“Tamil has the gravity of expression that is not present in any other language. Coming to Tamil Nadu is like returning home” said Alexander Dubianskiy, a Tamil Scholar from Moscow State University.
Dr. Dubianskiy is part of the Russian delegation that will be participating in the World Classical Tamil Conference. He was addressing media persons at the Russian Centre of Science and Culture here on Monday.
He first came to India in 1978, and had pursued research in Tamil at the University of Madras for nine months.
He has more than 100 publications to his credit which include a translation of classical Tamil poetry into Russian, and a book in Russian on Tamil poetry.
He has written essays on Tholkappiyam and Silapathikaram which he expects to publish soon.
On the need to foster better ties between India and Russia, Vladimir V. Mariy, Director of Russian Centre of Science and Culture, talked about reducing the barriers of language and culture by increasing interaction and exchange between both countries.
“Our great leaders were good friends with the Soviet Union, and our friendship with Russia symbolises the age-old relationship,” said D. Jayakanthan, writer and founder chairman, Indo-Russian Cultural and Friendship Society.
P. Thangappan, Secretary General, Indo-Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industries, called for developing co-operation in arts and education between two countries by intensifying inter-university collaboration and promoting Russian language and culture.
He added that Russian would be taught in 10 colleges across Tamil Nadu this year. Video conferencing sessions would also be hosted at the Russian Centre of Science and Culture here to enable students of Tamil in Moscow to have access to the lectures of Tamil scholars.
V. M. Lakshminarayan, Chairman, Indo-Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industries, and Tatiana Perova, Director of Russian Language Institute were also present during the media interaction.
