International Events · The eminent poet of India, Rabindranath Tagore – celebrating this year...

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Contents

Bilateral .............................................................................................................................. 9

Hungarian Section ............................................................................................................ 13

Indo-Hungarian Cultural Relations ................................................................................. 18

Indian Cultural Centre ...................................................................................................... 23

Science and Technology .................................................................................................. 24

Economic and Commercial Relations ............................................................................ 25

Art ....................................................................................................................................... 29

Biography: Mahatma Gandhi .......................................................................................... 33

Biography: Ervin Baktay .................................................................................................. 36

Children Corner ................................................................................................................ 38

100 Years of Indian Cinema ............................................................................................. 39

Hindi Section ..................................................................................................................... 41

Photo Gallery .................................................................................................................... 43

11 39

AMRITVol. 1 Issue 1

Bi-monthly Journal of the Ambassador of India to Hungary

Editor in ChiefMalay Mishra

EditorUmesh Kumar

Support teamEszter BerkiAndrás HavasMariann OroszKrisztina Szabó

ContributorsMalay MishraSushil SinghalUmesh KumarDr Vera GáthyRama YadavDr Györgyi VajdovichKatalin KeserüCsilla KőfalviGéza BethlenfalvyDr Csaba KissMaria Negyesi

Cover and Design and LayoutINDIA EMPIRE Publication

Printed byINDIA EMPIRE PublicationsN 126, II Floor, Greater Kailash-I,New Delhi – 110 048, India.M: +91-9899117477Tel: +91-11-29231515

Amrit is a bi-monthly journalpublished by the Embassy ofIndia, Hungary. It is also avail-able online on the Mission’swebsite www.indianembassy.hu

The views expressed are thoseof the author and not necessar-ily of the Embassy of India,Hungary.

Reproduction in any mannerwithout prior permission of theEmbassy is prohibited.

september-OctOber 2013 | amrit | 3

From the Ambassador’s Desk

Dear Reader,

As I put my pen to paper, here inthis magical environs of Budapest,yet another sojourn awaits me, thistime in the name of ‘Amrit’. And thusmy third episode as diplomat-journal-ist takes shape.

‘Amrit’ to us is a doublenym –one, it means nectar, that which isassociated with the Puranic story of“Samudra manthan”, churning of theoceans, when the Gods and Demonswere both vying for Amrit from thebowels of the ocean; and two, namein feminine associated with one ofthe most legendary painters of modern India, Amrita Sher-Gil. Amritaclaimed parentage from both India and Hungary, possibly the finest repre-sentation of the Indo-Hungarian connect in its collective DNA. Of course,the connection goes back about 500 years in recorded history, when in 1538the first Hungarian Indologist, György Huszti paid a visit to India in searchof ancient knowledge. Since then, stellar names like Alexander Csoma deKoros, Sir Aurel Stein, Ervin Baktay and Elizabeth Sass Brunner (mother-daughter painters) have graced our land and contributed handsomely tounderstanding various aspects of India’s culture and composite heritage.

It is indeed a wonderful coincidence that Amrita Sher-Gil was born in1913 in Lahore, in then undivided India. This year is being observed as herbirth centenary and is jointly elaborated by both sides, dotted with numer-ous activities bringing out her remarkable collective talents in no uncertainmeasure. In fact, UNESCO has inaugurated an exhibition of her paintingsin Paris and we in the Mission finished a month long exhibition on her,thanks to the Indian Council for Cultural Relations, the National Museumof Modern Art, the Ministry of Culture and of course, the untiring effortsof my predecessor, Shri Gauri Shankar Gupta. The event was inauguratedby the visiting External Affairs Minister of India, Shri Salman Khurshid atthe wonderful lakeside resort of Balatonfüred. Incidentally, Balaton is thelargest body of inland water in Europe, not only for its alluring waters butalso for the plethora of thermal springs which virtually ring the lake andprovide relaxation and rest to many tourists, domestic as well as overseas.

It was in the wintery months of October – November, 1926, October-end to be precise, that one of the most celebrated Indians of all times arrivedin Balatonfüred. A person who had taken creativity to glorious heights thatstill remains unsurpassed in India, the Nobel Prize for literature for the firstever Asian in 1913 was one of the many features in his prolific cap over a

Malay Mishra

Ambassador

embassy of india, Hungary

chequered life of eighty years. That was Rabindranath Tagore, “Gurudev”, as all Indians would rever-entially know him after yet another iconic global Indian Mahatma Gandhi who would address him thusduring his second meeting with the great bard in Santiniketan, the place of learning which the latterhad created and nurtured all his life. Tagore spent a little over three weeks in the lakeside resort wherethe most famous cardiac hospital Állami Szívkórház welcomed him for rest and recuperation.

It was ominous times for Europe, just recovering from the First World War in human historywhich had irreparably broken down nations, pitting one against the other over the debris of mind-less lives lost and innumerable properties destroyed, for ever. Yet war clouds seemed to be lumber-ing again. It was an uneasy peace brought forth by machination of the dominant powers in the formof complicated alliances and tragic partition through forced diplomatic solutions. Hungary had seenher territory truncated by nearly two thirds by the Treaty of Trianon signed in 1920, and could neverrecover her borders or ethnicities back again. Europe was sitting on the edge of yet another WorldWar of monstrous proportions. Against this backdrop, Tagore, the greatest poet of Bengal, wrote

When I am no longer, On this earth, my treeLet the ever-renewed, Leaves and thy spring

Murmur to the wayfahrer, The Poet did love while he lived.(8 November 1926)

Lines which have been translated into Hungarian and find engraved on the plaque in front of a beau-tiful tree, which he had himself planted, now forms part of a lovely promenade dotted with a variety oftrees planted by Indian and Hungarian dignitaries alike. Also framed on the walls of the nursing roomof the cardiac hospital which had nursed him back to health after a severe bout of exhaustion are:

Hungary, though hast offered welcome to him, Who travelled here from a distant home

And offered shelter when he was weary and weak, And thou hast accepted him who was a stranger

The separation of distance will never separate him.

Reflections of a gratitudinous mind, the age old connect between our two peoples had foundrenewed vitality.

And now, in our very own times, when our bilateral relations have been steady all through theupheavals which Hungary had seen since the end of the Second World War, comes a dynamic andcharismatic leader in this country, in the person of Viktor Orbán making his first foray into India, areinforced assertion of the ruling Fidesz party’s ‘Eastern Opening’ strategy. The stakes are high fromboth sides and the ground, more than salubrious. Naturally expectations would give way to severalconcrete outcomes. The thrust of the visit, to encourage more trade and investment flows fromeither side, would find greater traction during and after this momentous event.

We have, therefore, decided to light a lamp for the visit with renewed vigour in our hearts. Andthus is born ‘Amrit’, our bi-monthly tri-lingual journal.

Wishes galore,

Malay Mishra

4 | amrit | september-OctOber 2013

september-OctOber 2013 | amrit | 5embassy of india, Hungary

H.E. Viktor Orbán

Prime Minister of Hungary

Place and Date of Birth: Born in Alcsútdoboz, 31 May, 1963.Married with five children.

Professional experience: He joined politics in 1988, he was afounding member of the Alliance of Young Democrats (Fidesz).Member of the delegation to the Opposition Roundtable in 1989.He was the Chairman of Fidesz in 1993. He was elected PrimeMinister in 1998 as part of a coalition until 2002. He was award-ed the Freedom Award of the American Enterprise Institute andthe New Atlantic Initiative, Franz-Josef Strauß award granted bythe Hanns Seidel Foundation in 2001. In 2002 Vice-chairman ofthe European People's Party, and the following year Chairman ofFidesz – Hungarian Civic Union. He got honorary citizenshipfrom Esztergom in 2006. He has been the Prime Minister ofHungary since 2010.

Academic Qualification: Eötvös Loránd University ofBudapest at the Faculty of Law (1987).

Message of H.E. Hungarian

Foreign Minister Dr János Martonyi

embassy of india, Hungary6 | amrit | september-OctOber 2013

In the 21st century every sixth human beingwill be Indian. Today the Indian diaspora, after theChinese one, is the second largest in the world.Indian communities in different countries aregrowing and increasingly affluent presence all overthe world. In the forthcoming decades India islikely to emerge as the second largest consumermarket in the world, with a buying middle classnumbering over half a billion. The Indian econo-my is already the fourth largest in terms of pur-chasing power parity, it is in the top ten in overallgross national product. India is the world’s largestdemocracy, a nuclear power, a member of the G20global political formation, convinced of its rightto be seated with the permanent members of theUN Security Council. Moreover, significantchanges are sweeping across the Indian subconti-nent with direct effect on the global economy andinternational politics. With more degree holdersthan the entire population of France, for example,India is finding new recognition in the field ofmodern sciences and in particular in informationtechnology.

These are just a few, rather obvious reasonsthat justify the fact for India becoming a key seg-ment of European as well as Hungarian foreignpolitical thinking. The economic achievements andpotentials, as well as the growing political signifi-cance of the Asia-Pacific in general and India inparticular with her increasing role in global securi-ty measures oblige Hungary to consider India astrategic partner, with whom we closely co-operatenot only in economic, commercial and financial

fields but on foreign and security policy andhuman development issues as well, both bilateral-ly and in the international fora alike.

The partnership and our traditionally close andfriendly ties between Hungary and India, howeverhave much deeper roots planted in a unique rela-tionship that has been developed over the cen-turies. During this period of time a diverse cultur-al and emotional relation has been formedbetween the two countries. The immense culturaland spiritual heritage of India has always been animportant source of inspiration for Hungarianintellectuals. The mysterious and far away land ofIndia have fascinated the minds of numerousHungarian artists and scientists for more than twocenturies. The subcontinent became the leadingcourse for Hungarian Orientalism. Researcherslooking for the origins of Hungarians such asSándor Kőrösi Csoma (or Alexander Csoma deKőrös, as he was known in India), father of mod-ern Tibetology, alongside Ármin Vámbéry andAurél Stein became acclaimed part of the univer-sal History of Art. Between the First and SecondWorld War the outstanding personalities of ErvinBaktay, Károly Fábry and József Schmidt con-tributed significantly to the introduction of Indianart and thoughts to the Hungarian audience, whilethe essays of Gyula Germanus and the traveloguesof Ferenc Gáspár and Zsigmond Széchenyi arerightly popular works even today.

Many Hungarian artists have played importantroles among the significant personalities of Indian


contemporary art as well. The paintings ofErzsébet (Elizabeth) Sass Brunner and her daugh-ter, Erzsébet (Elizabeth) Brunner, who settleddown in India in the 1930s, are the common treas-ures of Hungary and India just like the outstandinglegacy of the early departed Hungarian-Indianpainter, Amrita Sher-Gil.

The eminent poet of India, RabindranathTagore – celebrating this year the centenary of hisNobel-prize – must be mentioned as well, who him-self made seminal contribution in bringing our peo-ples together. Tagore’s past visit in Hungary and thetime he spent in Balatonfüred is considered an out-standing event of the Hungarian intellectual life ofthe early 20th century.

Guarding the mutual traditions is an importantresponsibility of the posterity. The foundations ofthe ever flourishing cultural relations and scientificco-operation between our countries, being one ofthe most successful segments of our multifacetedrelationship, were established by scientists exploringIndia and artists working in the country. The her-itage of eminent personalities is an obligation forthe new generations to walk in their footsteps.

Last year we commemorated the 170th anniver-sary of Alexander Csoma de Kőrös’s death with theinauguration of a traditional memorial pillar, a kop-jafa from his homeland, Transylvania. A street wasalso named after him in Darjeeling where he wasburied. With the help of Hungarian and Indianauthorities his former room in the Asiatic Society ofCalcutta and his tomb were equally renovated. Thelatter has become a pilgrimage site for Hungariansvisiting India. This year is also special as we cele-brate the centenary of the birth of India’sBudapest-born eminent painter, Amrita Sher-Gil,niece of the famous Indologist, Ervin Baktay. It isto our great satisfaction that the town ofBalatonfüred, which has become a prominent venuefor the events of Indo-Hungarian friendship, host-ed during this summer a representative centennialexhibition of her amazing artworks, inaugurated bythe visiting Indian External Affairs Minister, ShriSalman Khurshid.

While thinking of the past we must also look at the

future of our ever developing bilateral partnership.The political and economic changes in 1990 opened anew chapter in the Indo-Hungarian relations. Thegrowing economic and political potential of Indiaclearly indicates its place as a cornerstone in the Asianstrategy of Hungary. The shared fundamental valueslike democratic principles and the rule of law com-bined with the long and rich history of cultural andeconomic ties provide us with an exceptionally solidbasis to build excellent bilateral partnership.

Hungarian foreign policy with its newly rein-forced global outlook pays special attention to theAsia-Pacific region considering a number of Asiancountries as strategic partners. Besides traditionalrelationships with our neighbours and Euro-Atlanticallies, the development of good relations and mutu-ally beneficial cooperation with our Asian partners isamong the top priorities of the HungarianGovernment. As member of the European Union,Hungary also intends to contribute to the overallEuropean engagement towards Asia.

India possesses the required political weight aswell as the necessary economic and militarystrength to be a positive, significant, stabilizingmember of the international community. Hungaryappreciates India’s growing international activity.Hungary views India as a global player with a spe-cial local balancing role in the picture of the regiontaking shape now. India might be the keel to thetempest-blown boat in the ocean. We are also con-vinced that India deserves the permanent member-ship in the UN Security Council and we supportthis Indian ambition.

Our relationship with the countries of the Asianregion is based on shared interests in developingbilateral co-operation and mutual aim of joiningour efforts to tackle together the global challengesof our time. The ‘Eastern Opening’ policy of ourforeign relations focuses mainly on those partnersin Asia with whom we share common values andaspirations, and who are ready for a mutually bene-ficial and long term economic and trade coopera-tion with Hungary. India holds special importancein this regard.

Our two countries are working closely in various


international and regional fora. We coordinate ourviews regularly on various global issues affectinghumanity today. Several agreements have beensigned to promote bilateral collaboration in the fieldsof trade, investments, agriculture, health and science& technology.

Recent years have witnessed rapid upgrading ofour economic cooperation. Bilateral trade betweenour countries has increased significantly and reached800 million US dollars, an all-time high, yet still belowtheir potential. While there are a number ofHungarian investments in India already, Indian invest-ments in Hungary are estimated in the range of 1,3billion US dollars, providing employment to over 8000Hungarian people. We would welcome further invest-ments of Indian companies in Hungary, particularly inthe sectors of IT/ICT, pharmaceuticals, biotechnolo-gy, regional service and Research and Development(R&D) centres as well as tourism. We proposeHungary as an ideal location for the Indian companiesto set up their shared service centres. Hungary with itshighly developed infrastructural network, moderntransportation system, competitive real estate marketand highly educated and motivated labour force couldbe an ideal regional basis for the Indian companieswith intensions to target the wider European market.

There is a growing public awareness in Hungarythat India should be regarded our outstanding strate-gic partner in the field of S&T. It is our mutual inter-est to expand scientific collaboration. R&D relationsplay an important role in our cooperation. Weencourage the Indian companies to invest inHungary in R&D sector to utilize the high quality ofengineering and technical expertise.

People to people contacts between the two coun-tries have been traditionally lively and for us the bilat-eral cultural and educational relations will remain espe-cially important in the future as well. Regarding educa-tional co-operation, several Hungarian universitiesenjoy good reputation in India. It is important to pro-mote direct contacts and student exchange betweenHungarian and Indian universities and colleges.

We are glad that besides the 30-plus year oldHungarian Information and Cultural Centre in NewDelhi a similar forum for the bilateral cultural cooper-ation was also established a few years ago in Budapest

with the opening of the Indian Cultural Centre in theChancery Annex of the Embassy of India.

Our relations are deeply rooted in history and havestood the test of time despite changing geopoliticalcircumstances. With high level political commitmentfrom both countries as well as the mutual interest ofIndian and Hungarian companies in forging closerrelationships, our overall cooperation and partnershipis poised to grow from strength to strength.

The decades-long bilateral diplomatic relations andthe fruitful cooperation of our two countries havealways been characterized by friendliness and strongcultural ties. One of the latest sign of Indian attentionto Hungary was the visit of H.E. Salman Khurshidthe minister of foreign affairs of India to Budapestwhere he was guest keynote speaker at the annualmeeting of Hungarian heads of mission in July 2013.I truly believe that all these elements will contribute towhat has been our objective since the establishment ofthe diplomatic relations, exactly 65 years ago, to fur-ther strengthen cooperation between our countries.

Economy and power politics are as important asever and the significance of India stands out in both.But India means much more than just that. India ishome to a unique spiritual richness, a laboratory ofthe coexistence of a plurality of languages, religionsand traditions, offering most relevant lessons to ourglobalized world. Mahatma Gandhi and MotherTheresa of Calcutta – to name just too - were iconsof the 20th century whose teaching and example arebound to be an inspiration for the best minds also ofthe 21st century.

Friendship may sound an overused and evenabused term in foreign policy. Yet friendship amongpeople, communities and nations is our only chanceto fill the hollow shell of globalization with anopportunity for universal justice and real humanprogress. I would like to express our appreciation forthe initiative of the Embassy of India in Budapestfor launching the bi-monthly publication of ‘Amrit’.May it soon prove itself a precious contribution toIndo-Hungarian friendship which is, as we all know,never a question of size.

