couples you meet are hiding from youVande Bharat routes under ₹1,500: From Goa to Kerala, these budget trips are worth every rupeeTaylor Swift’s best white gowns, ahead of her wedding with Travis Kelce: From ‘Folklore’ to ‘The Fate of Ophelia’PM Narendra Modi says “Chutney and Samosa reflect the shared heritage of India and Seychelles”: 6 traditional dishes that prove itHow to care for antique kundan and polki jewellery: Expert tips to prevent tarnishingOTT releases this week (June 29-July 5): ‘Pritam and Pedro’, ‘Enola Holmes 3’, ‘Tavvai’, ‘Isakapatnam’ and more5 ways to fall in love with your life and feel alive again5 cutest fish in the ocean you’ll instantly love123Hot PicksIreland CoachKerala HSCAP third allotment listWeather tomorrowFIFA world cup 2026Ketan Agarwal murder caseMumbai monsoonFIFA World Cup Round of ScheduleUS Strike on IranVaibhav SooryavanshiTop TrendingRam Mandir Donation TheftSimone BilesNoida fireFIFA World Cup 2026CBSE Three language GuidelinesBengaluru TechieAnukalp MishraSergei IvanovMK StalinMumbai Local Train News

123456 Standing in a book-lined room at Le Cercle Littéraire in Kala Ghoda last week, Céline Malraux is trying to solve a family mystery.The French author never met her grandfather André Malraux, who died two years before she was born. Now, fifty years after the death of the celebrated novelist, Resistance fighter and France’s first culture minister, she is retracing a journey that took him from New Delhi to Elephanta caves and Ellora monuments, and beyond.”I yearn for a serendipitous moment where suddenly I get it,” she says. “His fascination with Indian mythology, how he felt when he first saw the Elephanta caves. I’d really like to see India through his eyes.”For many Indians, Malraux is now little more than a footnote. But when he travelled through the country at Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru’s invitation in 1958, he was one of the most influential Western voices arguing that Indian art and civilisation deserved to be viewed on the same terms as those of Greece and Rome.That fascination, Céline explains, stemmed from questions that occupied him throughout his life. “Malraux was deeply interested in the human condition: death, suffering, absurdity of life,” she says. “He thought the answer lay in spirituality, in finding the sacred within art.”But she is wary of reducing his relationship with India to a familiar Western search for enlightenment. “Malraux didn’t see India simply as a land of spiritual quest. He always believed the country could connect spirituality and action.”The connection feels unusually tangible in Mumbai. Le Cercle Littéraire, where Céline was on Friday, is a short ride from Gateway of India, where ferries leave for Elephanta. The caves were one of the stops on Malraux’s 1958 state visit to discuss cultural exchange. “Nehru didn’t want Malraux to meet ascetics and sages,” Céline says. “He wanted him to see the potential of modern India. And Malraux understood that.”His itinerary reflects that. Hosted by the prime minister, he visited not only Elephanta caves and the rock-cut complexes of Ellora, but also Bhakra Nangal dam, one of the great symbols of India’s post-independence ambition.She pauses before quoting him. “Malraux once said that India’s fate is inseparable from the fate of the world. He knew that India’s experiment, modern statehood built upon an ancient civilisation, had significance far beyond its borders.”The visit deepened a friendship that had begun more than two decades earlier. Nehru and Malraux first met in Paris in 1936 and then in 1958. They then remained in touch until Nehru’s death, through years that would transform both men into global figures.”My grandmother, who accompanied him on the India trip, told me that only a few people can meet after twenty years and continue the same conversation,” Céline says.It is, in many ways, an unlikely friendship. Nehru was a rationalist and moderniser. Malraux, though politically engaged, was drawn to religion, mythology and the spiritual questions he found reflected in texts such as the Bhagavad Gita.Malraux described Nehru as a man who remained at “an enigmatic distance from India”, and yet each saw something in the other. “There was a kind of brotherhood,” Céline says. “They shared the same values on freedom and human dignity.”Nehru travelled to France several times after that, and on one visit Malraux walked with him personally through his landmark 1960 exhibition, Treasures of India: 5,000 Years of Indian Art, a show that introduced countless Europeans to Indian