Cultural

Indian culture enjoys considerable popularity in Bulgaria. In modern times, right from the days of Rabindranath Tagore’s visit to Bulgaria in 1926, the Indian culture has been well received which is evident by the popularity of not only the Indian classics like Ramayana, Mahabharata, Vedas, Upanishadas, Bhagvat Gita and Panchatantra but also such well-known modern Indian authors like Prem Chand, Mulk Raj Anand and Amrita Pritam. Some of the eminent Bulgarian poets like Hristo Botev, Hristo Smyrensky and Nikola Vaptsorar have also been widely translated to Indian languages. All these have contributed to the better understanding of each other’s culture and philosophy.

Indo-Bulgarian cultural relations have been given an institutional framework by a Cultural Agreement, which was signed in 1963. Since then our cultural interactions have continued under the framework of biennial or triennial Cultural Exchange Programmes. The last CEP for 2009-2011 was signed in New Delhi in March 2009, which is currently under implementation.

In Bulgaria, there are sizeable numbers of Bulgarians who are extremely close and friendly towards India. There are several institutions/organizations connected with India who are involved in promoting Indian culture, Indian music and dance, Ayurveda, Yoga etc. These are the two Friendship Societies namely ‘Friends of India Club” and East-West Indological Foundation’; Indology Department in Sofia University and two schools named after our former Prime Minister Late Smt. Indira Gandhi – Indira Gandhi High School in Sofia and Indira Gandhi Kindergarten in Pravetz. There are about 1200 students in Indira Gandhi High School where Hindi is also taught to students from Grade IX-XII. The Mission maintains close contacts with these institutions/organizations and organizes various activities with their support like the World Hindi Day which is being celebrated since 2006.

As a part of the Centre for Eastern Languages and Cultures, Sofia University has an Indology Department, which, since 1983, has been conducting courses at graduation and post-graduation levels. There is a visiting chair for a Professor of Hindi from India in the Indology Department of Sofia University and similarly in the Delhi / Jamia Millia Islamia Universities for a Professor of Bulgarian language. Bulgarian students from the Indology department of Sofia University have been going to Kendriya Hindi Sansthan, Agra in India for pursuing a one-year course in Hindi under scholarships provided by the Government of India under the scheme “Propagation of Hindi Abroad.” The following table shows the number of students who have availed of this Course in recent years :

Years	No. of Students
2000-01	1
2001-02	2
2002-03	3
2003-04	3
2004-05	3
2005-06	4
2006-07	4
2007-08	6
2008-09	4
2009-10	2

Under the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation programme of the Government of India, popularly known as “ITEC Programme”, candidates from different fields from Bulgaria go to India to take part in the different training modules projects in different parts of India. From the year 2006 onwards, the total number of slots for Bulgaria were increased to 15, which have been further increased to 20 for the year 2010-11

The number of participants who have attended various courses under the ITEC Programme during the following years are as under :

Years	No. of ITEC Participants
2001-02	2
2002-03	4
2003-04	4
2004-05	5
2005-06	8
2006-07	15
2007-08	18
2008-09	8
2009-10	14
2010-11	20

  Friendship Societies in Bulgaria

There are two friendship societies which are active in Bulgaria. They are involved in spread and propagation of Indian culture through organization of cultural activities with support from the Indian Embassy. These are Friends of India Club and East-West Indological Foundation. Both the Friendship Societies receive an annual Grant-in-aid from the Ministry of Culture of India.

   Friends of India Club

Friends of India Club was founded in 1993. There are at present 560 Bulgarian members who are from all fields of life: writers, scholars, diplomats, artists, journalists, and musicians. The main purpose of the Club is to acquaint the Bulgarian public with the cultural and human values from India. The Club with the help of Indian Embassy brings out “Svetilnik” magazine annually which covers different aspects of Indian culture and society. Every month with support and assistance from the Mission, the Club organizes cultural activities related to India.
To become a member of the Friends of India Club, contact email address - fic1991@abv.bg

   East-West Indological Foundation

East-West Indological Foundation was established in 1997. The main objective of the Foundation is to promote the implementation of Indology in diverse ways and at different levels. The Foundation supports and stimulates the development of Indology at Sofia University. Up to now, several projects, such as creation of Hindi-Bulgarian Electronic Dictionary, translation of short stories of several Hindi writers from Hindi to Bulgarian, publication of these translations, etc., have been conducted and funded by the Foundation. The Foundation also is active in supporting cultural troupes from India and has been instrumental in organizing cultural shows in Bulgaria.