1 October, 2013. Dr. János Martonyi,

Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hungary


BILATERAL

Indo-Hungarian relations—visit of PM Viktor Orbán to India

enerations of eminentHungarian Indologists havelaid the foundation of greatrespect and admiration thatHungarians have for Indianculture, philosophy, art and

spiritual thought. These include AlexanderCsoma de Korosi, Sir Aurel Stein, Elizabeth SassBrunner and Elizabeth Brunner. From Indianside, Rabindranath Tagore and Amrita Sher-Gilhave made significant contributions. Given thisstrong foundation of people-to-people contact,it is not surprising that India’s relations withHungary have always been close and friendly,multi-farious and substantive which have sur-vived the vicissitudes of political and economicchanges.

During the last few years, bilateral contacts atthe highest level have been regular and intense.External Affairs Minister of India has visitedHungary twice during the last two years, first toparticipate in the 10th Foreign Ministers’Meeting of ASEM in July 2011 and later ShriSalman Khurshid visited Hungary at the invita-tion of Foreign Minister of Hungary Dr JánosMartonyi to address the HungarianAmbassadors’ Conference in July, 2013. Duringhis stay, Shri Khurshid also visited Balatonfüredwhere the memories of Gurudev RabindranathTagore’s visit in 1926 have been preserved andnurtured. He inaugurated the exhibition ofpaintings of Amrita Sher-Gil to commemorateher birth centenary which is being jointly cele-brated by the two countries. From Hungary, DrZsolt Semjén, Deputy Prime Minister ofHungary visited India in May, 2012 on a privatevisit and the Hungarian Parliamentary delegationwas led by Mr László Kövér, the Speaker of theHungarian National Assembly to India inNovember, 2012.

The Parliaments of India and Hungary havean excellent tradition of exchanging views and

cooperate with each other at InternationalParliamentary Union (IPU). Both Parliamentshave established Friendship Groups within theirParliamentarians. On the Hungarian side, it is ledby Dr Zsolt Horváth and on the Indian side, byDr Murli Manohar Joshi.

Bilateral relations are not limited to merelypolitical level, but encompass many other areasincluding trade and economy. The bilateral tradeduring 2011 reached US$ 840 million but during2012, the value of bilateral trade declined to US$641.9 million owing to global economic down-turn and 2013, trade between the two sides isexpected to show improvement. Bilateral eco-nomic and trade cooperation between the twosides is being nurtured by the institutional frame-work of India-Hungary Joint EconomicCommittee. On the Hungarian side, the Co-chairis Mr Péter Szijjártó, State Secretary for ForeignAffairs and External Economic Relations in thePrime Minister’s Office and on the Indian side, itwould be chaired by Secretary, Department ofIndustrial Policy and Promotion. The third meet-ing of Joint Economic Committee would be heldon 15 October 2013 in New Delhi which wouldidentify priority areas of economic cooperationand prepare the roadmap for further enhancingand deepening our bilateral trade and economicties. At the business level, a Joint BusinessCouncil of Indian and Hungarian companies wasset up in 1979 under an agreement between theFederation of Indian Chamber of Commerceand Industry (FICCI) and the HungarianChamber of Commerce to promote direct con-tacts between the business delegations. The lastmeeting was held in Budapest in February 2010,where a Memorandum of Understanding onArbitration and Conciliation Tribunal was signedfacilitating amicable settlement of trade disputes.

Indian investments in Hungary are witness-ing an upswing during the last few years andinvestment flows are spread over several sectors

G


BILATERAL

such as IT, pharmaceuticals, power equipment,auto-components and retail trading. TCS,Genpact, Sun Pharma, Crompton Greaves, SMR,WIPRO, Orion, Hema Engineering and COS-MOS are the major investors in Hungary. It isestimated that overall investments from thesecompanies are in the range of US$ 1.5 billion andthey collectively employ over 8000 people inHungary. From Hungary, Richter Gedeon, theHungarian Pharma major has invested US$ 20million in 51:49 joint venture with an Indianfirm, Themis Medicare Ltd. for production ofintermediates, which are largely exported toHungary.

Cooperation in Science and Technology is akey focus area in India-Hungary relations.Hungary recognises India as having a well-devel-oped R&D and ‘knowledge’ infrastructure.Hungary has also established an excellent net-work of R&D institutions under the HungarianAcademy of Sciences (HAS). Under a frameworkagreement signed during the visit of PrimeMinister Ferenc Gyurcsány to India in 2008, anIndia-Hungary S&T Fund of Euro 2 million topromote joint research was set up. This fundwould be enhanced to Euro 4 million from 2014-17 and a Letter of Intent to enhance the fundwould be signed during the visit of HungarianPrime Minister, Viktor Orbán to India inOctober 2013. The fund is expected to play acatalysing role in identifying areas of jointresearch which would benefit people of bothcountries. The meeting of Joint Science andTechnology Group would also be held in NewDelhi on 14th October 2013 wherein jointresearch programmes would be finalised.

Defence cooperation between the countries iscarried out within the framework of MoU ofcooperation on defence. A Joint Working Group,co-chaired by Secretary (Defence Production)from the Indian side and State Secretary(Defence Planning) on the Hungarian side hasbeen set up. The 5th meeting of the JointWorking Group was held in Budapest in May2012 where it was agreed to enhance cooperationbetween the two countries. The 6th meeting of

the Joint Working Group was held in New Delhifrom 30th September – 1st October 2013. TheIndian group was led by Secretary, DefenceProduction and the Hungarian Group was led byDeputy State Secretary for Defence Economy.The Working Group has plans for furtherenhancing cooperation in this important area andfindings would be presented to the PrimeMinister during the visit of the Hungarian PM’svisit on 17 October 2013.

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán would visitIndia from October 16 -19, 2013. He would beleading a large official and business delegationwith the focus on enhancing bilateral trade andeconomic ties. The visit is expected to lay thefoundation for enhancing cooperation betweenthe two countries in different sectors. During thevisit, PM Orbán would address the meeting ofBusiness Forum on 17 October, 2013, jointlyorganized by Confederation of Indian Industry(CII), Federation of Indian Chamber ofCommerce and Industry (FICCI) and AssociatedChambers of Commerce and Industry of India(ASSOCHAM) in New Delhi. This forum isexpected to lead to concrete results in the formof joint ventures and making Hungarian compa-nies aware of the investment opportunities inIndia. A number of agreements in the field ofculture, science and technology, defence andsports are expected to be signed which would fur-ther strenghten Indo-Hungarian ties.

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and his delega-tion would also visit Mumbai which is the finan-cial capital of India and where he will ring thebell at the Mumbai Stock Exchange and attend aBusiness Forum meeting to be organized by theConfederation of Indian Industry (CII).

Bilateral relations between India and Hungaryare on an upward trajectory. The institutionalframework to support the wide-ranging coopera-tion is well-established and regular meetings ofthe various groups are being held which guideand enhance cooperation between the two coun-tries. The visit of PM Viktor Orbán would fur-ther open new vistas of cooperation. �


BILATERAL

Ambassador’s meeting with Dr Péter Medgyessy

Ambassador met with former Prime Minister ofHungary Dr Péter Medgyessy on 6 September, 2013. Thelatter has visited India three times, including once as PrimeMinister, an official visit and recently in 2012 as aDistinguished Visitor sponsored by the Indian Council forCultural Relations. Dr Medgyessy besides being a distin-guished political figure, has been a steady proponent of tra-ditional medicine and has recently set up the InternationalFoundation for Ayurveda. The Foundation organized anInternational Conference on Ayurveda in collaborationwith the Indian Embassy in 2010. The conference waslargely supported by AYUSH. Ambassador, for the mostpart of his meeting, discussed ways and means of promot-ing Ayurveda in Hungary. Dr Medgyessy expressed all sup-port from his side.

Visit to Skanzen

Ambassador paid a visit to Szentendre Museum WineFestival at the invitation of the festival authorities on 8September, 2013. The Festival is one of the best wine festi-vals of Hungary held in the largest open area museum ofSkanzen, where all the regions of Hungary are depicted withtheir habitats, regional and cultural diversities and agricultur-al occupations.

Ambassador’s meeting with Hon'ble Zsolt Horváth

Ambassador met Mr Zsolt Horváth, Chairman of theIndo-Hungarian Parliamentary Group on 11 September anddiscussed matters of mutual interest. There has been asteady bilateral exchange between the two Parliaments, thelast one made by the Indian side with a delegation led byHon'ble Speaker Smt. Meira Kumar.

Ambassador’s visit to Balatonfüred, Nagykanizsa,

Pécs

Ambassador embarked on a regional tour starting withBalatonfüred, the place well-known to both India andHungary for having hosted eminent Indian poet GurudevRabindranath Tagore for nearly three weeks on Oct-Nov1926. The place today depicts a bust of Tagore along with aTagore Promenade lined with several trees, which have beenplanted by visiting dignitaries from India as well asHungarian political figures starting with Tagore himself on 8November 1926. In his meeting with the Mayor ofBalatonfüred, Ambassador discussed, among other things,holding of India cultural festival, given the importance ofthe place in the cultural relations between the two countries.

On his next visit to Nagykanizsa, Ambassador met theMayor and was taken on a tour of the city, Nagykanizsa,known as trade-crossroads of southern Hungary, close to theborders of both Croatia and Slovenia, through which bulk ofHungary's trade with the two countries takes place.Nagykanizsa has also developed as an important manufactur-ing centre and Ambassador's discussions with the Mayorcentered largely on promoting Indo-Hungarian trade furtherby organizing trade promotion and cultural activities.

On his next visit to Pécs, Ambassador met with theRector and Vice Rector of the University and discussedamong other things, development of the Asia Study Centre,which has been supported to some extent by the Governmentof India. In fact all the four faculty members of the AsiaStudy Centre are engaged in India related studies whichAmbassador had the occasion to visit and discuss. There is agood prospect of linkage of the Asia Study Centre with someof India’s prominent educational institutions. Pécs was select-ed as the European City of Culture in 2010 and is one of themost prominent cultural landmarks of Hungary, boasting ofa wonderful fusion of Islamic (influenced through the a cen-tury and a half Ottoman rule) and Christian and Byzantineart. The City is dotted with churches, mosques and in fact hastransformed itself into a veritable renaissance centre. Pécs isalso known for the world famous Zsolnay porcelain manufac-turing facility and museum.

Presentation of Credentials

Ambassador presented his Credential documents accred-iting him as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiaryto Hungary, to H.E. Dr János Áder, President of Hungary ina small ceremonial event held at the Presidential Palace. Healso had a one-to-one meeting with Hon’ble President,where they discussed issues of mutual interest. LaterAmbassador visited the Heroes’ Square where he participat-ed in an official wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of theUnknown Soldier.

Tagore Fellowship at ELTE University

Government of India has provided a 3-year TagoreFellowship to ELTE University, the most famous Universitypromoting India-led studies through its Department ofIndo-European Studies and there is a proposal for setting upof a Tagore Centre in Hungary.

Visit to Miskolc

Miskolc is an eminent centre of education and culture

Important Activities / Meetings of September 2013


BILATERAL

located in northeast Hungary on the way to Slovakia. Infact, famous German electronics company Bosch has thesecond largest manufacturing centre of Europe inMiskolc. Ambassador, during his meeting with the Mayorand Deputy Mayor of Miskolc, had occasion to discussfuture prospects of Indo-Hungarian trade fair, jointlyplanned for an India Day where various aspects of thebilateral relations could be highlighted for the benefit ofthe population. Ambassador also took time to visit thefamous Cine Fest and discussed with Director Mr TiborBíró, the possibility of introducing Indian avant-garde

films by young film makers in the Festival from next year.The festival, featuring language film makers from mostlyEuropean countries was a big draw and is one of the mostsought after cinematic venues. Ambassador was also ledon a visit to one of the oldest Theatres of Hungary, theNational Theatre of Miskolc, where besides watching anOpera, he was shown how artists prepared behind thestage and sets, all made within one building with an elab-orate three parts revolving stage, making the audience askfor more. Miskolc is famous famous for Hollóháza, well-known in Central Europe. �

LEFT: Meeting with Dr. Ákos Kriza, Mayor of Miskolc. CEnTEr: Meeting with Dr István Bóka, Mayor of Balatonfüred in Mayor’s Office. rIGHT: Meeting with Mr Péter Cseresnyés, Mayor of Nagykanizsa.

LEFT: H.E. Ambassador along with the organiser authorithy members at the Cultural Festival of Skanzen Open Air Museumin Szentendre. CEnTEr: H.E. Ambassador met Dr Barna Mezey, Rector of ELTE University. rIGHT: H.E. Ambassador met

H.E. Dr Zsolt Horváth, Chairman of Indo-Hungarian Group at Parliament.

LEFT: H.E. Ambassador presented his Letter of Credence to Hon’ble President of Hungary, Dr János Áder. CEnTEr: H.E. Ambassador visited the University of Pécs and its Asia Centre. rIGHT: Meeting with Dr Péter Medgyessy,

Former Prime Minister of Hungary and Founder of International Ayurveda Foundation.


HUNGARIAN SECTION

IndIábanudom, hogy India iránti vonzal-mamban sokan osztoznakMagyarországon. Az alábbiakbanegy, a 20. század második felébenkibontakozó India-vonzalom útjátjárom be, mely természetesen visz-

szavezet a század korábbi, sőt a 19. századévtizedeibe. Elbeszélésemből úgy tűnhet, minthaminden egy egyidejű „India-időben” jelenne meg,mely bizonyára közelebb áll a valósághoz, mint atörténeti időszámítás tagolt ideje. Ez utóbbiszerint ugyanis külön-külön beszélhetnénk a 19.század, a századforduló, a két világháború köztiidőszak, a századközép, majd az ezredforduló indi-ai-magyar kapcsolatairól.

A Kipling-mesék nyomán, melyeket JékelyZoltán fordításában 1954-ben adtak ki, s amithamarosan elemi iskolai jutalomkönyvként én ismegkaptam, alakulhatott ki egy olyan képzetIndiáról a századközép gyerekeiben, mely ugyanterebélyesedett A dzsungel könyve segítségével(Benedek Marcell fordítása, illusztrálta HaranghyJenő, 1960), de melyet aztán – legalábbis énmagam - soha, sehol nem találtam meg. Azazmégis, hiszen A magányosan sétáló macskát 1982-ben FeLugossy László képzőművész alakjában:zenei performanszaiban fedeztem fel, későbbpedig megadatott, hogy egy indiai ter-mészettudományi kiállításon felfedezzem: Mauglinevezetes barátai nem magyarított és főnevesítettmelléknevekre hallgatnak, hanem egyszerűen azállatok hindi nevét viselik (Háti). Szakmámbólkifolyólag ugyanis valóságosan is Indiába juthat-tam, 1991-ben.

Megérkezésemet mi sem bizonyította jobban,mint az a tény, hogy a szállásomról kilépve az elsőszó, amit meghallottam (egy kígyóbűvölőszájából), úgy hangzott: Memsahib. Ami mind-közönségesen csak annyit tesz ki: Asszonyom, dehát aki látta Korda Sándor 1942-es Dzsungelkönyve-filmjét Sabu Dastagirrel, annak erre a szóraeláll a lélegzete.

Az 1960-as évek elején, amikor a külvilágbólmég mindig alig láthatott valamit egy gyerekMagyarországon, szülővárosomban, Pécsett megje-

lent egy különös hölgy, Eta Ghosh. Ősz hajú,idősödő, erős alkatú asszony volt, akinek akülönössége nemcsak abban állt, hogy száribaöltözött akkor, amikor még hosszú ruhát se viseltsenki az országban, hanem a viselkedésében is:rendkívül lassan s alig mozdult, méltósággal, de nemfennhéjázva. Lágy és végtelenül komoly, talán szi-gorú is volt egyszerre. (Csak nemrégiben tudtammeg unokaöccsétől, a népzenerajongó KeszthelyiImrétől, hogy halálos beteg volt.) Ilyen embert, akia nálunk ellentétesnek gondolt (és tapasztalt) tulaj-donságokat harmonikusan ötvözte magában, addignem láttam. Pedig eredetileg magyar volt ő is(született Weiss Etelka), aki a két világháború közötthagyta el hazáját, nyugat-európai egyetemeken ta-nulandó, s kötött ki a Nobel-díjas költő,Rabíndranáth Tagore által alapított nyugat-bengáli,santiniketáni egyetemen (1921) mint könyvtáros. (Aváros neve: „a béke helye”, ahol a természetbenvaló tanulás a vezérelv.) Jóval később tudtam csakmeg, hogy más magyarok is jártak akkoriban ott:három festő: Zajti Ferenc, Sass Brunner Erzsébet éslánya valamint Medgyaszay István építész.

Eta, Kanti Ghosh költő felesége Pécsett a san-tiniketáni iskoláról és Tagoréról beszélt, aki márhúsz éve halott volt akkor. Születésének 100.évfordulóját ünnepelte a világ, a Béke-világtanácsünnepi felhívásának köszönhetően Magyarországis, ahol a költő 1926-ban járt (Balatonfüredenültetett fáját mindenki ismerheti), de verseimegelőzték jöttét. Egy akkori kis kötete (melyazóta eltűnt, de valószínűleg az 1914-es magyarkiadás lehetett) édesanyám könyvszekrényében islapult, aki irodalomszerető tanárjelölt volt ’26-ban,a Nyugat előfizetője, melynek költői (Kosztolányiés Babits) nagyra becsülték Tagorét. Vajon ezértvolt meg a verseskötete vagy másért?