sculpture and painting, and quietly rewrote how the West understands Indian civilisation.Yet despite all this, Malraux has largely faded from Indian memory. “There are so many people who are more influential in shaping India’s own history,” Céline says. “What he shared with India was a one-sided love affair,” she laughs.What she has not made peace with, and perhaps does not want to, is how relevant some of his battles still feel. Malraux first made his name as an anti-fascist intellectual during the Spanish Civil War, warning about the rise of fascism before many others recognised the threat.”Last year marked fifty years since Franco’s death, and I saw people celebrating him,” she says. “You see this everywhere, a nostalgia for fascism. It is the perfect moment to speak about people who dedicated their work and risked their lives to fight it.”Art, she says, remains part of that struggle. “He made a film about Spanish war. It was Top Gun of 1930s,” she says with a laugh. “Art can be political. Sometimes it needs to be. We are at a moment when artists are very aware of that. Malraux was too.”As the evening in Kala Ghoda draws to a close, the conversation keeps returning to India: to Elephanta, to Ellora, to the places she is still moving through.For Céline, this trip is not simply about commemorating a famous intellectual. It is about following a trail left by someone she never knew, through a country that never forgot what he saw, even if it forgot him. “I’d really like to see India through his eyes,” she says.Get the latest India news and live updates. Download the TOI App.About the AuthorAkshay BhagwatAkshay Bhagwat loves to read, write, sing and discuss politics. He believes in the power of the people. In his previous lives, he was a political consultant and an environmental researcher.Read MoreEnd of ArticleFollow Us On Social MediaVideosPM Modi To Skip Khamenei Funeral; Bihar Governor, MoS External Affairs To Represent India: Report’In 3 Or 6 Months’: Stalin Predicts Early Polls, Says Vijay-led TVK Govt May Not Last Full TermExplained: Why The Akal Takht Has Summoned 87 Sikh Legislators Over Punjab’s Anti-Sacrilege LawIndia’s First Integrated Battle Groups Explained: A New Era of Border Readiness32 Years After the Pact, Rajasthan Finally Set to Get Yamuna Water from HaryanaPM Modi’s Seychelles Visit: Why This Tiny Island Is Key to India’s Battle for the Indian OceanMumbai Muharram Poison Plot: Why Police Are Investigating the Iran-Iraq Angle?Nah Tribal Body Claims PLA Occupied Ancestral Land, China Built Roads and Camps in Arunachal PradeshSC Defers Urgent Hearing on Plea Seeking CBI Probe Into Alleged Ram Mandir Donation EmbezzlementPakistani National Apprehended Near LoC, Poonch, Second Cross-Border Intrusion Reported In 2 Days123PhotostoriesPsychology says people who don’t have many close friends may be more selective in love, and that’s not always a bad thing10 timeless baby girl names inspired by courageous women warriors in history4 secrets the happiest couples you meet are hiding from youVande Bharat routes under ₹1,500: From Goa to Kerala, these budget trips are worth every rupeeTaylor Swift’s best white gowns, ahead of her wedding with Travis Kelce: From ‘Folklore’ to ‘The Fate of Ophelia’PM Narendra Modi says “Chutney and Samosa reflect the shared heritage of India and Seychelles”: 6 traditional dishes that prove itHow to care for antique kundan and polki jewellery: Expert tips to prevent tarnishingOTT releases this week (June 29-July 5): ‘Pritam and Pedro’, ‘Enola Holmes 3’, ‘Tavvai’, ‘Isakapatnam’ and more5 ways to fall in love with your life and feel alive again5 cutest fish in the ocean you’ll instantly love123Hot PicksIreland CoachKerala HSCAP third allotment listWeather tomorrowFIFA world cup 2026Ketan Agarwal murder caseMumbai monsoonFIFA World Cup Round of ScheduleUS Strike on IranVaibhav SooryavanshiTop TrendingRam Mandir Donation TheftSimone BilesNoida fireFIFA World Cup 2026CBSE Three language GuidelinesBengaluru TechieAnukalp MishraSergei IvanovMK StalinMumbai Local Train News



