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A renowned Lithuanian textile artist and professor at the Kaunas Faculty of the Vilnius Art Academy Laima Oržekauskienė presented her piece of performance art at New Delhi’s Sanskriti Kendra this Sunday (December 13).

The spectators, including the Embassy staff, were invited to hand copy the sacred text of the Upanishads in Lithuanian and Sanskrit on the pieces of tailor-made tapestry, which will later be stitched into a single cloth, thus celebrating the common roots of the two languages.

“A brilliant form of meditation, which also serves as a great reminder of the profound linguistic relationship that exists between India and Lithuania,” said Lithuanian Ambassador to India Laimonas Talat-Kelpša.

Professor Jaykumar Upadhya of Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri Rashtriya Sanskrit Vidyapeetha was so fascinated with the project that during his writing he also recited a few verses from the Upanishads in Sanskrit.

The entire performance was video recorded and the footage will constitute an integral part of the project.

Laima Oržekauskienė has earned fame in Lithuania and abroad thanks to her original creative approach to weaving techniques which results in textile materials of flabbergasting visual and tactile characteristics.

The 2005 laureate of the National Arts and Culture Award, Oržekauskienė actively participates in international exhibitions and has already visited India three times. She always stays at Sanskriti Kendra during her visits.

The Lithuanian translation of the Upanishads directly from Sanskrit was produced by Professor Audrius Beinorius of Vilnius University and published in 2013.