Abban az évben halt meg „a nemzet tragikája”,Jászai Mari, akinek édesanyám az Erzsébet nőisko-lai taníttatását köszönhette Budapesten, s számosérdekes, gyerekkori emlékét is. A mai AjtósiDürer-sor szép, szecessziós épületében működöttNőiskola igazgatója akkor az a Geöcze Saroltavolt, aki a 19. század végén fordította John Ruskinangol esztéta könyveit. Ruskin a kézművesség és atársadalom, a mentalitás – és a nemzeti független-

T


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ség - összefüggéséről olyannyira nagyhatású gon-dolatokat fejtett ki, hogy az ifjú Gandhi éppúgy,mint a gödöllői művésztelep (1901-) mesterei az őnyomában emelték lélek- és társadalomformálóerővé a háziipari tevékenységet.

Gödöllőn talán 1974-ben jártam először,pályakezdőként felkérve az iparművészeti alapis-meretek nevű óra tartására az ELTEMűvészettörténeti Tanszékén. Az 1897-ben alapí-tott Magyar Iparművészet című folyóirat számaitezért sűrűn lapozván, fedeztem fel a munkáikat, skerestem az egykori művésztelep nyomait. Gandhimumbai házába csak 1991-ben jutottam el. Deközben megtudtam, hogy a gödöllői alapító,Körösfői-Kriesch Aladár kedvenc könyvei közétartozott a Bhagavad-Gíta, szerzői közé pedigGandhi, tán a Hind Swaraj or The Indian Home-rule című könyvével, mely még Körösfői életébenjelent meg (1909), s amely éppúgy hivatkozikRuskin mellett Tolsztojra is, amint a magyar festő-és iparművész írásai. Ha valaki egy kis Indiát kere-sett volna a századelőn Magyarországon, a magyarháziipar hagyományaira támaszkodó gödöllőiszövőiskolában azt megtalálta volna. (Persze,művészek terveit is leszőtték Gödöllőn, de az mára szövőműhely művészeti tevékenységéhez tar-tozik.)

A század első évtizedeiben mások is vonzónaktalálták Indiát. Voltak, akik azért, mert a hazaiparaszti faépítészet formáiban, díszeiben indiaiforrásokat feltételeztek (Huszka József A székelyház című könyve), egy valahai közös múltemlékének tartva azokat. A fiatal építészek közülMedgyaszay István, egyszerre végezvén abudapesti műegyetemen és Otto Wagner mes-teriskolájában, bécsi mestere útmutatására fogha-tott a regionális építészeti hagyományok kutatásá-ba Erdélyben, 1904-ben, de bizonyosan Huszkátkövetve ment majd Indiába 1931-ben, hogy utána-járjon a feltételezésnek. Az 1980-as évek végén,születése centenáriuma körül, ösztökélve az őleszármazottaitól is, foglalkoztam ezzel a kérdésselén is (és Medgyaszay különös, a vasbetontépítőművészetté fejlesztő, a faépítészet ornamen-tikáját vasbetonba ültető, az ornamentika és a

monolit, nagy tömbök keleties arányát, har-móniáját kidolgozó munkásságával /veszprémiszínház, 1907/) annyira, hogy ösztöndíjra pályáz-tam. Annál is inkább, mivel Medgyaszay elsőépületei a gödöllőiek műteremházai voltak.

Indulásom előtt vesztettük el édesanyámat, akiaz emlékei közül nekem, gyerekkorombanleginkább azt a történetet mesélte, mely Jászai Mariindiai barátaihoz kötődött: egy „indiai herceghez”és magyar feleségéhez, akikkel együtt hallgatta aszínésznő előadásában a Szózatot, az ő Rudolf (maJászai Mari) téri lakásában. Valamikor az 1910-esévekben történhetett ez az esemény, melynek kap-csán a falusi kislány négykezesezett is Gottesmann„Micivel” (Marie-Antoinette), s joggal rótta felutólag is a hölgynek, hogy sok arany ékszerénekkopogása mennyire zavarta a zenét, hiszenévtizedekkel később, amikor egy neves angolújságíró, Malcolm Muggeridge, a BBC egyik sztár-ja közreadta 1937-es indiai utazásának emlékeit,szinte ugyanezen szavakkal jellemezte az akkormár Indiába visszaköltözött Umrao Singh Sher-Gilzongorázni szerető feleségének játékát.

1961-ben talán azért vettünk részt Eta Ghoshelőadásán, hogy édesanyám megtudjon valamit aSher-Gil családról? Vagy Tagore-ról és Indiárólszeretett volna többet hallani? 1991-ben minden-esetre az első találkozóm Delhiben Umrao Singhunokájával esett, köszönhetően közös indológusbarátunknak, Bethlenfalvy Gézának. Pandzsábipiyamában és tunikában érkezett Vivan Sundaram(ezen kívül olykor még tolsztojánus, álló gallérúinget szokott viselni). Csendes mosolya és határo-zottsága Etáéra emlékeztetett. Hogy mögötte mirejtőzik, azt valójában 1995-ös kiállításán tudtammeg (a budapesti, akkor a Műcsarnokhoz tartozottDorottya Galériában), ahol – képzőművészként –egy installációt mutatott be, a Sher-Gil archívu-mot. Tényleges munkáját – a Műcsarnok éppenleváltott igazgatójaként - alig tudtam segíteni, jólle-het az ennek az újabb, térben kiterjeszkedő műfor-mának olyan, jelentéssel telített változatátreprezentálta, mely az első, dadaista szemléletűinstallációk után az akkoriban nálunk is nagyhatású hermeneutika világ- és művészetfelfogásá-


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val volt megfeleltethető. Egy család súlyos,megrendítő, rejtett titkait tárta fel Sundaram: akülönös, filozofikus hajlandóságú Umrao Singhfotóival; tragikus véget ért felesége tárgyaival,megidézve a helyszínt is, ahol – és ahogy – végetvetett az életének; lányaik, elsősorban az ugyan-csak tragikusan, fiatalon meghalt Amrita Sher-Gilfestményeit és fényképeit mozgósító videóival. Akiállításon jelen volt a család terjedelmes magyarrokonsága és baráti köre (hiszen Sundaramnagyanyjának testvére a legendás indológus, BaktayErvin volt). Miként e sok ember által őrzött múlt,úgy a családtörténet is talán először vált nyil-vánossá és - vizuális műalkotásként - kortársunkkáezen a kiállításon. (Máig szégyellem, hogy azegyszerű munkásruhában megjelent, világszertekiállító művészt milyen lenézően kezelte a magyarkiállítási intézmény technikai személyzete.)

Vivan Sundaram és nemzetközi tekintélynekörvendő, művészetkritikus felesége, a Távol-Keleten (is) alig becsült női vagy nőművészetnek isteoretikusa, Geeta Kapur majd 2001-ben léptek felegyütt ismét Budapesten, az Amrita Sher-Gilhalálának 60. évfordulójára rendezett kiállításhozkapcsolódva. Hiszen 10 évvel korábbi találkozá-sunkkor rögtön kiderült, hogy édesanyámemlékeinek mi mindent köszönhetek: Indianemzeti kincse, Amrita életműve született abból azindiai-magyar házasságból, melynek tanújalehetett. ’91-ben éppen csak betekintettem ebbe anőművészet akkori felfedezése idején is mindenvonatkozásában aktuális, érzelmileg-szellemilegtelített képi világba az új-delhi A ModernMűvészetek Nemzeti Galériája állandó kiállításánés Sundaram magángyűjteményében. Mert akkoregész Indiával ismerkedtem, mint Amrita tettevolt, párizsi tanulmányai után Indiába térve, a ’30-as évek közepén.

Közben mindig Medgyaszay nyomait is ke-restem a delhi levéltár kafkai útvesztőiben, aBhopal melletti, híres száncsi sztúpánál, a mumbaivárosi főépítész (M. Framjee) irodájában, ahováannak idején megérkezett, a Royal Asia Societyklasszicista épületében, melynek hatalmas belma-gasságú központi termében, a földig érő, a hőséget

kizáró, sötétítő függönyök résein bejövő fénysu-garakban – a levegőben - állni látszott a por, a 19.század óta. Elemi élmény volt felfedezni atörténeti idő észlelésének teljes hiányát, még e britintézményben is, s viszont az élet jelentőségét.(Kutatói szenvedélyem reménytelenségére már azis figyelmeztetett, hogy az egykori városi főépítészáltal tervezett épületekre, létesítményekre kérdezvea következő választ kaptam: „miért érdekli, amikoraz az építész már nem él?”.)

Mindenesetre Mumbai 19. századi, anglo-indiaiépítészeti emlékei, melyek modernebb változatávalDelhi kormányzati negyedében találkozhatni(Lutyens művei), az indo-iszlám építészet agrai mo-numentuma, a Tádzs Mahal s majd a mindenütt(Madrasban, Benaresben is) látható, színes kerámia-szobrokkal sűrűn díszített hindu templomok közöttotthon éreztem magam, Lechner Ödön jóvoltából.Az ő, nálunk magyar-indiainak nevezhető stílusamiatt fel is kerestem Tömöry Editet (1905-1998) amadraszi ferences apácakolostorban, aki – GerevichTibor, tehát a mai budapesti egyetemiMűvészettörténeti Intézet elődjének egykori vezető-je tanítványaként és doktoraként - a keleti és nyugatiművészet párhuzamos történetének megírásán dol-gozott, ezt oktatta a Stella Maris College-ban.Könyve hihetetlenül gazdag, s ma is kézikönyvnekszámít (követhetnénk a példáját, a nyugatival együtta keleti művészettörténetet is megismertetendő! ),azonban a megjelenése idején és azután felvirágzóösszehasonlító kutatások eredményeit még nem tar-talmazza.

Az indiai-magyar építészeti kapcsolatokról akkorelőadást tarthattam a delhi magyar intézetben,remélve a kutatás folytatását. S valóban, Medgyaszayindiai fotóiból nemsokára kiállítást rendezett azÉpítészeti Múzeum, Hadik András bevezetőjével(“Keletre, magyar!” 1997), melyet a delhi magyarközpont is bemutatott. Ezeket én nyithattam meg,utóbbit egy kortárs művészetkritikai konferencia éppDelhibe hívott vendégeként, 1999-ben. (S persze,változatlanul lebeg a szemem előtt egy nagy indiaikiállítás, India a magyar művészetben a 19-20. századfordulóján munkacímmel, melynek a teozófia és bud-dhizmus által inspirált képzőművészek munkáit is


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felölelő programját 2010-ben egyeztettük a delhiNemzeti Galériával.)

A művészetkritikai konferencia meghívásáttalán a korábbi delhi képzőművészeti triennálénszereplő magyar anyagnak köszönhettem - ahovákurátorként Gémes Péter fényműveit, KörösényiTamás papírmasé-szobrait és Szabados Árpádpapírra festett történelmi körképét küldhettem ki1994-ben –, mely a progresszív szemléletű indiaiművészeti életben feltűnést keltett. S talán az a kiskollekció is, melyet egyidejűleg, Képírás címmelmutatott be az új-delhi Magyar KulturálisKözpont. A keleti írásmódok képszerűsége és sajá-tosságai késztettek arra, hogy Várnagy Ildikó ésmások (elsősorban női alkotók) műveibenfelfedezzem a már a ’60-as évektől fel-felbukkanószándékot a mind a képalkotás, mind az írás hagy-ományaitól függetlenedni kívánó, egyéni vizuálisnyelvezetek egyidejű megalkotására.

Az új, a nemzeti identitásra reflektáló s külön-böző médiumokkal dolgozó kortárs művészettelazonban csak 1999-ben találkoztam Indiában, de aLalit Kala Akadémia tradicionálisabb és másművészeti intézmények példaszerű szemléletéremár korábban felfigyeltem. A kortárs művészetetbemutató múzeumokban lefegyverzett – muzeoló-giai szempontból - az élő törzsi, naiv és „magas”művészet azonos terekben való szerepeltetése,vagy másutt (például művészkolóniákon, mint ami-lyen a Sanskriti Kendra, Delhi mellett, O. P. Jainvezetésével) az a szemlélet, melyben megférnekegymás mellett az indiai terrakottaművészettörténelmi remekei, a mindennapi élet kézművestárgykészítésének hagyományai és az ezekből isépítkező kortárs nemzetközi médiaművészet.Talán a diszeli Első Magyar Látványtár koncep-ciójában fedezhetők fel hasonló elemek nálunk.Mindenesetre abból, ahogyan egyes hagy-ományokat kritika tárgyává tesz, másokatmegőrzendőként beépít magába az új indiaiművészet, sokat lehet tanulni.

Amint például azon magyar női művészek ésnőművészek munkáiból is, akik nem feltétlenülutasítják el a múltat egy új szemlélet és kategóri-

arendszer kedvéért, hanem a maguk szemszögébőlmutatják be a kultúra egyes elemeinek jelentésseltelítettségét, bővítik vagy módosítják azok jelen-tését, de anakronisztikus voltukra is felhívják afigyelmet. Korábban, az 1920-as évek végén afestő Sass Brunner Erzsébet és szobrásznövendéklánya, Brunner Erzsébet úgy mentek Indiába, hogya magyar tájfestészet magukkal vitt hagyományaibaépítették bele új tájélményeiket, a keleti színvilá-got, a buddhista inspirációt. Az ezredfordulón máridős, de gyermeki lelkületét őrző Brunner Erzsébetdelhi lakásában természetesen keveredtek etájképek (és portrék) kis indiai oltárokkal,emlékekkel és a mennyezetről olykor lepotyogógyíkokkal, egyéb állatkákkal.

A „Második nem” című kiállításunk e tapaszta-latoknak is köszönhetően állt össze az újra önál-lósított Ernst Múzeum nyitó kiállításán (2000),melyből egy válogatás (Women’s Art in Hungary)New Delhibe is elkerült a következő évben, aNational Gallery of Modern Artba.

Az intézményt azóta is igazgató, képzőművészRajeev Lochannak alapvetően köszönhető (a diplo-maták és a kormányzati szándékok mellett), hogy2001-ben Amrita Sher-Gil első nyugati és rendkívüliközönség-érdeklődést kiváltó kiállítása megvalósul-hatott az Ernst Múzeumban, hiszen számos képetkölcsönzött nekünk a nemzeti képtár védettműveiből. (Később, persze, az Európában jóvalismertebb müncheni Kunsthaus – Magyarországotmég mindig Keletnek tekintve, mint az 1850-esévekben, amikor az európai vasút Szolnokig vitte azorientalizmus híveit – magának vindikálta az elsőségjogát.) Amrita művészetével a magyarművészettörténet is gazdagodott. Néhány remek-műve ugyanis ma is „csak” a rokonok és ismerősökotthonában látható Magyarországon, olyan doku-mentumokkal együtt, mint például a Baktay Ervinhíres, dunai indiántáboraiban készült, a nyilvánosságáltal sosem látott, komikus némafilmek. A „keleti”Amrita, egy vonzó és ambiciózus magyar nő és egyarisztokratikus szépségű szikh férfiú szenvedélyesleányának életműve tehát felbukkant a geográfiai éstársadalmi megkülönböztetésekkel (harmadik világ,női sorsok) leszámolni kívánó Nyugaton. Azt


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hiszem, édesanyám mit sem sejtett ebből aszerelemmel, sikerekkel és gyásszal, magányossággalteli sorsból. És már én sem mondhattam el neki.

A magyar nőművészeti kiállítás indiai bon-tásakor nem is a múzeumba, hanemRadzsasztánba, Dzsaipurba vitt az első utam,amerre valamikor azok a népcsoportok is jártak,melyekkel – egyes kutatók szerint - a magyarokKeletről Nyugat felé indultak. Radzsasztánkézműves kultúrájának színben és díszítmények-

ben bámulatosan gazdag tárgyai között, még haelefánthátról nézelődik is az ember, s csak párórára engedheti is ezt meg magának, úgy tűnhet,elvarázsolt világba került, éppúgy, mint azutcákon nyüzsgő tömegben, vagy amikor a kipu-fogógáztól édes levegő először megcsapja az orráta delhi repülőtéren. Mindez együtt „The Call ofIndia”, melynek sosem tudunk eleget tenni. �

—Keserü Katalin

Notes:

1. „A valóság túl van a tényeken”. Mozgó Világ 1982. 11. szám

2. Kollégáimmal együtt végzett munkánk eredménye lett a gödöllői művésztelep állandó kiállítása a Gödöllői VárosiMúzeumban (1981) valamint a monográfiája (Gellér Katalinnak, Corvina Kiadó, 1987).

3. Keserü Katalin: A Sher-Gil Archívum, Új Művészet 1996. 1-2.sz. 15-17. (angol kiadás: Vivan Sundaram, Bombay,Gallery Chemould), átdolgozva: Vivan Sundaram múzeuma. A nemzet antropológiája, Budapest, Új Mandátum, 418-423.

4. Ugyanazon évben, a Műcsarnok újranyitására szervezett Európa – kreáció és re-kreáció című kiállításon az európaitársintézmények (Kunsthallék) szinte mind hasonló installációkat mutattak be.

