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The Indian Council for Cultural Relations, the Foundation for Hellenic
Culture and the Embassy of Greece, New Delhi in cooperation with
the India International Center organized a Symposium "
India - Greece: 2500 years of Cultural Exchanges" in New
Delhi from 25th March to 2nd April, 1995.
The symposium was welcomed by a message from the Vice - President of
India Mr. K.R. Narayanan who praised the long Indo-Greek history
with the following words: " Since time immemorial the
interaction between these two civilizations have enriched the
heritage of the two countries and the world as a whole. The
extent and depth of this cultural and philosophical interaction
deserves to be pursued through scholarship in our own time and
the people made aware of the spiritual kinship between the
Indian and Greek civilizations."
The Inauguration started with a welcome speech by Shri Vasant Sathe,
President, ICCR and followed by the addresses of HE. Ambassador
Mr. Emmanuel Megalokonomos, Secretary - General, Foundation for
Hellenic Culture, HE. Dr. Constantine Ailianos, Ambassador of
Greece to India, Dr.(Smt) Kapila Vatsyayan, Vice - President,
ICCR, Km. Selja, Dy Minister for Human Resource Development and
ended with a vote of thanks by Sri Shiv Shankar Mukerjee,
Director General, ICCR.
The following day, Mr. E. Alkazi directed a performance of the Hindustani
version of three ancient Greek dramas presented together as a
trilogy; "Iphigenia in Aulis" by Euripides,
"Agamemnon" by Aeschylus and "Electra" by
Sophocles. The dramas were performed by the senior students of
the Living Theatre Company in New Delhi.
On the 27th of March, Prof. Lambros Liavas, Shri Komai Kothali, and Mr.
Yannis Manolidakis delivered lectures and slide projections on
the " Interaction between Greek and Indian folk
music". The
lectures were followed by an evening of recitation. Greek
actress Mrs. Reni Pittaki and Indian artists and poets recited
translations of the poems of Kavafis, Seferis and Elites. Mrs.
Pittaki closed the evening with the performance of a monologue
from ancient Greek drama.
The next day, Prof. Spyros Marketos delivered a lecture with slides on
"The prophetic messages of the Hellenic (Hippocratic )
medicine at the turn of the 20th century."
Prof. Hakim A.J. Khan gave us an elaborate description of
the Yiounani medicines which originated and are based upon the
principles of the Hippocratic medicines. Both the speakers
decided to initiate cooperation between Greek and Indian
scientists for further research in this field.
The two days that followed were filled with lectures and slide
projections on the interaction between ancient Greece and India
in the fields of philosophy, mythology, religion, archaeology,
numismatics etc. The former ambassador to India, Mr.
Velissaropoulos, spoke on the absence of any evidence that Greek
and Indian Philosophies influenced each other and presented the
view that both philosophies developed at the same time
independently. Two eminent scholars from the Banaras Hindu
University, Prof. S.S. Mishra, Head Dept. of Linguistics and
Prof. K.N. Mishra, ex-head Dept. of Philosophy & Religion
delivered lectures on " Parallel linguistic development of
Indo - Aryan and Greek and their mutual contact." and
" Parallels in Indian and Greek theosophical ideas."
respectively. Prof. U.P. Arora from Bareilly University shared
his remarks in most fields of interaction between the two
civilizations. The late professor of numismatics B.N. Mukherjee
from Calcutta University, gave the concluding remarks.
The last session was dedicated to Greek and Indian drama. Prof. Yannis
Andreadis and Dr. Bharat Gupt spoke on the "Tragic creation
in ancient Greece and India" and "Aristotles' poetics
and Natyasastra: similarities and differences"
respectively. The lectures were followed by a round table
discussion on the relation between ancient Greek and Indian
theater.
During the whole program parallel events were taking place, including the
screening of Greek films and exhibitions of paintings,
engravings, sculptures and silk - prints by Indian and Greek
artists. On the last night of the symposium an ensemble of Greek
folk music presented folk songs and music from various regions
of Greece. The program reached its peak with a joint
presentation of songs and
music performed by Greek and Rajasthani musicians and directed
by the ethnomusicolosist, Yannis Manolidakis.
The symposium was a well organized event clearly perpetuating the 2500
years of cultural relations
between the two countries and was regarded as a
successful initiatory step, something which needs to be
developed, expanded and built on. The attending scholars
expressed interest to further initiate joint projects in the
fields of music,
medicine, theater, art, philosophy, history, archaeology,
linguistics, literature etc.
(First Published in
"The Academy of Banaras Newsletter", Varanasi, 1995).
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