Prague, Feb 11 (IANS): India's Ambassador to the Czech Republic, Ravish Kumar visited Oriental Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic in Prague to meet officials doing research in Indology.
"Founded in 1922, Oriental Institute is one of Europe's oldest institutions with research in Indology," the Embassy of India in Prague posted on X, detailing the Ambassador's visit and interaction with the institute's Director Tana Dluhosova.
The Department of South Asia (DSA) at the institute focuses on the study of culture, history, society, religions, languages and literatures of South and Southeast Asia. The focus is also specially paid on Indology, a study of Indian history, culture, languages and literature.
India's relations with former Czechoslovakia and present Czech Republic have always been warm, friendly with a historical connection dating back to the medieval times.
Indology has a very old tradition in Prague, starting with the establishment of a Chair in Sanskrit in the prestigious Charles University in the 1850s. Indian languages like Hindi, Bengali, and Tamil are currently taught in the University.
Indian and Czech educational institutions are also working on several exchange programmes, particularly technical universities and medical colleges.
In January 2020, the Czech Foreign Minister announced an expansion in quota for fast track visas for highly skilled/professionals from India. In addition, the Czech Government has agreed to strengthen the preferential regime through 'Project Student' as a special arrangement to facilitate movement of Indian students and researchers.
In 2018, the then President of India, Ram Nath Kovind, attended a roundtable discussion of Indologists at Charles University in Prague. While addressing the event he said, "Indology has not just brought our two countries together. It has had an enormous impact in the making of Modern India. It rediscovered India's rich past and triggered a cultural awakening. It enabled India to imbibe and assimilate modernity without letting go of its cultural roots".
"From Vidyasagar to Vivekananda and from Tagore to Mahatma Gandhi, one finds that the socio-cultural modernisation of India was built upon a foundation that emphasised an organic synthesis of the eastern and western thought. I am happy to learn that Yoga and Ayurveda have been receiving overwhelming support and interest in the Czech Republic," he added.