5. Keserü Katalin: Amrita Sher-Gil (1913-1941) indiai festőművész és francia-magyar kapcsolatai. Amrita Sher-Gil,Budapest, 2001. Ernst Múzeum. A kiállításon Vivan Sundaram archív fotókból készített digitális montázsai, abővülő, műalkotásnak számító Sher-Gil Archívum darabjai is szerepeltek, Geeta Kapur pedig előadást tartott. Akatalógus átdolgozott, bővített kiadása: Keserü Katalin: Amrita Sher-Gil. Budapest, 2007. Kelet Kiadó.

6. Lechner bizonyára ismerte James Fergusson Picturesque Illustrations of Ancient Architecture in HIndostan (London,1847) című művét, melynek és brit kortársainak építészeti albumlapjai, illusztrációi és festményei a nemrégiben bővült ésújjárendezett delhi National Gallery állandó kiállításán láthatók.

7. Edith Tömöry: A History of Fine Arts in India and the West. Hyderabad, 1982. Orient Longman

8. Katalin Keserü: Indian Influence on Hungarian architecture, Hungarian Scolars on India and Indiology, HungarianInformation and Cultural Centre, New Delhi, 1992. Átdolgozva: Magyar-indiai építészeti kapcsolatok, NéprajziÉrtesítő LXXVII. 1995, 167-182.l.

9. India of the 1930s. Hungarian Information and Cultural Centre, New Delhi, 1999. Később az Ernst Múzeumbanrendezett Medgyaszay-kiállítást Potzner Ferenc, Építészet és ornamentika címmel, Lechner Ödön és követőinekmotívumkincsét pedig egyetemi hallgatók vizsgálják, beleértve olykor japán ösztöndíjasokat is.

10. Medgyaszay István építész 1932-ben Indiában készített fotóinak kiállítása elé. Építés-Építészet-Tudomány XXVII(2000) 3-4. 369-372

11. E kiállítások dokumentumai a Műcsarnok archívumában talán fellelhetők.

12. Beszámolómat lásd: Gyűjtők, Gyűjtemények 1999. 2.sz. 18-22.l.

13. Erről lásd: KK: Emlékezés a kortárs művészetben, noran, 1998. Budapest

14. Katalógusát az indiai kormány kulturális és turisztikai tárcája finanszírozta.

15. Sass Brunner Erzsébet és lánya, Brunner Erzsébet kiállításának címe a Hungarian Information and Cultural Centre-ben, 2010-ben, melyet a festőnők nagyszabású, az Indira Gandhi National Centre of Artban szervezett kiállításával ésa róluk szóló konferenciával egyidejűleg rendezett Lázár Imre igazgató.


INDO-HUNGARIAN CULTURAL RELATIONS

Indo-Hungarian

Cultural Relations

ndia’s ancient culture, spiritual traditions andacademic excellence has attractedHungarians towards it since centuries.Hungary’s interest in the Orient at the end ofthe 18th and the early 19th century led to the

desire to explore their ancient history and originthrough scholarly means. Several centuries of Indianphilosophy, religion and literature have enrichedHungarian intellectual life.

The earliest account of India is available in thediary of György Huszti, in which he gave vividdetails of his adventures and experiences when heentered India as a slave of Turkish Army in 1530.The role of Korosi Csoma Sándor - AlexanderCsoma de Koros (1784–1842), an outstandingHungarian, philologist, pioneer of HungarianOrientalism, author of the first Tibet-English dic-tionary and grammar book is legendary and still alandmark in the history of Indology in Hungary.Determined to identify and explore the ancienthomeland of the nomadic people, who eventuallycame to be known as the Hungarians, he travelled toIndia. He spent more than ten years in Tibet and dis-covered many ancient texts of fundamental impor-tance concerning Indian history, literature, philoso-phy, religion and medical science. Most importantly,he discovered that the holy scriptures of Buddhismhad not been irretrievably lost as had been thoughtearlier on. Alexander Csoma de Kőrös was a greatfounding father of Tibetan and Buddhist studies inHungary. His tomb in Darjeeling and Csoma’s roomin the royal palace of Zangla are the most importantplaces of pilgrimage for all Hungarians who followhis footprints to India. Theodore Duka (1825-1908),Jenő Zichy (1837-1906), Sir Marc Aurel Stein (1862-1943), Ferenc Zajti (1886-1961), Julius Germanus(1884-1979) and Ervin Baktay (1890-1963) are theother prominent Hungarians who visited India from

time to time to increase the people to people con-tacts. They were greatly influenced by Indian cultureand the way of life.

The artistic links between India and Hungary arevery old. Ágoston Schoefft (1809-1888) had visitedIndia between 1838 and 1842 and painted the lastMughal emperor and other Indian and foreign digni-taries as well as made the only portrait of AlexanderCsoma de Koros. Amrita Sher-Gil (1913-1941), agreat Indo-Hungarian painter had a Hungarianmother and an Indian father. She painted Indianreality and traditions with Hungarian influences. Herpaintings are national treasure of India and are pre-served in the National Gallery of Modern Art, NewDelhi. She was the niece of the famous Indologist -Ervin Baktay. As part of the birth centenary celebra-tions of Amrita Sher-Gil, an exhibition of her workswas organized at Ferenc Hopp Museum on 21 June,2013. During his visit to Hungary in July 2013, ShriSalman Khurshid, Hon’ble External AffairsMinister, inaugurated an exhibition of Amrita Sher-Gil’s paintings, titled ‘Amrita Sher-Gil and Hungary’at the Vaszary Villa, Balatonfüred. The main attrac-tion of the exhibition were 9 paintings of Amritawhich had been specially brought from India.Elizabeth Sass Brunner (1889-1950) and ElizabethBrunner (1910-2001), mother and daughter duopainters, followed a dream about Tagore and settledin India. They painted hundreds of paintings aboutevery aspect of India. Elizabeth Brunner paintedportraits of all major Indian personalities of thattime. Elizabeth Sass Brunner died in 1950 and hergrave is located at Nainital. Her daughter passedaway in Delhi in May 2001. She was the holder ofmany Indian and Hungarian awards. In Nagykanizsa,their hometown a collection of their paintings ispreserved and exhibited. Recently an exhibition ofBrunners was organized in the Indian Cultural

i



Centre, Budapest. Charles Fabry (1899-1968) on being invit-ed to India by Rabindranath Tagore in 1933, participated inone of the expeditions of Sir Aurel Stein and worked for theArcheological Survey of India in Delhi. His main fields ofinterest were the Indian dance Odissi and music. FerencHopp (1833-1919), the founder of the Ferenc Hopp Museumof Eastern Asiatic Arts in 1919 was a wealthy businessmanwho travelled around the world for collecting art objects.Ferenc Hopp Museum of Eastern Asiatic Arts has an IndianCollection and organized several Indian exhibitions. It main-tains a permanent India Room at György Ráth Museum.Rozalia Hummel is an artist, whose paintings are deeplyinspired by Indian spirituality, especially the Krishna legend.

Indian literature had been translated in Hungary evenbefore Indology became a field of academic study. An uniden-tified author translated the Latin version of Barlaam andJosaphat - originating from the Buddha legend - intoHungarian in the 16th century. Thereafter, a regular transla-tion of works of great Indian writers has taken place. Sanskrititself has been taught in Hungary since the 18th century. Inabout 1750 István Vályi, a Hungarian studying in Leiden, metsome Indian students there; his paper commenting on therelationship between Sanskrit and other Indo-European lan-guages preceded better-known works by other scholars suchas Coeurdoux and William Jones.

In the field of translation, Károly Fiók (1857-1915) did apioneering work and translated from the original Sanskrit, thedrama Abhijnanasakuntalam of Kalidasa (1887), two episodesfrom the Mahabharata (1885, 1889) and the Hitopadesa (1905).The celebrated Hungarian poet, János Arany, was inspired bythis first translation and he produced his own version of thefourth act of the drama. Transylvanian Saxon born doctorJános Marton Honigberger (1795-1869) and painter ÁgostonSchoefft (1809-1888) spent years in the court of MaharajaRanjit Singh in Lahore. In his travelogue on India, Honigbergerpresents a dramatic picture of life in the Lahore court andabout the personality of the Maharaja. Vilmos Leitner (1840-1899) also spent a long period in India, where he pursuedanthropological and sociological research. He was among thefirst to note the significance of Gandhara art. He wrote a bookabout the educational system of the Punjab and the Urdu lan-guage. He was one of the founders of the Punjab University.Gabor Bálint-Szentkatolnai (1844-1913) arrived in India withthe expedition of Count Béla Széchenyi before leaving the teamand spending a longer time in South India. He studied theTamil language and grammar and edited a dictionary.

Apart from the varied contacts and linkages with India,many Hungarians have delved deep into various aspects ofIndian literature and culture. Sanskrit was formally included asa regular subject of study in the university in 1873 with theestablishment of the Indo-European Linguistics Institute inthe Faculty of Philosophy of Budapest's Péter Pázmány

University which subsequently evolved as the Department ofIndo-European Studies at ELTE University. Indology hasalways formed a major part of the work of the Departmentof Indo-European Studies at ELTE University, whose firstprofessor was Aurél Mayr (1846-1915) who taught in theDepartment until 1905. His special field was the history ofAncient Indian Law. The lectures of his successor, JózsefSchmidt (1868-1933) on comparative linguistics wererenowned for their erudition and for the lively presentation ofhis own researchers. Besides Sanskrit Studies, Schmidt’s otherresearch fields were Iranian Studies and Indo-EuropeanComparative Linguistics. His popular works published duringthe 1920's include: "Life and Works of Kalidasa", "The Lightof Asia: the Life and Doctrines of the Buddha", “Old IndianEpic Poetry”, "The History of Sanskrit Literature", and"Indian Philosophy". He published several translationsincluding the Malavikagnimitra ("The King and theCourtesan") of Kalidasa, the Mricchakatika ("The Little ClayCart") of Sudraka, and the Panchatantra. Unfortunately, many

Sharmista Mukherjee and her Kathak troupe in Százhalombatta



of his unpublished manuscripts were later destroyed in fire.

There was a hiatus in the work of the Department ofIndo-European Studies from 1920 till 1952, when ProfessorJános Harmatta was appointed as its head. At that time theprincipal activity of the Department was the teaching of thelinguistics of classical languages, Sanskrit was being taught asan optional subject. Indology was introduced as a formal uni-versity subject in the Department in 1956. This was the firsttime that such a course had been offered in Hungary and itremains only such course in the country today. MostIndologists currently working in Hungary have been trained atthis Department. Since 1981, Dr Mária Négyesi has beenteaching in the Department. Her special field is Hindi linguis-tics and literature. Formerly she taught Latin and AncientGreek and studied aspects of Sanskrit lyrical poetry. She andher predecessor Professor Csaba Töttössy have been awardedthe Presidential Award of Certificate of Honour in 2005 and2012 respectively. Dr Éva Aradi, a Hindi Scholar fromHungary, was honoured at the World Hindi Conference heldin New York in July 2007.

Under the auspices of the bilateral Cultural ExchangeProgramme between India and Hungary, ICCR has been deput-

ing a Visiting Professor of Hindi to the Department since 1992.This professor forms part of Hindi faculty at the Department.Hindi scholarships are offered to Hungarian students on a reg-ular basis. So far 23 students have been to India under this pro-gramme. The Department organized several conferences: HindiConference in Hungary (with Indian Embassy in 2002).International Intensive Sanskrit Summer Retreats (2002), Thesecond International Hindi Conference (with Indian Embassy,2007). Letting the texts speak: the state of textual studies incontemporary Indian Studies (2010). International TagoreConference (with Indian Embassy, ELTE, 2012).

In the early 20th century, Hungarian interest in India wasfurther ignited by Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore. On beingawarded Nobel prize in 1913, Hungarian translators and gener-al public evinced a lot of interest in him. Some of his poemswere published in the famous Hungarian literary journal Nyugatafter translation by Mihály Babits. Soon more than 20 of hisworks were published in Hungarian translation. Gurudev visit-ed and stayed at Balatonfüred in 1926 for heart treatment at theworld renowned cardiac hospital of that time. He left a verylasting impression in the minds of the people in Balatonfüred.In order to immortalize his stay and out of their love and regardfor him, they installed his bust and named a long waterfront

Opening speech by Hon’ble Shri Salman Khrushid at the inauguration of Amrita Sher-Gil Exhibition in Balatonfüred.



promenade along the Balaton lake after him. This area is a greatattraction for tourists and other visitors to this place. All theimportant dignitaries from India visit Balatonfüred to payrespect to Gurudev and plant saplings around the statue in thegarden. These include; V. V. Giri, Indira Gandhi, Dr ZakirHussain, Rajiv Gandhi, Dr Árpád Göncz, Viktor Orbán andlately Shri Salman Khurshid. The cardiac hospital maintains theroom used by Gurudev in its original condition. Gurudev invit-ed a number of Hungarian scholars and writers to Santiniketan.Gyula Germánus (1884-1979) lived and gave classes there from1929 to 1932. He also recorded his Indian experiences in pic-turesque travelogues. A chronicle of the years spent inSantiniketan was recorded by his wife Rózsa G. Hajnóczy in herpopular book, the “Fire of Bengal”.

To commemorate the 150th birth anniversary of Tagoreand his Hungarian connection, an International Conferenceon Rabindranath Tagore – His Writings and Art BeyondBengal, was organized by the Indian Embassy; in collabora-tion with the Indian Council for Cultural Relations and theEötvös Loránd University (ELTE) in March, 2012. An exhibi-tion of 30 Tagore inspired paintings, specially painted byHungarian artists from Szentendre Old Art Colony, was alsoheld as part of these celebrations.

In order to strengthen the Indo-European StudiesDepartment, India has established a Tagore ResearchFellowship on Indology and Indian Studies at Department ofIndo-European Studies, ELTE University, Budapest since2007. Dr Gergely Hidas was appointed as Tagore ResearchScholar at the Department from 2007 to 2010 followed by DrCsaba Kiss who is working in this position since 2011.TheRector of the ELTE University, Prof. Ferenc Hudecz wasinvited to India under the Distinguished Visitors’ Programmeof ICCR in October, 2009. In collaboration with ICCR anInternational Indology Conference, was held in February,2010 at the ELTE University, Budapest. The Conference wasinaugurated by Hon’ble Commerce and Industry Minister.

Ferenc Hopp Museum of Eastern Asiatic Arts: Yet anoth-er centre of Oriental research in Hungary was established in1919 in the form of Ferenc Hopp Museum of Eastern AsiaticArts. The first director of the collection and an art historianZoltán Felvinczi-Takács (1900-1964) did much to enrich theIndian collection at the museum. His book entitled ‘The Artof the Orient’ is the first Hungarian language summary of theIndian arts. Thanks to Felvinczi-Takács, Hungarian art dealerImre Schwaiger (1864-1940) who lived in India and donated anumber of sculptures.

Tree planting at Tagore Promenade in Balatonfüred by Foreign Minister Hon’ble Shri Salman Khurshid and Mr István Bóka, Mayor of Balatonfüred.



Zelnik István Southeast Asian Gold Museum: This privatemuseum was opened in 2011 in Budapest to exhibit the sacredart and craftsmanship of the Southeast Asian region throughan exquisite collection of gold, representing the very essenceof South Asian kingship and the royal cult of gods. Severalprecious art-works from India form part of its collection.

A major break-through has been achieved in establishing acinematic link with Hungary. Films including “Hum Dil DeChuke Sanam” and “Aks” and some Tamil films have beenshot in Hungary. Some Indian and Hungarian film directorsand production companies have established links. Films onAlexander Csoma de Koros and Amrita Sher-Gil are underconsideration. Apart from regular screening of films at theIndian Cultural Centre every fortnight, film festivals were heldin 2007, 2008, 2010 and 2013. Films have also been screenedas part of Indian Cultural Days in many cities of Hungary.Selected Bollywood soap-operas dubbed in Hungarian are alsoscreened by Hungarian television stations from time to time.

In addition to the well known published works on Indiaby József Vekerdi, celebrated Hungarian writers/translatorson India include Dr Géza Bethlenfalvy, former Director ofthe Hungarian Information and Cultural Centre in Delhi; DrIldikó Puskás, Head of the Department of Ancient Historyat ELTE University; Dr Bálint Rozsnyai, Head of theDepartment of English at József Attila University, Szeged(JATE); Dr Gyula Wojtilla, Head of the Department ofAncient History at József Attila University, Szeged (JATE);Dr Eszter Bánffy, renowned archaeologist; ZsuzsannaRenner, specialist in Indian art at the Gold Museum; Dr ImreBangha, specialist in Rabindranath Tagore, Dr Dezső Csaba,and Judit Törzsök. The Department of Indo-EuropeanStudies at the ELTE University in collaboration with theEmbassy has recently commenced a project to translate andpublish some celebrated Indian works in Hungarian language.Three such works have already been published. These are;Harishankar Prasad: ‘A négy fal között’, Dr Imre Bangha:‘Jöttem a Gangesz partjairól’ and Judit Borbély: ‘Manutörvénykönyve’.

