KazNU discussed topical issues of Indology

Al-Farabi Kazakh National University held an international scientific-practical conference on "The present and future of Indology in Eurasia and India", dedicated to the 25th anniversary of the opening of the Hindi department at the Faculty of Oriental Studies.

The large-scale event is organized by KazNU together with the Embassy of India in Kazakhstan.

In the events organized in the framework of the 90th anniversary of the university were attended by: Chairman of the Board - Rector of Al-Farabi KazNU Zhanseit Tuimebaev, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of India to Kazakhstan Nagendra Prasad, Secretary of the Translation Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Government of India Shri Ravindra Jaiswal.
The conference was also attended by: a member of the Central Committee of Hindi under the Prime Minister of India, Professor Yarlagadda Lakshmi Prasad, Director of the Central Institute of Hindi Baburao Kulkarni, Hindi teachers from Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Belarus, scientists and experts, faculty of the university.
Rector of KazNU Zhanseit Tuimebaev opened the event, emphasizing the importance of cooperation between Kazakhstan and India.

"Diplomatic relations have been established between Kazakhstan and India since February 22, 1992. Today, new ties are being established between the two states in the field of science, education, culture, IT and engineering training. KazNU maintains ties with nine universities and scientific organizations in India. Kazakh National University named after Al-Farabi is the only national university in India. Al-Farabi Kazakh National University is the only domestic university that trains specialists in Hindology. The Hindi department at the Faculty of Oriental Studies was opened in September 1998. Since then, about 200 Indian scientists have received education and today work in various branches of our country. A Kazakh-Hindi and Hindi-Kazakh dictionary, a course of lectures on Indian literature, a methodology of teaching Hindi have been developed. In KazNU for students of Hindi department all opportunities for professional education have been created", - said the rector.

In turn, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of India to Kazakhstan Nagendra Prasad noted that interest in Hindi in the world is growing day by day.
"I express my great gratitude to the management and staff of the university, which is holding such an international event for the first time. Hindi is one of the most commonly used languages worldwide after English and Chinese. More than 600 million people speak this language. Therefore, we are happy that nowadays more and more people want to learn Hindi," the Ambassador said.

During the conference Sri Ravindra Jaiswal noted: "The initiative to publish Kazakh-Hindi and Hindi-Kazakh dictionary belongs to the scientists of KazNU. A dictionary of the same name was published in 2016. This collection contributes to the development of the two languages. There are more than 200 common words in Kazakh and Hindi. This shows that the two nations are close".
Experts and scholars from Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Belarus made presentations at the event and spoke about the progress of Indo-European language research being conducted in Central Asia.
The work of the conference continued in the framework of breakout sessions.

Press-service of Al-Farabi Kazakh National University