Prominent Russian scholar to address International Gita Mahotsav in Kurukshetra

Moscow, Nov 22 (PTI) Prominent Russian scholar of Sanskrit and Indian philosophy Dr Marcis Gasuns will be one of the speakers at the International Gita Mahotsav in India's Kurukshetra next week.

Born in Soviet Latvia, 42-year old Gasuns, who is the founder of the Sanskrit Zealots' Society of Russia, belongs to a new generation of Russian Indologists.

In an online interaction with PTI on the eve of his departure to India for a 10-day visit, Gasuns said he is also scheduled to present a paper at the 'International Conference on Dharma and Global Ethics: Insights from Bhāratīya Śāstra Paramparā' organised by Nalanda University.

He will present another paper at the International Ganga Sangam Conference in Haridwar hosted by Uttarakhand Sanskrit University, he said.

The Indologist said by the age of 13, he had thoroughly read several editions of Bhagavad Gita and around the same time, came across Nobel winner Rabindranath Tagore's narrations about Kabir.

“At the age of 18, I even translated a few Kabir couplets in the Lettish (language of Latvia) which were published in a magazine in Riga,” Gusnas said.

Actually it was Kabir who brought him to study Sanskrit, the expert added.

“When in 2002, I had the desire to translate Kabir from its original Braj Bhasha, I thought it was not a smart idea to study a medieval Indian language without learning its ancestor, Sanskrit,” Gasuns shared.

He runs a website of Sanskrit Zealots (www.samsakratm.ru) and has authored more than 20 books under the series “Bibliotheca Sanscritica.” The Russian Sanskrit scholar attracts online and offline learners of Sanskrit with a catchy phrase: “They Don’t Speak Latin in Heaven - Learn Sanskrit!” PTI VS NPK NPK