The Dharma Gate Buddhist University, Budapest (origi-nally The Gate of Dharma Buddhist College) founded in1991, has been teaching Sanskrit and Pali languages and IndianVedic and Buddhist philosophy since its inception. Well-known Indologists at the University have done commendablejob. Tibor Körtvélyesi has published ‘Sanskrit Grammar’.László Tenigl-Takács has translated many Sanskrit works,including the ‘Upanishads’, ‘Patanjali Yogasutra’,‘Isvarakrishna: Sankhya Karika’ and has published ‘History ofIndia’ and ‘Wisdom of India’. László Fórizs has translatedseveral works from Pali and Sanskrit including ‘Rigveda’ and‘Dhammapada’. Dr Judit Fehér whose research field isNagarjuna has translated ‘Mulamadyamakavritti’ from Sanskritand Tibetan. Dr Ferenc Ruzsa, specialist in Indian philosophy

has published several papers. Tibor Porosz whose firstEncyclopedia of Pali - Key Buddhist Terms - is under publi-cation. And Pál Farkas, Former Director of the University,had edited many books on Buddhist philosophy. On the wholethe University has published over 50 works on India so far.

Indo-Hungarian Cultural Exchange Programme (CEP)provides for exchanges of cultural troupes; participation inBook Fairs; exchange of handicrafts exhibitions; exchanges ofexpertise in music, theatre, fine arts, classical dances, etc. andFilm Festivals. Under the Cultural Exchange Programme, withthe help of scholarships offered by ICCR, two major musicgroups in Hungary, namely, “Calcutta Trio” (specialized inSitar) and “Sound of Worlds” (Sarod players) were trained inIndia in Indian music. “Calcutta Trio” which has been in exis-tence for more than 25 years, was established with the aim ofmaking Indian classical music popular outside India. Theyestablished the first RIMPA (Ravi Shankar Institute for Musicand Performing Arts) branch in Budapest where they teach andspread classical Indian music in the region. Anushka ShankarPerformed in Budapest in 2010 and Hariprasad Chaurasia hadcome in April 2006. Similarly under ICCR scholarships sever-al Hungarian dancers went to India to learn classical Indiandances. Several of them excelled and even opened Indian clas-sical dance schools in Hungary training new and promisingdancers. They are regularly staging classical dance performanc-es in Hungary. They have done a commendable job in promot-ing Indian culture in Hungary. The CEP is coming up forrenewal and will be signed during Prime Minister ViktorOrbán’s visit to India in October, 2013.

The Mission has organized music and dance performancesin Hungary of well-known visiting Indian troupes. Prominentperformers include Birju Maharaj, Hari Prasad Chaurasia andShujat Khan, Shipra Goyal Bollywood dance group andSharmistha Mukherjee Kathak troupe performed in Hungaryduring 2011 and 2012 respectively. Several folk-music and dancegroups from Rajasthan, and a folk dance group fromChattisgarh also performed in Hungary in the recent years.

A bust of Mahatma Gandhi presented to GandhiGymnasium Pécs was formally inaugurated on the 20thanniversary of the Gymnasium on 9 February, 2013 in pres-ence of Hungarian Minister of Human Resources, ZoltánBalog. Separately a bust of Tagore is also being installed atELTE University Budapest to forge closer cultural ties with theacademic community in Hungary. Keeping in view the pres-ence of Indian wild animals in Budapest Zoo, India House wasopened in Budapest Zoo in August 2011. Subsequently theIndian National Emblem with Sarnath Lions was presented tothe Zoo and formally installed in September 2012. India Houseseems to have become an attraction in the Zoo which is fre-quented by over a million visitors every year. The multi-faceted bilateral relations over the countries between India andHungary have a deep cultural connection. �


INDIAN CULTURAL CENTRE

IndIan Cultural Centre

India’s relations with Hungary have been close, friendly,multi-faceted and substantive. To give fillip to the existingrich Indo-Hungarian cultural relations, Indian Cultural Centre,Budapest, was formally inaugurated in November 2010 duringthe visit of Smt. Preneet Kaur, Hon’ble Minister of State forExternal Affairs and was made functional from 26th January,2011, coinciding with the Republic Day of India. TheCultural Centre auditorium has a seating capacity of 110 per-sons. The Cultural Centre has a nice Exhibition Hall forpainting and photo exhibitions.

Since its inception, as part of its regular activities, CulturalCentre has organized weekly classes on traditional Indian danceslike: Bharatnatyam, Odissi and Kuchipudi. The courses are con-ducted by Hungarian artists who had learnt the dances from theirgurus in India. Besides these, one class of yoga is conductedevery week. All these classes are usually of one hour duration.These classes are very popular and a large number of Hungarianstudents visit the Cultural Centre to attend these classes.

Under the aegis of Indian Film Club run by Cultural Centre,on every first and third Friday of the month, an Indian Hindifilm is screened (with Hungarian sub-titles). The response fromthe public to the film screening is very enthusiastic. ‘Jab Tak HaiJaan’ ‘3 Idiots’ & ‘Rajneeti’ were screened recently at the CulturalCentre. The other movies which are slated for screening tillDecember 2013 are: Ek Tha Tiger, Devdas, Special Chabbis,Namestey London & Kaho Na Pyaar Hai.

Besides regular yoga, dance and music courses, severalprominent artists from India sent by Indian Council ofCultural Relations, New Delhi, have come and performed at theCultural Centre in the past. Such performances have beenorganized at venues outside the Cultural Centre as well. Inaddition to teaching the traditional dances at the Centre,Hungarian artists regularly perform at the Centre as well as atoutside venues as per programmes chalked out by the Embassy.

Besides the above programmes, as an outreach activity ofthe Cultural Centre, ‘India Day’ celebrations are organized invarious parts of Hungary to showcase the rich cultural her-itage of India, in collaboration with local government andMayor’s offices. ‘India Day’ celebration start with decorationof halls/venues with Indian flag, bantings, cloth lamps andlighting of brass oil lamp. H.E. Ambassador gives a speech onone of the various topics ranging from bilateral relations,close cultural ties, economic cooperation, international rela-tions, yoga, religion, spiritualism etc. This is followed by clas-sical Indian dance or musical (vocal as well as instrumental)performance by Hungarian artists or some visiting Indianartist/group. Indian food stalls are also set up with the collab-oration of Indian restaurants. In addition to this, henna paint-ing, kathputli dances, children games, workshops on yoga, orIndian traditional dances are also held at these events.

Cultural Centre also organizes painting exhibitions at itsExhibition Hall and venues outside the Embassy from time totime. We had organized an Amrita Sher-Gil fence exhibition on21st June, 2013, to commemorate the birth centenary year ofIndo-Hungarian painter, Amrita Sher-Gil at HungarianNational Museum. We had also organized ‘Night of Museums’in collaboration with Hungarian Ministry of NationalResources and State Secretary for Culture at Ferenc HoppMuseum and György Ráth Museum on 22nd June, 2013. Morethan 3.000 people attended the Night of Museums pro-grammes. To commemorate the birth centenary of famousIndo-Hungarian painter Amrita Sher-Gil, recently a paintingexhibition of her works was brought from India and organizedat Balatonfüred in July 2013. We had also organized a paintingexhibition of very famous Hungarian mother-daughter duopainters, Elizabeth Sass Brunner and Elizabeth Brunner atCultural Centre. Gandhi Jayanti was also celebrated in collab-oration with Ferenc Hopp Museum and Cultural Centre.

—Umesh Kumar, Director of Indian Cultural Centre

LEFT: Main entrance of Indian Cultural Centre. CEnTEr: Kathakali performance by Ms Magdolna Béky at the Auditorium. rIGHT: Sitar concert at the Auditorium.


SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

The cooperation between India and Hungary in the field ofScience and Technology is as old as the establishment of diplo-matic relations between the two countries. The bilateral coop-eration between the two countries in the field of Science andTechnology is being executed through two separateAgreements – first between Indian National Science Academy(INSA) and the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (HAS) whichis being renewed from time to time, the last being in 2011 dur-ing the meeting of World Science Forum which was held from17-19 November, 2011 in the Budapest. The second agreementwhich is mainly on Government to Government basis has beensigned between the Department of Science and Technology(DST) and the National Innovation Office (NIH) of Hungary.

Hungary recognizes that India has a well-developedResearch and Development (R&D) infrastructure, large scien-tific man-power with extensive scientific capabilities in diverseareas with linkages with global R&D platform. SinceHungarian scientific institutions are a major R&D platform inthe region, therefore their collaboration is mutually beneficial.It would be no exaggeration to say that Indo-HungarianScience and Technology Cooperation is the most sustained,substantive and productive of all the programmes that Indiahas with the countries in the region. This feeling is mutual asthe Hungarian side also feels that their collaboration in S&Twith India has been the most diverse and substantial of allprogrammes they have with Asian countries and for that mat-ter with any developing country.

The first agreement of scientific cooperation between INSAand the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (HAS) was signed inDecember 1980 and has undergone revision and extensions fromtime to time as mentioned above. The agreement provides forexchange of scientists in the identified areas of Mathematics,Physics, Chemistry, Earth Sciences, Engineering andBiotechnology for up to 20 man months every year. It also coversorganization of joint seminars, symposia alternately to be held inIndia and Hungary with the participation of scientists from boththe countries. During the last 10 years, the two countries on anaverage have exchanged 15-20 scientists under this agreement.

Science and Technology cooperation on government togovernment basis between India and Hungary is the responsi-bility of DST and NIH respectively. Under the agreement, aJoint Science and Technology Committee has been establishedto oversee the cooperation in this important field. The identi-fied areas of cooperation include Medical Science, Catalysis,Biotechnology and Earth Sciences. Some of the major

achievements of cooperation programme include - develop-ment of new low cost drug for bone marrow transplantationof Hungarian origin which has been clinically tested and fur-ther adapted to suit Indian health care system after obtainingnecessary clearances of Hungarian authorities, improvementin management protocol for bone marrow transplantationcapacity building, analysis of homologous protein sequencesusing computational approaches, petrochemical comparisonof spherules, development of layered magnetic materials,study of bio-catalytic processes and mapping of salt affectedareas. Therefore, it would not be out of place to emphasizethat the cooperation in this field has led to concrete resultswhich have benefitted the two countries.

Realizing the importance and potential of this area, thetwo sides during the visit of the then Prime Minister ofHungary, H.E. Mr Ferenc Gyurcsány to India from 16-19January 2008, decided to set up a Joint Indo-Hungary StrategicResearch Fund of Euro 2 million for three years with annualcontribution of Euro one million each. This project wasintended to support joint research project and suggested areasinclude Biotech, Agriculture, Pharmaceuticals, ICT, Nano-technology and Molecular Biology. The work to invite propos-als under the fund began in right earnest and many researchproposals were well received but unfortunately owing to therestructuring in Hungary in 2010 in the government depart-ments, the activation of the fund was delayed. The visit of thethen Science and Technology Minister, Shri VilasraoDeshmukh to participate in the World Science Forum, organ-ized by the Government of Hungary, proved to be a catalystand led to decision to revive the Fund and in fact it was alsoagreed to renew the Joint Research Fund with enhanced fund-ing of Euro 2 million each for the period 2014-17.

DST and NIH have jointly invited proposals to be taken upunder the Research Fund and more than 20 proposals for jointresearch have been received and which are being processed bythe two sides. During the forthcoming visit of Hon’ble PrimeMinister of Hungary, H.E. Mr Viktor Orbán to India, whichwould take place from 16-19 October 2013, results would beannounced. The meeting of Joint Science and TechnologyCommittee would be held on 14th October 2013 in NewDelhi. These developments have clearly proved that coopera-tion in Science and Technology is one of the most importantand profitable area and the forthcoming visit of Hon’ble PrimeMinister of Hungary would give it further impetus. �

—Sushil Singhal, Counsellor, Embassy of India, Budapest

CooperatIon In SCIenCe and

teChnology—mutually benefICIal journey


ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL RELATIONS

Economic relations between India and Hungary have along history. Reaching back to 1949, cooperation was firstinstitutionalized through the signing of the Rupee TradeAgreement with the trade being canalised through governmentagencies. The inter-governmental Joint Commission was estab-lished in 1973 followed by the creation of the Joint BusinessCouncil in 1979.

Before the change over in Hungary in 1990, India wasHungary’s major partner in Asia both in trade and economiccollaboration, even though this covered only a small propor-tion of Hungary’s international economic interaction.Hungary provided a useful first European market for severalnon-traditional Indian products including Maruti cars andMopeds. Bilateral trade during the 1980′s remained above USD100 million and in some years even touched $ 200 million. Themajor items of export from India before 1990 were tea, tobac-co, pepper and other spices, de-oiled cakes, finished leather

A két ország közötti gazdasági kapcsolatok hosszú múltratekintenek vissza. A kapcsolatok 1949-ben kezdődtek, amikorIndia és Magyarország között megszületett a Rúpia KereskedelmiEgyezmény, melynek megfelelően évről-évre központi megál-lapodások születtek arról, hogy mely termékekkel és milyen meny-nyiségben kereskedjen a két ország. Ennek megfelelően a tranz-akciók lebonyolítása egy zárt csatornán, állami intézményekenkeresztül történt. A gazdasági kapcsolatok következő jelentősmérföldköve 1973-ban érkezett el, amikor megalakult a Magyar-Indiai Gazdasági Vegyes Bizottság, majd ezt követően 1979-bena Magyar-Indiai Üzleti Tanács.

Az 1989-90-es évi magyar rendszerváltás előtt India voltMagyarország legfőbb gazdasági és kereskedelmi partnereÁzsiában, ámbár ez csak kis hányadát tette ki Magyarország kül-gazdasági tevékenységének. India számára Magyarország jelen-tette az első európai piacot jónéhány olyan nem hagyományosexportcikk számára, mint például a Maruti gépjárművek és

Economic and commercial relationsbetween India and

Hungary

Indiai-MagyarGazdasági ésKereskedelmiKapcsolatok

Ambassador Mishra speaking at the meeting with Indian investors and Hungarian officials. On the dais business representatives and mission’s officials



and shoe uppers, iron ore and pellets, cotton and jute products,engineering goods, Maruti vehicles, chemicals and chemicalproducts. Imports from Hungary included steel and steel prod-ucts, chemicals, machine tools, pulses, peas, newsprint andengineering goods, especially for railways and power projects.Over 25 joint ventures have been established in India byHungarian companies.

Sweeping reforms were undertaken at the beginning of the1990′s in both India and Hungary with a view to integration withthe world economy which changed the rules of the game in bothcountries and meant that the old commercial links have virtuallydissolved. New trading relations to replace them have been slowto emerge due to various reasons. While deregulation and liberal-isation of the economies have thrown up fresh opportunities inboth countries for enhanced and meaningful commercial andeconomic co-operation, there has not yet been any significantutilisation of these opportunities. However, in the last few yearsbilateral trade has once again began to increase: From aroundUSD 150 mln in 2005 trade has steadily grown to USD 841 mlnby 2011. After this peak however trade fell back to USD 642 mlnin 2012. This reduction can be attributed to the economic crisisand other factors: Nokia relocating production of mobile phonesfrom Esztergom to India, as well as the expiration of a one-timebusiness deal of CG Electric in 2011. This shows how a consid-erable portion of the value of trade can be affected through indi-vidual deals of large multinationals, and underlines the need topromote the diversification of trade both in exports and imports.

mopedek. A kétoldalú kereskedelem a 80-as években 100 és 200millió dollár érték között mozgott. India főbb exportcikkei a tea,dohány, bors, fűszerek, olajpogácsa, kikészített bőr, cipőfel-sőrész, vasérc, koksz, pamut és juta, szerszámok, Maruti gépjár-művek, vegyszerek és vegyi áruk voltak. A Magyarországrólimportált cikkek között szerepelt az acél ill. acéláruk, vegyszerek,szerszámgépek, babfélék, nyomdai gépek, szerszámok elsősor-ban a vasút és az erőművek számára. Akkoriban a magyar cégektöbb mint 25 vegyesvállalatot létesítettek Indiában.

Az 1989-90-es évek során fordulópont következett be. Amindkét országban bekövetkező politikai és gazdasági változá-sok hatására megszűnt a korábban kialakult gazdasági rendszer.Magyarország szakított korábbi partnereivel, felszámolta keletikapcsolatait, és kizárólag a nyugat felé koncentrált. A gyors pri-vatizáció, a hagyományos piacok megszűnése és a nyugati befek-tetők beáramlása szétzilálta a korábbi kereskedelmi kap-csolatrendszert. A keleti újrarendeződés csak lassan kezdett elin-dulni. Bár az országokban végbemenő gazdasági liberalizációsfolyamatok új lehetőségeket teremtettek a gazdasági éskereskedelmi kapcsolatok megújítására, ezek a lehetőségekhosszú ideig, egészen az ezredfordulóig kiaknázatlanok marad-tak. Ugyanakkor az utóbbi pár évben a kereskedelem ismétnövekedésnek indult a két ország között: Míg 2005-ben azexport és import értéke csupán 150 millió dollárt tett ki, akereskedelem az évek során dinamikusan bővült, így 2011-re ezaz összeg több mint az ötszörösére, azaz 841 millió dollárra nőtt.Ez a jelentős bővülés mutatja, hogy milyen nagy lehetőségek

Bilateral Trade (in USD Million)

Source: Central Statistical Office www.ksh.hu



rejlenek a két ország kapcsolataiban. A kereskedelmi forgalomugyanakkor 2012-ben, visszaesett 642 milló dollárra. Ez többtényezőre vezethető vissza: Egyrészt a gazdasági válság le-csökkentette a keresletet, másrészt pedig megváltozott akereskedelem szerkezete: A Nokia áthelyezte a mobiltelefonokgyártását Indiába, míg a CG Electric egy korábbi nagy volumenűegyszeri megrendelést teljesített 2011-ben, melynek hatására2012-ben, 199 millió dollárral esett vissza a kereskedelem. Ez ajelenség rávilágít arra, hogy milyen fontos szerepet játszanak anagy multicégek az indiai-magyar kereskedelmi kapcsolatokban,és felhívja a figyelmet a diverzifikáció fontosságára.

