Guest guest Posted February 26, 2007 Report Share Posted February 26, 2007 Krishna in Catalan Posted by: "aryaputra_1927" aryaputra_1927 aryaputra_1927 Wed Feb 21, 2007 4:00 pm (PST) Krishna in Catalan INNER VOICE || M Rajendran February 21, 2007 Oscar Pujal of Barcelona greets you with a Namaste and not the 'Ola' of his native Catalan. Now the director of educational programmes for the Casa Asia institute, he pleads for a chat in Hindi. "Hindi mein baat karna bahut achha lagta hai, aap mujhe is se vanchit mat kariye," he insists. (Please don't deny me the pleasure of speaking in Hindi). And it's all because of his love for the Bhagvad Gita. Pujal's first contact with the Gita was as a tourist to India in 1988. It was so intense that he spent the next 10 years of his life at Banaras Hindu University (BHU) to learn Sanskrit so that he could translate it into Catalan. "Since translations in English and Spanish failed to help me explore the intricacies of the shlokas, I felt the urge to read in my mother tongue, which I realised was not possible unless I learnt Sanskrit," says Pujal. So armed with his degree in Philology (the study of language) from Spain, Pujal went on to get a graduate degree in Sanskrit from BHU in 1993 and a Doctorate in Sanskrit in 1999 with a thesis on the 12th century grammar text by Maitreyaraksita. He has also written a Sanskrit-Catalan dictionary, so that all Catalonians can read the Gita in their mother tongue with its help. "Gita insaan ke liye hai, kisi ek dharma ka nahi hai: mera yeh maanana hai." (The Gita is for all humanity, it does not belong to one religion, I feel). This Monday, his Sanskrit-Catalan dictionary was released at the Centre for Spanish Studies in Jawaharlal Nehru University, the first of its size in any Romance language. Pujal is happy that he will head at the Instituto Cervantes in Delhi, to promote Spanish language and culture. Helping him is his wife, who has learnt Bharata Natyam, and son, Basant, who wants to pick up a degree in Economics from India. innervoice@hindusta ntimes.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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