The Embassy in India, in collaboration with the Leo Tolstoy Museum and Estate and the Institute of Oriental Studies organized a day long Exhibition and Academic Conference dedicated to the deep friendship between Mahatma Gandhi and Leo Tolstoy, at the Tolstoy Estate in Yasna Polyana on 28 September 2019. This was done as part of the series of commemorative events being organized by the Embassy since October 2018 to celebrate Gandhi’s 150th birth anniversary, as well as the year long joint celebrations of the 200th Anniversary of the Institute of Oriental Studies.
The event was inaugurated by the Honorable Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Mr. Prakash Javadekar, who was in Moscow to attend the SCO Ministerial Meeting the previous day, along with Ambassador of India to the Russian Federation, DB Venkatesh Varma, and Ms. Ekaterina Tolstoy, Director of the Tolstoy Estate and granddaughter-in-law of Leo Tolstoy. Other dignitaries from the Tula regional government like Ms. Olga Gremyakova, the Deputy Head of the government, Ms. Tatyana Rybkina, Minister of Culture of the region and Ms. Natalia Pilyus, Deputy in the Russian State Duma from Tula also attended the event. The exhibition, titled “Tolstoy-Gandhi: The story of personal transformations across continents bound by the infinite possibilities of universal love”, was curated by the renowned Gandhi scholar, Mr. Birad Rajaram Yajnik, and comprised of a set of panels showcasing the correspondence between the two. The entire exhibition is also available in a digital format in both Russian and English, and includes audio and visual content which can be downloaded on the phone.
The Academic Conference was inaugurated by the Minister followed by an address by the Deputy Director of the Institute of Oriental Studies, Dr. Alikber Alikberov, who spoke of the relevance of an exploratory seminar of this nature in today’s world, especially against the dynamic nature of the Indo-Russian relationship that has “acquired new dimensions” over the past few years. The conference boasted of an impressive panel of speakers including well known Indologists such as Dr. Tatiana Shaumyan, Dr. Zagordnikova and Dr. Sergey Serebryany. A total of 35 scholars from leading Russian institutions including IOS, the Moscow State University, Institute of Philosophy of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Moscow State University for International Relations (MGIMO) attended the conference. Dr. Shobhana Radhakrishna, Gandhi scholar and activist who visited Moscow last month for a lecture series, and Dr. Girish Mujal from Delhi University, also participated via video conference. A large group of young Russian and Indian students also attended the conference and a special session titled “Are Gandhi and Tolstoy relevant in the 21st century?” comprising of young scholars was held, evoking much interest from the audience.