Trade Composition: Recent trends indicate a shift in thecomposition of Indian exports away from traditional goodssuch as cotton yarn and textiles, towards organic chemicals,machinery, automotive components and pharmaceuticals.Imports from Hungary comprise items such as wheat, electri-cal machinery and equipment and light engineering goods.

Framework for Economic cooperation

Over the years a Joint Economic Commission and a

Joint Business Council has been set up between the two

countries:

The Indo-Hungary Joint Economic Committee (JEC),which was established in 1973 provides the institutionalframework for intergovernmental discussions on economiccooperation. The latest JCEC meeting was held in February2010 in Budapest.

A jelen kereskedelem összetétele: Hagyományosexportcikkei, a pamutszál és a textília mellett, India exportjama már kiterjed az olyan cikkekre is, mint az organikuskemikáliák, gépek, autóalkatrészek és a gyógyszer.Magyarországról India búzát, elektromos ipari gépeket, fel-szereléseket és könnyűipari termékeket importál.

A kétoldalú gazdasági kapcsolatok főbb intézményei

India és Magyarország között két jelentős intézmény működik:

Az Magyar-Indiai Gazdasági Vegyes Bizottságot 1973-ban hoztáklétre azzal a céllal, hogy a két ország közötti kormányközi gazdasá-gi együttműködés kérdéseit megvitathassák. A legutóbbi ilyentalálkozóra 2010 februárjában került sor Budapesten. Ezen atalálkozón aláírtak egy Társadalombiztosítási Megállapodást is a kétország között, amely a Magyarországon, főleg az IT szektorban dol-gozó indiai munkavállalók társadalombiztosítási járulék levonás

Bilateral Trade (in USD Million)

Forrás: Központi Statisztikai Hivatal, KSH

Ms Ildikó Kovács

national Innovation Office



A Social Security Agreement was signed between the twocountries on the sidelines of the JEC, which would addressthe issues on social security tax particularly in the case of ITsector. An agreement on Trade and Investment cooperationwas also signed between Federation of Indian Chambers ofCommerce and Industry (FICCI) and ITD Hungary.

The Joint Business Council of Indian and Hungariancompanies was set up in 1979 under an agreement betweenFICCI and Hungarian Chamber of Commerce to promotedirect contact between business delegations. It last met inBudapest in February 2010 during the meeting of the JointEconomic Committee. During the meeting, the FICCI andHungarian Chambers signed a MOU on Arbitration andConciliation Tribunal, which would enable both countriesto settle commercial disputes. In March 2010, a businessdelegation led by Mr Laszlo Parragh, President HCCI, visit-ed India.

Investments

Indian investments have grown significantly in Hungaryfollowing liberalisation of economy in India in 1991 andeconomic and political changes in Hungary. Indian invest-ments in Hungary are in the fields of information technol-ogy, pharmaceuticals, electrical machinery, food processingand auto-components. TCS, Satyam, Genpact, Cognizant,Sun Pharma, Crompton Greaves are among the companiesthat are active in Hungary. Jet Air has recently opened anoff-line office in Budapest. With a total accumulated invest-ment of USD 1.5 billion to date, Indian companies createemployment opportunities for more than 7,000 people inHungary. Current Hungarian investments to India are stilllimited but include well-known names such as Richter-Gedeon (Pharmaceutical) and MOL (Oil and gas), and spe-cialists like Tarant (IT), Organica (Waste water purification),and Cason Engineering (Oil and gas automation, leakagedetection).

Outlook

With the upcoming visit of Hungarian Prime Minister MrViktor Orbán and a large business delegation to India on 16-19th October 2013, we can anticipate a very positive falloutfor the future of Indo-Hungarian ties. There is still lot ofscope for collaboration since Hungary has technologicalexpertise in various fields, while growing India would be ahuge market and financial supporter for trade and joint ven-tures, research, investment and cooperation. The followingareas have been identified by the two countries:

Autocomponents, pharmaceuticals, InformationTechnology, Tourism, Agriculture, Water management,Electronics. With the upcoming delegation to India we canhope that business ventures in these fields will gain momen-tum, more agreements will be signed taking economic ties tonew heights in the years to come. �

kérdését szabályozza. Továbbá megállapodás született a kereskedelmi és a beruházási együttműködésről, melyet az indiaiKereskedelmi és Iparkamara Szövetség (Federation of IndianChambers of Commerce and Industry, azaz FICCI), valamint amagyar International Trade Development Hungary (ITDH) írt alá.

A Magyar-Indiai Üzleti Tanács 1979-ben jött létre a FICCIés a Magyar Kereskedelmi és Iparkamara megállapodása által,melynek célja, hogy üzleti delegációk révén ösztönözzék a kétország közötti közvetlen kapcsolatot. Legutóbb 2010 február-jában került sor a találkozóra a Gazdasági Vegyesbizottságiülés mellett, ahol megállapodás született egy érdekegyeztetőválasztottbírósági intézmény létrehozásáról, mely lehetővéteszi a két ország közötti kereskedelmi viták rendezését. Abudapesti találkozóra válaszul 2010 márciusában ParraghLászló, a Magyar Kereskedelmi és Iparkamara elnöke egy 28fős üzleti delegáció élén Indiába látogatott.

Beruházások

Az 1991-től megkezdett indiai gazdasági liberalizáció, valaminta magyar rendszerváltás óta egyre nagyobb mértékben jelennekmeg a befektetések mindkét országban. Magyarországon az indiaibefektetők számos területen megtalálhatók: IT szolgáltatások, gyó-gyszeripar, elektromos ipari gépek és berendezések, autoiparialkatrészek gyártása valamint élelmiszer feldolgozás iparágakban.A legjelentősebb ilyen cégek a Tata Consultancy Services, Satyam,Genpact, Cognizant (IT), Sun Pharma (volt Alkaloida) CromptonGreaves (volt Transzelektro). Legutóbb a Jet Air légitársaság nyi-tott jegyirodát Budapesten. Napjainkig a közvetlen tőkeberuházásmértéke eléri az 1.5 milliárt dollárt, és ezek a beruházások többmint 7000 embernek adnak munkalehetőséget.

Ezzel szemben a magyar beruházások Indiában sokkalkisebbek, bár nem kevésbé fontosak. Olyan nagy cégek van-nak jelen mint a Richter-Gedeon, a MOL, illetve kevésbéismert speciális cégek mint a Tarant (IT) vagy az Organica(szennyvíztisztítás) és a Cason Engineering (olaj és gáziparautomatizálási rendszerek, szivárgás érzékelés, stb.)

Jövőbeni kilátások

Hosszas előkészület után Orbán Viktor miniszterelnök ésüzleti delegációja Indiába tervez látogatni 2013 október 16-19között, mely igen fontos momentuma lesz a kétoldalú gazdasá-gi kapcsolatoknak, hiszen még igen sok kiaknázatlan lehetőségkínálkozik az együttműködésre. Magyarország fejlett kutatásieredményei és üzleti tapasztalatai jól alkalmazhatóak lennének adinamikusan fejlődő ázsiai ország hatalmas belső piacán,valamint indiai tőkével lehetővé téve a kereskedelem, a ve-gyesvállalatok és beruházások, a kutatási együttműködésekfelvirágzását. Az ilyen közösen kijelölt együttműködési cél-terület az autoipar, információs technológia, elektronika, gyógy-szeripar, turizmus, mezőgazdaság és a vízgazdálkodás. A közel-gő látogatás várhatóan ezen területeknek a fellendülését, újállamközi szerződések aláírását, és erősebb indiai-magyar gaz-dasági-kulturális együttműködést hoz magával. �


ART

Ms Erzsébet Farkas was born in Nagykanizsa in 1889. Shestarted to paint as early as the age of 9 and studied painting ata school set up by a local artist, Ferenc Sass. She studied underthe guidance of Ferenc Sass, Simon Hollósy and KárolyFerenczy. In 1908 Sass founded a painters’ school inNagykanizsa and her first pupil turned out to be his wife: mas-ter and student fell in love, got married in 1909, and had theirdaughter, Erzsébet Brunner (Elizabeth Brunner), born in 1910.The artist’s husband had several exhibitions in Budapest, at theNational Salon in 1909. Erzsébet Sass Brunner (Elizabeth SassBrunner) herself exhibited in the National Salon andMűcsarnok from 1914. In 1921, the National Salon served as avenue for a collected exhibition of her landscapes and still-lifes.

Erzsébet Sass Brunner and József Egry were also

acquainted. Egry had a house in Keszthely, not far away fromGyenesdiás, where the artist-couple had a weekend house.József Egry was painting the Lake Balaton scenery, just likeErzsébet Sass Brunner, as they were looking for similarescape routes from the crisis of the 1920s. By 1928, theartist’s popularity soared to such heights that her „greatestten-reproductions inasmallblue booklet” were printed as a coloured-postcard series of Lake Balaton.

The amount of pain caused by the first World Warinduced a total disillusionment in Ferenc Sass. He stopped hiscreative work and grew depressed, his wife, however, feltmore of the creative urge and therefore moved to Budapesttogether with her daughter. Afterwards Erzsébet Brunnerstudied to be a sculptor with Zsigmond Kisfaludy Stróbl. In

Elizabeth Sass Brunner &

Elizabeth Brunner


ART

her recollections the daughter mentions the name of ImreSimay as her mentor, being a famous artist in her father’sartistic circles. Imre Simay was a sculptor, painter and graph-ic artist, one of the rectors of the Academy of Applied Arts,a friend of the family, who helped and supported ErzsébetBrunner at the time of their move to Budapest.

Another circle, which might have had influence uponErzsébet Sass Brunner, and which she might have even hadcontact with was the Society of Spiritual Artists. Its founderswere Jenő Remsey and Zoltán Remsey. Remsey was a mem-ber of the art colony of Gödöllő, having studied previouslyin Vienna and Munich. He exhibited in the National Salon in1924. The members of the Society of Spiritual Artists creat-ed mystical paintings of an idealist approach, often on reli-gious topics. Light played a role in their work as the source ofspiritual experience. The mysticism of light was an importantexperience in the early paintings of Erzsébet Sass Brunner aswell as the first step in her artistic evolution. Contemporarypapers describe Erzsébet Sass Brunner as follows: „With herpalette she is reaching out to heights of the soul with witchlike craft, andshe is pouring into her richly dense colours a created and therefore morebeautiful and meaningful world with her revolutionary eruptive innerstrength. The topics rooted in her soul open up captivating perspectivesof fantasy.” „Her piece entitled The day of love created a sensation

Wife of the Nizam of Hyderabad,Elizabeth Sass Brunner and ElizabethBrunner by her side, there are Britisharistocrats behind them. Hyderabad, 1930s.


ART

long black necks, delicate features and graceful figures. The mother threwherself into the depths of the Indian mindset. She was learning thebooks of Indian sages under the supervision of Tagore. The secrets ofIndian philosophy though can only be accessed by ascetic self-torture.”

Between 1935 and 1937 they lived in Japan. They exhibit-ed not only their paintings done in India, but the ones theypainted in Hungary as well. Their book entitled The MysticIndia was published, with introductions by RabindranathTagore and Mahatma Gandhi. Besides their paintings, thebook contains their writings, too. In Japan they were influ-enced by the sea and the Fuji. They can “thank” their two-year stay in Japan to the Fuji volcano as well: during one oftheir excursions Erzsébet Sass Brunner fell in such a misfor-tunate manner that she broke her hip, and in this state shewas unable to travel. While they were spending time in Japan,they acquainted the far-east country with the poetry ofSándor Petőfi—with the intercession of the Hungarian con-sul a large number of Petőfi’s poems were translated andpublished in an anthology.

In 1938 they sailed to the United States through Hawaii.They exhibited their paintings in San Francisco, Los Angeles,Chicago and New York. From Japan they travelled to the

in Budapest as well. It encircles Christ’s emerging body in an allegory,painting the dazzlement with brushes, colours, in a rich, dazzling mag-nificence onto the canvas.”

Erzsébet Sass Brunner had the opportunity to getacquainted with the intellectual trends of distant cultureseven when she was still at home; she joined the vegetarianmovement of Béla Bicsérdi. During the summers she livedand meditated at Lake Balaton. She took a ritual bath everysingle morning, as a finishing touch to her early greeting ofthe sun. The mazdaznan, the world of the ancient, dualistreligion originating from Persia had an impact on her. Shedevoted her life to the veneration of the Sun and the Moon,which becomes a recurring motive in her works. The essenceof the visions of Erzsébet Sass Brunner was the experienceof universalism, in which Sun and Moon, Light andDarkness, God and Man, the Universe and the individual arerepresented as the same. Erzsébet Sass Brunner led an asce-tic lifestyle, fasting regularly, feeding herself exclusively onfruits and vegetables ripened in the sun. Once, following a28-day fasting period she had a dream, inspiring her to go onwith her life, but in a different way.

Influenced by this prophetic dream therefore, on the 5thof May, 1929 mother and daughter, Erzsébet Sass Brunnerand Erzsébet Brunner started out on their journey. First theywent to Italy; here the sources of inspiration were the cata-combs for Erzsébet Sass Brunner. They moved on to theisland of Capri, where the artist pictured the miracle of theBlue Cave in several paintings. In Naples she painted theerupting Vesuvius, in Sicily the cliffs. These works of her tes-tify to rather expressive features in her brush-work. Theirjourney was covered by articles, sometimes in even slightlytabloid form, but the two women made headlines whereverthey went.

In Sicily it was the daughter, who had a dream, in which agrey-haired, grey-bearded man held a lamp in front of her,directing her to show this light to the whole world. When thedaughter told her mother about the strange dream, the moth-er recognised the world famous, Nobel Prize Indian poet,Rabindranath Tagore. She wrote a letter with the address“Tagore, India”, as it was retold in the novel Fire in Bengal.The poet invited the ladies to his university, to Shantiniketan.The two women then started out for Alexandria. It was theHungarian consul of Egypt, who supported them in theirupcoming journey, as his brother stemmed from Nagykanizsaand was an admirer of the paintings of Erzsébet SassBrunner. So their ship sailed out for India…

In the years that followed the paintresses wanderedthrough India. It was their conscious artistic ambition to infil-trate themselves with the traditions of Indian art „from theHimalaya to Rameswaram, from Bengal to Gujarat, supported by themaharajas, she was painting the lotus-eyed Indian beauties with their

The Poet, Rabindranath Tagore


ART

United States, then to England, finally to Hungary, in the summer of1938. Their visit remained short, they returned to England to attendtheir opening exhibition in the Cooling Gallery in London. It was herethat they met Jawaharlal Nehru for the first time, whose portrait theypainted later on, after their returning to India and that of Dr. Radhakrishnan as well. Baroda Maharaja, who asked them to returnto India and paint a collection exclusively for the Baroda Museum andArt Gallery. In Baroda they painted historical paintings as well as placesand Indian still-lifes. They undertook an important pilgrimage in 1941:they visited the famous Shiva cave in Amarnath, in Kashmir.

As Second World War broke out, the English authorities deportedall citizens of the opponent countries, so the artists who notoriouslysupported the Indian independence movement, were transported tothe camp of a Himalayan military base and holiday resort. Later, withthe tensions easing somewhat, they could furnish a small holiday cot-tage for themselves in Nainital, where they later settled as well.

Erzsébet Sass Brunner painted mainly landscapes, still-lifes andstreet paintings. Of the great men whom she exceptionally portrayed,she was trying to capture with her focus on their mindset. Her tinydots lend a kind of vibration to her paintings; the lack of details andthe overemphasised eyes accentuate the universal essence of man. Inthe landscapes where she is also portraying people her aim is toemphasize: man is part of nature. Her landscapes express the great-ness of infinity, the timeless silence and the frailty of man. „Thegreat sights, the spareness of the desert, the alternating rains, themist of the lotus lakes, the mystical water of the Ganges, the formi-dable Himalaya, the non-life of people, their spiritual and physicalbeauty and the atmosphere of concentric pictures left me with anindescribable impression.” – she wrote.