Standing in a book-lined room at Le Cercle Littéraire in Kala Ghoda last week, Céline Malraux is trying to solve a family mystery.The French author never met her grandfather André Malraux, who died two years before she was born. Now, fifty years after the death of the celebrated novelist, Resistance fighter and France’s first culture minister, she is retracing a journey that took him from New Delhi to Elephanta caves and Ellora monuments, and beyond.“I yearn for a serendipitous moment where suddenly I get it,” she says. “His fascination with Indian mythology, how he felt when he first saw the Elephanta caves. I’d really like to see India through his eyes.”For many Indians, Malraux is now little more than a footnote. But when he travelled through the country at Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru’s invitation in 1958, he was one of the most influential Western voices arguing that Indian art and civilisation deserved to be viewed on the same terms as those of Greece and Rome.That fascination, Céline explains, stemmed from questions that occupied him throughout his life. “Malraux was deeply interested in the human condition: death, suffering, absurdity of life,” she says. “He thought the answer lay in spirituality, in finding the sacred within art.”But she is wary of reducing his relationship with India to a familiar Western search for enlightenment. “Malraux didn’t see India simply as a land of spiritual quest. He always believed the country could connect spirituality and action.”The connection feels unusually tangible in Mumbai. Le Cercle Littéraire, where Céline was on Friday, is a short ride from Gateway of India, where ferries leave for Elephanta. The caves were one of the stops on Malraux’s 1958 state visit to discuss cultural exchange. “Nehru didn’t want Malraux to meet ascetics and sages,” Céline says. “He wanted him to see the potential of modern India. And Malraux understood that.”His itinerary reflects that. Hosted by the prime minister, he visited not only Elephanta caves and the rock-cut complexes of Ellora, but also Bhakra Nangal dam, one of the great symbols of India’s post-independence ambition.She pauses before quoting him. “Malraux once said that India’s fate is inseparable from the fate of the world. He knew that India’s experiment, modern statehood built upon an ancient civilisation, had significance far beyond its borders.”The visit deepened a friendship that had begun more than two decades earlier. Nehru and Malraux first met in Paris in 1936 and then in 1958. They then remained in touch until Nehru’s death, through years that would transform both men into global figures.“My grandmother, who accompanied him on the India trip, told me that only a few people can meet after twenty years and continue the same conversation,” Céline says.It is, in many ways, an unlikely friendship. Nehru was a rationalist and moderniser. Malraux, though politically engaged, was drawn to religion, mythology and the spiritual questions he found reflected in texts such as the Bhagavad Gita.Malraux described Nehru as a man who remained at “an enigmatic distance from India”, and yet each saw something in the other. “There was a kind of brotherhood,” Céline says. “They shared the same values on freedom and human dignity.”Nehru travelled to France several times after that, and on one visit Malraux walked with him personally through his landmark 1960 exhibition, Treasures of India: 5,000 Years of Indian Art, a show that introduced countless Europeans to Indian sculpture and painting, and quietly rewrote how the West understands Indian civilisation.Yet despite all this, Malraux has largely faded from Indian memory. “There are so many people who are more influential in shaping India’s own history,” Céline says. “What he shared with India was a one-sided love affair,” she laughs.What she has not made peace with, and perhaps does not want to, is how relevant some of his battles still feel. Malraux first made his name as an anti-fascist intellectual during the Spanish Civil War, warning about the rise of fascism before many others recognised the threat.“Last year marked fifty years since Franco’s death, and I saw people celebrating him,” she says. “You see this everywhere, a nostalgia for fascism. It is the perfect moment to speak about people who dedicated their work and risked their lives to fight it.”Art, she says, remains part of that struggle. “He made a film about Spanish war. It was Top Gun of 1930s,” she says with a laugh. “Art can be political. Sometimes it needs to be. We are at a moment when artists are very aware of that. Malraux was too.”As the evening in Kala Ghoda draws to a close, the conversation keeps returning to India: to Elephanta, to Ellora, to the places she is still moving through.For Céline, this trip is not simply about commemorating a famous intellectual. It is about following a trail left by someone she never knew, through a country that never forgot what he saw, even if it forgot him. “I’d really like to see India through his eyes,” she says.



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