Lithuania envoy explores linguistic connections between Sanskrit, Lithuanian
Oct 23, 2023
New Delhi [India], October 23 : In a concerted effort to strengthen the cultural and linguistic bonds between India and Lithuania, a Lithuanian Sanskrit scholar, Vytis Vidunas, and Ambassador of Lithuania to India, Diana Mickeviciene, have embarked on a mission to explore the deep-rooted linguistic connections between Sanskrit and the Lithuanian language.
Speaking on the importance of recognising the profound link between these two languages, Ambassador Diana Mickeviciene told ANI that Lithuanian, as the "closest living sister language to Sanskrit," serves as a unique bridge between the two peoples.
The Lithuanian embassy has taken a proactive role in fostering this connection, organising a series of lectures by Sanskrit scholar Vytis Vidunas to unveil the intriguing similarities shared by the languages. These parallels extend beyond mere vocabulary, encompassing grammatical structure as well. This revelation seeks to increase awareness and drive further research on this under-explored linguistic connection, engaging both Indian and Lithuanian scholars, said Mickeviciene.
"The first idea is to increase awareness about this, but the second motive is to call out for more cooperation, to research this connection more, because it's been under-researched and I think it will be very interesting to both Indian and Lithuanian Scholars..." she added.
Lithuanian Sanskrit Scholar Vytis Vidunas further elaborated on the common linguistic heritage, saying, "We want to make some ties between Lithuania and India because we have had many common features in the past."
Vidunas drew attention to the similarities, especially in words and grammatical structures, between Sanskrit and Lithuanian.
"We have the Lithuanian language and India has Sanskrit, and they have close connections and links, especially words, and grammatical structures. Today I will try to speak about these similarities and introduce Indians with these similarities," he said.
He also mentioned having published a dictionary containing 108 words that "directly correspond to early Sanskrit and Lithuanian," highlighting the potential for further exploration in this linguistic realm.
The efforts initiated by Vidunas and Ambassador Mickeviciene aim to establish and deepen cultural connections between the India and Lithuania.
The lecture held is the twelfth in a series of lectures "Kriti-SAMHiTA: The Plurality of Indian Knowledge Systems", organised in collaboration with IIC-International Research Division with support of the Ministry of External Affairs of India, and was chaired by Prof Dr Shashi Bala, Dean Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan's KM Munshi Centre for Indology.