The greatest undertaking of Erzsébet Sass Brunner’s last periodas a painter were the twelve paintings of the series titled “Buddha’senlightenment”. In 1950, in the cold winter Erzsébet Sass Brunnercaught pneumonia and died thereof on the 19th of February. Herdaughter organized her collective exhibition in Delhi. ErzsébetBrunner in the end moved from the mountains of the Himalaya backto Delhi, where she opened a studio. Following her long seclusionshe again took part in the artistic life. During her pilgrimage between1955 and 1957 she painted the Buddhist shrines of India, Nepal,Thailand, Ceylon. In 1959 she participated in aiding the Tibetanrefugees and met the Dalai lama, whom she portrayed as the firstamong Europeans. Among the numerous exhibitions of ErzsébetBrunner the one staged in 1956, celebrating the 2500th anniversaryof Buddha’s birth was especially outstanding. This exhibition waslater shown in Ceylon and Tibet, too. Erzsébet Brunner was hon-oured with several noted Hungarian and Indian state awards: she wasawarded with the Order of the Flag of the Hungarian People’s. In1985 she was given the Order of Merit of the Hungarian Republic,and received the Padma Shri state award from India’s President GianiZail Singh. Erzsébet Brunner died in 2001 at Delhi. �

—Csilla Kőfalvi

Director of Képzőművészetek Háza, Nagykanizsa

Elizabeth Sass Brunner


BIOGRAPHY

M. K. Gandhi (1869–1948) is achallenging historical personality. Indiaand the world duly celebrate hisanniversaries of birth and death, holdconferences, publish books and papers,interpret his message and disregard itsmeaning. Everyone knows that violenceis bad and solves nothing yet the worldand India is as violent as ever, and evensometimes has spasms of excessive vio-lence, almost of genocide, one shouldonly recall tragic acts in the Yugoslavwar in the early 90s or the senselessbloodbath in Gujarat early in the newcentury. Organised violence or its toolsconsume enormous sums for new andever more lethal arms and for keepingmillions of young and strong men inarms. Economic, social and physicaloppression of the weak is permanent;the respect of human rights is totallymissing in several parts of the world.

Gandhi's political will and testa-ment as well as his vision of independ-ent India seemed to be totally irrelevantin the face of the actual historical reali-ty of the world. In the unfolding ColdWar India could not give up her state-hood, armed forces and positioningherself in the international matrix ofpower relations.

Gandhi's life and work demandedthe attention of his contemporaries allover the world. There was admirationand rejection, analysis and response buthardly anyone remained indifferent tonews coming from India during theinter-war period. His spirituality movedmany who sensed that after First WorldWar, and running into a new one peo-ple needed some moorings which heoffered. The morality he tried to incor-porate into politics was new thougheveryone sensed that sheer power inter-est was insufficient in the managementof any society. His critics rejected mostof his ideas and doubted his success inthe struggle for independence.

mahatma gandhi—any message today?

In Hungary the press, the literaryperiodicals and several prominent per-sonalities of intellectual life paid greatattention to Gandhi's life and work.Eminent authors commented on histhoughts and manner of political strug-gle. Romain Rolland's Mahatma Gandhiwas published in Hungarian as early asin 1924, and it had several editions lateron as well. One of the outstanding liter-ary personalities of the period, FerencHerczeg published a lengthy analysis ofGandhi's activities in 1925, which wasrepeatedly published in a volume of hiscollected essays. This writing shows adeep and complex understanding ofGandhi and his political role. Ervin

Baktay and Gyula Germanus wereamong the first to publish books onGandhi. In 1926 Baktay published aselection of Gandhi's writings inHungarian translation, and he even vis-ited the Mahatma in the SabarmatiAshram and interviewed him. Gandhiwas aware of the attention Hungarianspaid to him, and upon request he wrotean article under the title "What DoesIndia Want?" which was published inPesti Napló, a popular and widely readpolitical daily in February 1930. Furtheron, the Hungarian press always keptpace with the events in India, reportedon Gandhi's fasts, on the Salt March, onthe Round Table Conference in London

Portrait of Mahatma Gandhi by Elizabeth Brunner


BIOGRAPHY

and on his journey to Britain and Europe. With the spread offilm and newsreel projected in cinemas visual information alsoreached the Hungarian public. His death shocked the countryand people could not understand why after the inferno ofSecond World War could such a holy person be assassinated.Somehow, and for a short while European people believed orrather hoped that violence would end once and for ever.

Europe, however, was divided, and attempts were madeto brainwash minds under communist rule. As a result,Gandhi was removed from the agenda. Communist ideolo-gy did not know how to 'treat' his activities, ideology andteaching. After all India was important to the Soviet Unionand its satellites and Gandhi's role in the independencemovement could not be disregarded. Yet, about twenty yearsof silence set in here, in this part of the world whenUNESCO announced his birth centenary as the year ofGandhi. The communist camp opened up and joined thecelebrations. In Hungary a major international conferencewas held, the Hungarian Post issued a memorial stamp, arti-cles and soon books were also published in Hungarianabout Gandhi's life and work. The Indian state presentedHungary with a bronze bust of Gandhi which is still visiblein Budapest. Subsequently, Richard Attenborough's film onGandhi, presented in Hungary in late 1983, popularised hispersonality and thoughts. Even today this film is viewed inclubs, by university students wishing to get acquainted withGandhi's career and teachings.

A personality like Gandhi is being constantly re-assessedby history as the set of values of society and the worldchange. If one views Gandhi's thoughts today he still seemsto be too conservative, too obsolete and too spiritual. If onetakes the pains to study his work in the historical context helived in, the opinion changes: a keen-eyed, morally guided,spiritually firm and very practical, 'shrewd' politician emerges.If one reads some of his fundamental writings, like HindSwaraj or Indian Home Rule, first published in 1909 (and inEnglish in 1910 in Natal, South Africa), and re-issued withoutany alteration in 1938, one is shocked, as the contemporaryworld was, for statements totally rejecting European civilisa-tion, machines, lawyers, doctors, railways and – in a word –everything modern man cherishes and is proud of. The littlebook never had a Hungarian edition up to 2010, when it wasfinally translated and published. It immediately caught theattention of people interested in the destiny of the globe andof humanity.

The development of natural sciences and some specificworks have called attention to the condition of the Earth. Amajor impact and a revelation came as a result of the work ofWilliam Rees and Mathis Wackernagel in Canada who pub-lished their writings from 1992 on, and particularly a book inearly 1996, and the concept of 'ecological footprint' was rap-idly becoming common knowledge, showing that humanity is

rapidly using up the resources of the world and soon anoth-er planet of identical size would be needed if consumptioncontinued unchanged. Calculations were made, methodologyelaborated, and today this footprint, or rather the consump-tion of resources can be expressed by nation and even byindividual. It is suggested that taken the US as basis humani-ty would require four globes if all consumed the same quan-tity at the same speed. The concept of 'sustainable' economy,development and everything else emerged pointing towardsthe stark fact that what is in progress today is simply impos-sible to be carried on.

Before the concept of the ecological footprint becamebroadly familiar some economists like J. A. Schumpeter pro-posed the reduction of huge industries into smaller units,supplying only for real needs, and the Norwegian environ-mentalist Arne Naess wrote about a more moderate, environ-ment-friendly economy, a self-restraining consumption andway of life. Some others have warned about the destructivepower of ever bigger and complex machines taking away thelivelihood from man. Problems were being recognised, glob-al conferences on the environment have become permanentbut so far nothing much has been done for saving the Earthand the future living conditions of humanity.

Recently a group of Hungarian environmentalists haveturned to Gandhi suggesting that perhaps he was right whenhe rejected European civilisation and proposed a return tosimple peasant life and small communities as the only possi-ble alternative for the survival of humans. What he wrote inHind Swaraj seems to be more topical than ever before, asfaith in a constantly rising and spreading development basedon technology and science is shaken just by the very progressof a better understanding of nature.

Gandhi's moral teaching about human life reverberatesthe Sermon of the Mount, Christians must be familiar with,as Gandhi himself suggested that the words of Jesus in thattext contained all one needed in human life. But there is moreto it. Hungarians as many people in the developed world ofEuropean civilisation have lost their faith in God, lost God oreven killed him as Nietzsche had put it, and consequently lostthe moral teachings and norms offered by their religion. Yet,there is yearning for something spiritual that would make theindividual stronger and help him or her find one's way in life.Gandhi frequently referred to the still small voice inside asthe guiding force. This is how Hindu teachings, either in theform of Yoga or in Krishna's following have been spreadingin Hungary, people join groups in meditation, read the Gitaand submit to the magic of Indian dance and music. Gandhi'sAutobiography has had a second edition, obviously becausethere is demand for it. I have seen the Hungarian edition ofHind Swaraj in the hands of my students. The growing reali-sation that we cannot continue our life the way our parentslived is present. Some people return to the simplest possible


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life out in nature. Some are becoming more environment-conscious in their habits and consumption.

Perhaps social sensitivity is also growing. It is not acciden-tal that people working for the upliftment of Gypsies, arather disadvantaged but sizeable group of citizens inHungary who have been discriminated against in variousforms and ways, established a school many years ago forGypsy students and named the school after Gandhi. Gypsiesare our pariahs in this country. The school has been a successoffering one of the most important means of improving thelife of that group of people: knowledge and skills.

There is much more in Gandhi. Once again his moralteaching comes to the fore. World politics badly needs to turnto him and see that the end does not justify the means, a mes-sage each and every politician should consider. It is notasserted or only lip service is being paid to it.

A note about India, his homeland should come at the endof this writing. Today India is becoming a major world power,the talent and resources of that sub-continent produce mar-

vels in economic development and growth. Gandhi, however,would not be happy to watch all this, as modernisation ofIndia is more violent than it need be, oppression and expro-priation of the poor is continuous, religious tension and vio-lence among communities is a daily feature, and nature is notspared either.

From time to time personalities like Gandhi with animportant and complex message emerge, like His Holinessthe XIVth Dalai Lama, or Aung San Suu Kyi, true messengersof non-violence, of peace and spiritualism and the worldrespects them, listens to their words, or kills them as Gandhior Martin Luther King was killed. And after having listenedto them, or read their writings, nothing much happens.Perhaps Albert Einstein was right when he said on the 70thbirthday of Gandhi that the generations to come would hard-ly believe that "such a man as this one ever in flesh and bloodwalked upon this Earth". If the Earth survives at all.

One should read Gandhi carefully and attentively. �

—Dr Vera Gáthy, Reader, PPKE University

gandhI jayantI CelebratIonOn 2nd October 2013, Gandhi Jayanti was

celebrated with great fervor by the IndianCultural Centre, Embassy of India, Budapest.The morning programme was organized by theEmbassy in collaboration with and at the prem-ises of Ferenc Hopp Museum of Eastern AsiaticArts, Budapest. The solemn programme beganwith floral tribute to Mahatma Gandhi, followedby brief speeches on Gandhian vision byAmbassador of India, Dr Imre Takács, GeneralDirector of the Museum of Applied Arts and H.E.Dr Zsolt Horváth, Chairman of Indo-HungarianGroup at Parliament two Hungarian dignitaries,and singing of Bhajans. In the evening, anotherprogramme titled ‘Mahatma – A Great Soul of20th Century’ was organized at the CulturalCentre of the Embassy. The programme consist-ed of screening of a 48-minute documentary onMahatma Gandhi, panel discussion on Gandhianphilosophy by eminent scholars, Mr GézaBethlenfalvy, Ms Katalin Aklan and Mr IstvánPerczel. The discussions were preceded by atalk on Gandhiji by H.E. Ambassador of India.

The programme concluded with a performanceof Indian classical dance Odissi by Ms VirágTúri. Both the functions were attended by alarge number of Indian and Hungarian followersof Mahatma Gandhi.


BIOGRAPHY

ErVin BAktAy(Dunaharaszti, June 24, 1890 – Budapest, May 7, 1963)

Ervin Baktay and the Amrita Sher-Gil family

This year we commemorate Ervin Baktay on the fiftiethanniversary of his leaving our world.

A seminar and an exhibition was held on the 7th May,2013, the day of his death, in New Delhi, in the IndiaInternational Centre, and the Hungarian Information andCultural Centre. The seminar tried to acquaint the Indianpublic with his works mostly existing only in Hungarian lan-guage, - with his 1926-29 visit to India, staying with his sisterat the house of Umrao Singh Sher-Gil in Simla - his expedi-tion to Lahul, in the footsteps of Alexander Csoma de Koros,- and with his last trip to India in 1956, participating in theBuddha Jayanti celebrations, where he gave a speech onCsoma de Koros.

Actually his interest towards India started as a small child,when his father has shown him beautiful India-albums, andhe has drawn pictures of Indian fairies and various Indianpalaces. When he was 14 years old, the Hungarian translationof Shakuntalá came to his hand, and it impressed him deeply.He started to long for the place where this interesting playwas born.

As a young soldier in the first word war, he translated 12India-stories of F. W. Bain, which were given to him byUmrao Singh Sher-Gil, his brother in law. F.W. Bain was anEnglishman, interested in India, too, but he could go out toPoona, and was there the director of the famous college. Hestarted to write “India-Stories” which, according to his pref-ace, came from a Sanskrit manuscript which he got from adying Brahmin, and he “translated” these stories. Only afterthe fourth volume he had to confess, that the Sanskrit manu-script did not exist, the stories were his own. Baktay translat-ed the first one in 1912, and it had to be reprinted 3 times.The success of these stories was based on the trend of mys-ticism. The greatness of Baktay was his ability to recognisereal values. The rest of the eleven stories came out soon. Anew, collected edition of the Bain-stories was printed in 2008under the title “A hajnal lánya” (The daughter of the dawn)with my introduction.

During his life-time Ervin Baktay wrote more than 35books concerning India. But two were about the “Indians” ofNorth America, in the life whom he was interested as well.There was a group of friends of Baktay, (mainly men), who


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Ervin Baktay’s painting

regularly spent the summer time on an island near to Vác,North of Budapest, and “played” the American Indians.Baktay was the “Lying Buffalo”, and the others had also sim-ilar names, and wearing Indian dresses and redskin-feather-bonnets.

He began life as a painter, studied art in the HungarianAcademy of Fine Arts with Károly Ferenczy and then underthe guidance of Simon Hollósy in Munich, where his interestin oriental culture was kindled, too. Hollósy’s brother, a goodpainter as well, was interested in India, too, he founded thefirst Buddhist association in Hungary, in 1893, and translatedtwo books on Buddhism. Baktay Ervin’s studies were inter-rupted by the First World War, he was enlisted between 1915and 1918, and translated the Bain-stories in the trenches inthe southern front among “learned people” shooting at each-other. His longing for a better world got strongly supported,which he hoped to find in India.

After the success of the Bain - stories, in 1921 he pub-lished his book on Rabindranath Tagore and soon after thata separate volume of short stories of Indian writers, entitled“Samgraha”. In 1923, he published his first adaptation of the“Mahábhárata” which was received with great interest, andwhich was later extended to include an adaptation of the“Rámájana” and published several times.

In 1926, a collection of speeches by Gandhiji was pub-lished by Baktay. In the same year he had the opportunity togo to India, and remained there until 1929. He spent muchtime in Simla with his sister, who was married to a sikh noble-man Umrao Singh Sher-Gil. He guided their daughter AmritaSher-Gil by encouraging her to paint, and gave her an aca-demic foundation to grow on. He also instructed her to useservants of the house as models and paint landacapes in the“plein air” style.

He travelled extensively in the country meeting the richpeople and the common, and the leaders of the sub-conti-nent, Mahatma Gandhi and Rabindranath Tagore. He visitedall the places connected with the activities of Csoma deKoros, has sent home articles to the newspapers, and latercompiled a series of books on is life. His best book onCsoma came out in 1963.

After his return to Hungary, he did not take a fix job,lived from the publication of his books. Almost every year hebrought out a new book dealing with various aspects ofIndian life, art and religion and these books brought manypeople close to the understanding of India, and they stillretain their popularity.

His most comprehensive book was entitled simply "India"(India múltja és jelene, vallása, népélete, városai, tájai ésműalkotásai. I-II. Budapest, 1931-32, 1941, 1942, 2000) and it

gave a general picture of the India of the twenties and thirtieswith special emphasis on the cultural heritage and on the free-dom struggle. His travel-books include "The Land of theHappy Valley, Wanderings in Kashmir" 1934, - Punjab "TheLand of Five Rivers" 1937, Rajasthan and Gujarat "In theLand of Princes: Rajputana and Gujarat" 1939, and theHimalayan region "On the top of the World, in the footstepsof Alexander Csoma de Koros in Western Tibet" 1930, whichwas later rewritten as a biography of the great Hungarianscholar. This book came out in two different versions, and theextended version, first published in 1963, is the most interest-ing and readable work on the life of Baktay. Baktay's booksshow the wide knowledge of the author, his deep insight intothe various aspects of Indian life and culture and also his abil-ity to put forward his ideas in a way which arouse the interestof a wide circle of Hungarian readers.

Baktay also published two versions of his diary: the firstwas entitled: "A Hungarian Traveller in India" (1933), thesecond version "My Years In India", it came out in 1938,and a new edition in 2004. His books usually reached manyeditions.

He also published a book explaining the Hindu concep-tion of life (1936), which was enlarged and re-edited in 1942.In these years he prepared a translation of the "Kámaszútra"


BIOGRAPHY

CHILDREN CORNER

which was published only later. His books on Indian philoso-phy and astronomy are important as well. (Szanátana dharma,az örök törvény. A hindu világszemlélet ismertetése.Budapest, 1936, 1991 (283 p.) The wisdom of India (Indiabölcsessége. A hindu világszemlélet ismertetése.) Budapest,1943, 2000 (256 p). A book on Astronomy (A csillagfejtéskönyve. Budapest, 1942, 1943, 1945; 1979; 1989, 2000) waspublished several times. With the director of the Museum heexchanged the measurements taken from the „sky” and regu-larly discussed the topic. From his wife we know, that on theMonday of the week, he died, he also made an astrologic cal-culation, and told, if I do not die this week, I will live forev-er, and he got a heart-stroke and died.

