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On July 22 in Rusnė (Lithuania), with participation of H.E. Ms. Diana Mickevičienė, Ambassador of the Republic of Lithuania to India, an annual award „ For the Merit to the Friendship between Lithuania and India“ was presented to Lithuanian Sanskrit Scholar and lecturer at the Vilnius University, Institute of Asian and Transcultural Studies, prof. Vytis Vidūnas.

The award was conferred for the longstanding research of the connections between the Lithuanian and Sanskrit languages. The most prominent symbol of this research became the „Sanskrit-Lithuanian String“ dictionary, published in 2016, which consists of 108 common origin words, easily recognized by the modern people of Lithuania and India. For example: madhu – medus (honey), agnis – ugnis (fire), svapna – sapnas (dream), devas – dievas (god), and many others.

Ambassador Diana Mickevičienė while introducing the awardee, said that the dictionary compiled by prof. V. Vydūnas became an important tool of Lithuanian cultural diplomacy, which opens the doors for Lithuania to the Indian institutions and the hearts of the Indian people. On the basis of this dictionary the Embassy continues the diplomacy of linguistic connections, for example, the recent Lithuanian – Sanskrit street art project in Delhi.

The dictionary was received in India with big interest, and already published for the 3rd time. Last year during his visit to India, the Lithuanian Foreign Affairs Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis presented the copy of the „Sanskrit – Lithuanian Mala“ to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The author of the dictionary dedicated it to the renowned Lithuanian traveler Antanas Poška, who in the beginning of the 20th century traveled by motorcycle from Lithuania to India, and became the reference point for the several generations of Lithuanians, interested in the orientalism.

This year for the first time the ceremony was attended by the Charge d‘Affaires of the new Indian Embassy being set up in Vilnius, Mr. Subrata Maity. Also attending the event were the  Mayor of Šilutė Municipality Vytautas Laurinaitis, former Ambassador of Lithuania to India, currently ambassador of Lithuania to the Czech Republic, Laimonas Talat-Kelpša with wife Alina, the Ambassador of Israel Hadas Wittenberg Silverstein, the British High Commissioner Brian Olley, Head of Jewish (Litvak) community of Lithuania Faina Kukliansky, and many other honorable guests.

After the solemn award ceremony the celebrity traveler and publicist Vytaras Radzevičius shared the stories of his travels in India with the abundant audience, the evening was anchored by the famous Edita Mildažytė, by whom India was also visited a number of times.

The award „For the Merit to the friendship between Lithuania and India“ is being conferred in Rusnė from 2019. The awardees list includes the former Honorary Consul of India in Lithuania Rajinder Chaudhary, teacher and public figure Vytautas Toleikis, Israeli scholar and researcher of Hermann Kallenbach Dr. Shimon Lev, the Community of Rusnė.

In 2015 the statue of Mahatma Gandhi and his close associate, Rusnė born Herman Kallenabach was unveiled. The monument by the Lithuanian artist Romualdas Kvintas pays tribute to the friendship between the people and the nations.

Photo credit: Rusnė municipality.