His book "India wants Freedom," based on the works ofMahatma Gandhi published in 1942, is also remarkable, as thetime for independence was getting near. In the same year twoeditions of his book on Yoga were published: “Rádzsajóga,the teaching about knowledge and self control” 1942, 2001

(157 p) (A diadalmas jóga. Rádzsa jóga. A megismerés és önu-ralom tana.) Yoga was very popular in Hungary in those years.

After the Second World War Baktay had to take a job, andit was the Ferenc Hopp Museum of Eastern Asiatic Arts,where he was first asked to be Director, but he resigned,accepted a job as Assistant Collaborateur, and also gave lec-tures on Indian art at the University ELTE, and wrote manyarticles on the various pieces of the Museum.

This was the time when he returned to his first love,Indian art, and in 1958 published his most important, excel-lent book “The Art of India” (on 471 pages, with 425 + I-VIillustrations), which came out in more editions, one inGerman language as well. This book is so important, that it isa real question, why it has not been translated into English.�

—Géza Bethlenfalvy, Former Director of the Hungarian Information and Cultural Centre Delhi

Réges-régen történt ez. Élt egyszer egyindiai faluban négy ember. Gyerekkoruk óta jóbarátok voltak. Jóban-rosszban összetartottak.Hárman tanult tudósok, panditok voltak, anegyediket meg csak együgyűnek tartották. Devalójában a három tudós volt eszetlen, s anegyedik volt a bölcs, már úgy a maga módján.

Egy nap összedugja a fejét a három pan-dit. Azon tanakodnak, hogyan lehetne márvégre valami hasznuk a nagy tudományukból.Ha itt ücsörögnek életük végéig a faluban, soha nem látják hasznát asok tanulásnak. El is döntötték hamar, hogy világot látnak.

- Csak ezt az együgyűt ne vigyük magunkkal! - szólt az egyik.

- Tudománya semmi, hogyan is szerezne vagyont tudás nélkül?

Válaszolt a másik:

- Bátyám! Nem szép dolog, hogy így beszélsz! Kiskorunk ótajóban-rosszban velünk tart, együtt játszottunk, együtt ettünk-ittunk, nem hagyhatunk itt egy ilyen barátot! Ha nem is hozmajd hasznot senkinek, vigyük akkor is magunkkal!

Végül megegyeztek abban, hogy mind a négyen felkerekednek.Felkészültek a nagy útra. Elindultak, és kis idő múlva elértek egyerdőbe. Letelepedtek egy tisztáson. Egyszer csak valami állatcsontvázát pillantják meg a fűben. Megvizsgálja az egyik, és mondjaa többinek: oroszlán csontváza ez!

Hirtelen az jutott eszükbe, hogy épp megfelelő alkalom lennegyakorolni és bemutatni tudományukat. Szól az egyik:

- Én bizony varázserőmmel össze tudom illeszteni ezeket a szét-szórt csontokat, és talpra is tudom állítani őket!

Szól a másik:

- Varázserőmmel én bizony húst és vértfogok rájuk varázsolni!

Szól a harmadik:

- Ha mindezt megteszitek, én bizonyéletet lehelek ebbe az oroszlánba!

Több se kellett hozzá, nekiálltak mind a hár-man, hogy ki-ki elvégezze a saját varázslatát.Mikor a harmadikon volt a sor, az együgyű

negyedik megszólal:

- Nagy botorságra készültök! Ahogy feléled ez az oroszlán,megesz mindnyájunkat! Föl ne élesszétek!

Ahogy hallja a három pandit a bolond beszédét, nagyot nevetnek.

- Csak nem a te okosságod fog minket megállítani, okostojás?

Válaszol az együgyű negyedik:

- Akkor hát csak egy pillanatot várjatok, míg felmászom erre afára! - és már fenn is volt egy fa legtetején.

Az oroszlán meg, ahogy feléledt a három balga tudós varázslatától,nagy bömbölésben tört ki, rárontott a három barátra, és azonnyomban felfalta őket. Mikor az oroszlán már jó messze járt, azegyügyű negyedik lemászott a fáról, megsiratta barátait, és elindultvissza a falujába.

Ha van tudományod, csak eszed nincs, nem érsz el semmit. Hagyenge vagy, de helyén az eszed, a legrettenetesebb veszedelemből ismegmenekülsz!

Fordította: Dr Kiss Csaba �

A négy barát(A Pancsatantra egyik meséjének Orissza-beli változata)


100 YEARS OF INDIAN CINEMA

Az indiai film 2013. május 3-án ünnepelte 100 évesszületésnapját. 1913-ban ezen a napon mutatták beDadasaheb Phalke filmjét, a Raja Harishchandrát aCoronation Cinematograph nevű moziban, Mumbaiban. Akorábbi, jórészt angolok által készített filmek után ez volt azelső indiai film, melyet helyi rendező készített indiai témából(a film a Mahábháratából merítette ötletét). A mozit márekkor nagy tömegek látogatták, mert az alacsony jegyárakmiatt ez mindenki számára elérhető szórakozási forma volt,és az indiai filmkészítők szívesen építették be az indiaikultúra elemeit műveikbe.

A hangosfilm megjelenése az indiai kultúra sokszínűségéttette hangsúlyosabbá. Az első hangosfilm, az 1931 már-ciusában bemutatott Alam Ara hindi nyelven szólt a közön-séghez, ám néhány hónapon belül már bengáli és tamil nyel-ven is nézhetett beszélő mozit a közönség. Hamarosan másnyelveken is készültek filmek, és ma már több mint 20 nyel-ven folyik filmgyártás Indiában. A hangosfilm azonnali sikerlett a szubkontinensen és megalapozta a filmkészítés azonformáját, mely a mai napig uralkodó Indiában: a zenés filmét.Az Alam Ara még csak 7 dalt tartalmazott, de a két hónappal

később bemutatott Shirin Farhad már 18-at, és az egy évvelkésőbbi Indra Sabhaközel 70-et. Bár maga a film iskülönösen hosszú volt (3 és fél óra) és a dalok a mai dal-betéteknél jóval rövidebbek, számuk így is rendkívül magas,a mai napig ez a film tartalmazza a világon a legtöbb dal-betétet. Ettől kezdve a dalok kötelező részévé váltak az indi-ai hangosfilmeknek, és bár e tekintetben a kortárs filmerősen változik, ma is ez az indiai filmek legfőbb egyedivonása, melyről az egész világon ismertek.

Az indiai film sok szállal kötődik az indiai kulturális hagy-ományokhoz. A mozgókép megjelenése előtt különböző drá-mai hagyományok léteztek Indiában az egyes nyelveken,melyek közös jellemzője volt, hogy eltértek az Európában ésAmerikában a XIX. században népszerű realista színházitradíciótól. A nem hindi nyelvű drámai formák közül a filmrea legnagyobb hatást a bombayi fárszí színház gyakorolta, melya vidékibb jellegű, maráthí nyelvű tamásához hasonlóaninkább dalok, vicces jelenetek és látványos táncokgyűjteménye volt, mint összefüggő történet. A komolyabbtémákat is megjelenítő maráthí nátjaszangít vagy a bengálijátrá ugyanígy zenés drámai előadói formák voltak. A hindi

a 100 éves indiai film

raja Harischandraraja Harischandra


100 YEARS OF INDIAN CINEMA

nyelvű drámai hagyományok (mint a nautankí, a rádzsaszthánikhjál, a Madhja Pradésből származó manycs vagy a gudzsarátibahvái) mindegyikében szintén fontos szerepet játszott a zeneés a tánc, és az előadások gyakran egy összefüggő történetelmesélése helyett több kisebb jelenetből álltak.

Így természetesnek tűnt, hogy az indiai hangosfilm meg-jelenésekor egy sajátos történetmesélési forma váltáltalánossá, melyben a prózai részek közé természetesmódon illeszkedtek a zenei és a táncos betétek. A nyugatiközhiedelemmel ellentétben ezért ezekből a filmekbőlelhagyhatatlanok a zenés-táncos betétek, hiszen szervesrészét képezik a történetmesélésnek. Néha csak a szereplőkérzelmi változásait mutatják be, de sokszor a cselekmény isezek révén gördül tovább. A zenés-táncos színpadidarabokhoz hasonlóan a filmek történetmesélése sokáigmeglehetősen laza volt, még a kilencvenes évek filmjei kapc-sán is úgy érzik az európai nézők, hogy helyenként hiányoz-nak az egyes események közötti logikai kapcsolatok, de a het-venes évek nagy darabjai közül jó pár szinte váratlanulbekövetkező csodák sorozatának tűnik. A mai filmkészítők –a nyugati nézők igényeit szem előtt tartva – már több figyel-met szentelnek a valószerűségnek, azonban az indiai filmek-ben a még ma is fontosabb a szereplők érzelmi változása,mint a szi-gorú történetvezetés.

Az indiai film számos szállal kötődik a klasszikusművészetekhez, a színházon kívül a zenéhez és a tánchoz. Bára klasszikus zenére jellemző rága rendszer inkább csak a 70-esévekig volt használatos a filmzene-szerzésben, hangzásvilágamégis máig alapvető befolyással van a filmzenékre, mivel szá-mos populáris zenei műfaj – mint a vallásos énekek, egyesnépzenék vagy esküvői dalok – hasonló hangzásokra épülnek.A nyugati néző számára azonban nemcsak emiatt tűnikegyedinek az indiai filmek zenéje, hanem a helyi hangszerekhasználata miatt is. A 30-as években, a hangosfilm megjelenése

után elsősorban az észak-indiai klasszikus zenében használatoshangszereket (szitárt, tablát, harmóniumot, szarodot, hegedűt)alkalmazták a filmzenéknél, és csak az 50-es évektől terjedtek ela nyugati hangszerek és nyugati hangzásvilágú dallamok. A maifilmekben a zenei stílusok keverése a divat (minél több félehangzású dal van egy filmben, annál jobb), de a hagyományosdallamok még mindig gyakran megjelennek, például családivagy vallásos ünnepeket, rituálékat ábrázoló jelenetekben. Ezeknemcsak a hindu valláshoz kötődő rituálék lehetnek, hanemtöbbféle valláshoz vagy különböző régiók szokásaihoz iskötődhetnek – a nyugati nézők számára ezek kimeríthetetlensokasága jelenti az indiai filmek egyik legnagyobb vonzerejét.

Az indiai filmekre szintén nagy hatást gyakoroltak aklasszikus táncok, melyek legtöbbje a nyugati balettel ellentét-ben narratív művészet. A táncok gyakran konkrét (általábannagyon jól ismert, vallásos tartalmú) történeteket mesélnek el,és bennük minden testtartásnak, mozdulatnak vagy kéztartás-nak meghatározott jelentése van. Bár ezek a táncok vagy tánc-drámák csak nagyon ritkán fordulnak elő eredeti formájukbana populáris filmekben, a gesztusok, mozdulatok, a mimikaelemei gyakran fellelhetőek a mai koreográfiákban is.Történelmi eposzokban, kosztümös filmekben sokszor teljestáncjelenetek imitálják a klasszikus táncokat, de modern tánc-jelenteknél is felfedezhetünk például jellegzetes kézmozdula-tokat vagy azok modernizált verzióit. Hasonlóan népszerűekaz egyes tájegységekre jellemzőek populáris táncok, mintpéldául a pandzsábi bhangra, vagy az utóbbi években divattávált, arab eredetű hastánc.

Az indiai film napjainkban rendkívül gyorsan változik ésnagyon sok nyugati hatást épít be, azonban az indiai kultúraelemei minden korszakban jelen voltak benne és mai napig esokszínű filmgyártás legnagyobb vonzerejét jelentik. �

—Vajdovich Györgyi, ELTE Filmtudományi Tanszék

Klasszikus tancelemek Madhuri Dixit Dedh Ishqiya.

Katrina Kaif hastáncol az Agneepath Chikni Chameli című filmben.


HINDI SECTION

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&b'Roku vksdsZU;


HINDI SECTION

fdlh Hkh ns'k dh Hkk"kk vkSj mlls tqM+h lH;rk rFkk laLd`frdks tkuuk vius vki esa vR;ar egRoiw.kZ gksrk gSA gaxjh Hkkjr lsnwj fLFkr gS ijarq ;gka Hkkjr dh lH;rk] laLd`fr vkSj Hkk"kk ds izfrlEeku ns[krs gh curk gSA tc ;gka dh /jrh ij igyk dne j[kkrks FkksM+h ?kcjkgV rks Fkh gh fd Hkkjr ls bruh nwj fuckg dSls gksxk\ijUrq rqjar gh ;g Hk; nwj gks x;k tc eq>s ysus igaqph ,LVj dkseSus viuh fgUnh esa cksyrs cfr;krs ns[kkA

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njvly Hkkjr dh lH;rk vkSj laLd`fr bruh izphu gS fd fdlhHkh thfor tkfr vkSj laLd`fr dk Hkkjrh; lH;rk dh vksj vkdf"kZrgksuk vk'p;Z dh ckr ughA pkjksa osnksa] jkek;.k vkSj egkHkkjr dsjpf;rk ns'k Hkkjr dh lH;rk vkSj laLd`fr dh vksj lalkj dk >qdkovkjEHk ls gh jgk gSA xhrk esa of.kZr Jh d`".k ds ¶deZ;ksx¸ dslans'k us ges'kk gh fo'o dks izHkkfor fd;k gSA blds vfrfjDr vxjukVd&jaxeap rFkk dykvksa dh ckr dh tk;s rks vkt ls rhu gt+kjo"kZ iwoZ fyf[kr vkpk;Z Hkjr dk ukV~;&'kkL=k gj n`f"V ls vn~HkqrxzaFk gSA vkpk;Z Hkjr us bl xzaFk dks ^iapeosn* dgdj lacksf/rfd;kA dkj.k Li’ Fkk ukVd vFkkZr~ oks dyk tks fdlh izdkj dsHksnHkko dks ugha ekurh] tks nhokjs cukrh ugha nhokjksa dks fxjkus dkdke djrh gSA ;g xzaFk ukVd ds lokZf/d izeq[k vax vfHku; dk

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blh ckr dks vkxs c<+krs gq, dgk tk ldrk gS fd ftruk Hkhgaxjh ds Nk=kksa ls rFkk vU; vusd rjhdksa ls ;gka dh lH;rk vkSjlaLd`fr dks tkuus dk volj feyk mlls ;g ckr rks fl¼ gS fd;gka dh lkaLd`frd tM+s cgqr xgjh gSaA ;gh dkj.k gS fd ;gka ijHkk"kk dk fo|kFkhZ ,d ugha vusd Hkk"kkvksa dks tkuus vkSj lh[kus esa:fp ys jgk gS tks mldh laLd`fr ls ?kfu’rk dh igpku gSA D;ksafdHkk"kk gh og ekè;e gS tks vius Hkhrj laLd`fr;ksa dk jl fNik,jgrh gSA fo|kfFkZ;ksa ls gqbZ ckrksa ds vk/kj ij dg ldrh gw¡ fdvius ns'k dh izphu lH;rk vkSj laLd`fr dks ysdj rks os laos-nu'khy gSa gh lkFk gh ,d fons'kh lH;rk vkSj laLd`fr ds izfrbruk vknj dk Hkko muds mnkjrkoknh n`f"Vdks.k dks n'kkZrk gSA

cqnkis'r ds chpkschp cgus okyh ^nwuk* Hkh ;gka dh lH;rk vkSjlaLd`fr dh okgd gSA unh esa fdlh Hkh ns'k dh ijaijk vkSj /jksgj,d lkFk cgrh gSA ^nwuk* dk foLrkj vkSj mldh LoPNrk Hkh ;gkafd ijaijk dh n`<+rk dh dgkuh dgrh gSA blds vykok ;gka dhHkk"kk dh viuh vyx y; vkSj mBku gS tks mldh igpku dksdgrh gSA gaxjh ds yksdu`R; vkSj laxhr dk Hkh lkfu feyuk eqf'dygSA viuh lEiw.kZrk esa ;g ns'k ,d fojkV vuqHko dk lk{; nsrkgSA vHkh igpku ugha gS ij /hjs&/hjs ;g cgqr xgjh gks tk,xhbldk iwjk ;dhu gSA

&MkW- jek ;kno] vfrfFk izksiQslj] cqnkis'r] gaxjh

cqnkis'r% igyk ifjp;

H.E. Ambassador received by the Commander of the BudapestGarrison with Military Honours in Sándor Palace

Laying of wreath ceremony at Heroes' Square

H.E. Ambassador in the Parliament H.E. Ambassador’s visit to University of Miskolc

Lunch by Ambassador in honour of eminent actor-director Amol Palekar Visit to Heart Hospital in Balatonfüred, where Tagore was healed, in 1926

H.E. Ambassador met the Director of Gandhi School in Pécs Opening Ceremony of Hindi classes at the ICC

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Parliament of India

The Parliament is the bicameral supreme legislative body of India.The Indian Parliament comprises of the President and two Houses—Rajya Sabha (Council of States) and Lok Sabha (House ofthe People). The federal structure of the Indian polity rests on the principle of parliamentary form of government which makes theexecutive accountable to the legislature. Over the years, Parliamenthas evolved as an institution having multi-dimensional roles.Nurturing and encouraging participatory democracy, the Parliamenthas been instrumental in ushering in social change and developmentthrough progressive legislations and meaningful debates on crucialissues and paving the way for good governance.

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The Embassy of India, Hungary1025 Budapest Búzavirág utca 14, Hungary

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International Events · The eminent poet of India, Rabindranath Tagore – celebrating this year...

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