  Facets of Indian Culture in Bulgaria

The Embassy organizes the World Hindi Day every year. The last World Hindi Day function was held on March 16, 2010, with the cooperation of the Indology Department of Sofia University, at the auditorium of Sofia University. The function started by lighting of traditional lamp by the Ambassador Divyabh Manchanda, Acting Rector of Sofia University Prof. Nedyu Popivanov, Dean of Faculty of Classical & Modern Philologies Prof. Petya Yaneva and Vice-Dean Prof. Galina Rousseva-Sokolova. The audience was briefly addressed by the Vice Rector, followed by an address in Hindi by the Ambassador. Ambassador also handed over cash prizes and certificates to the winners of the Hindi competitions organized by the Indology Department. The competitors were students from Indira Gandhi School and Indology Department of Sofia University. The award-winning students also read their brief speeches in Hindi. Some students from Indology Department read poems in Hindi. Cultural events followed; artists from Viviana Gentili Group performed two dances in Indian traditional style. The Group of Kapka Kumar also performed two dances in Kathak/Bollywood style. The function concluded with ‘thanks’ by the Vice-Dean. A reception was organized after the function.

The event received an overwhelming response and was attended by nearly 250 people which included academics, faculty and students from Indology and other departments of Sofia University, officials from Bulgarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, members of Friends of India Club and East-West Indological Foundation apart from media representatives. The event was covered in the news telecast of the Bulgarian National TV (BNT) the same evening where Ambassador’s interview to BNT given on the occasion was telecast.

(See the photographs of the event)

To celebrate the ITEC Day, a Reception was held at the Residence of the Ambassador on 25 March 2010. (Though the ITEC Day falls on September 15 every year, the same is celebrated by the Embassy in Sofia in March every year.) There was an overwhelming participation at the reception which included ITEC alumni over the past several years, alumni of Kendriya Hindi Sansthan, Agra, FSI course participants, academics from Indology Department of Sofia University, members of Friends of India Club and East-West Indological Foundation, representatives from the media and officials from Bulgarian Foreign Office. In his address to the gathering, Ambassador Divyabh Manchanda underscored the importance of Government of India’s ITEC programme in strengthening the relations between India and friendly countries since its inception in 1964. He also encouraged the ITEC alumni to form a kind of group among themselves to interact with one another.

(See the photographs of the event)

On 25-26 September, 2009, Sofia University hosted an International Indology Conference on the theme of “Tradition and Modernity in Indian Culture, Indology and Teaching about India.” The Conference which was sponsored by Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) in cooperation with the Embassy, was opened by Prof. Nedyu Popivanov, Vice-Rector of Sofia University. Speaking on the occasion, he underlined the intensifying cooperation between Sofia University and Asian Universities and institutions. Mrs. Sangeeta Bahadur, Joint Secretary and Deputy Director General of ICCR, who had specifically come from India to participate in the Conference, spoke of the necessity to change the paradigm of Indian studies at European universities through an interdisciplinary shift towards modern India that would supplement traditional classical Indology. Dr. Adarsh Swaika, Charge d’Affaires of the Indian Embassy in Sofia, expressed satisfaction at the productive collaboration between the Embassy and the Indology Department of Sofia University which resulted in the organization of this Conference, the first of its kind in Bulgaria. Prof. Petya Yaneva, Dean of the Faculty of Classical and Modern Philology, underlined the fact that this conference coincides with the celebration of the 25th anniversary of Indology studies at Sofia University, thus making the theme of tradition and modernity particularly relevant. The Conference was attended by participants from India, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Croatia, Poland, Estonia, Lithuania and Hungary.

A 13-member cultural troupe “Chureshwar Lok Nritya Sanskritik Mandal” from Himachal Pradesh, India visited Bulgaria (and Macedonia) from 23 August to 4 September, 2009 within the framework of participation in the 37th International Folklore Festival in Bourgas from 24-28 August, 2009. The programme at the International Folklore Festival included a defile (pass) on 24 August through the main streets of Bourgas to the Summer Theatre where all the participating groups gave a short presentation, which was followed by the official opening of the Festival. The performances of the group were held on all subsequent days at different venues in Bourgas. Interestingly, during all the events, the Indian cultural troupe was made to give the first performance among the foreign participants. The performances of the Indian troupe were widely appreciated by the local people and there was wide media coverage of their performances. After the Festival, the troupe travelled to Varna and gave performance at the Festival Museum, Varna on 29 August before a gathering of around 500 people, including local audio-visual and print media and representative of Bulgarian National Radio. The event was followed by screening of an Indian movie directed by Ketan Mehta entitled “The Colours of Fashion.” The troupe also gave a performance at the National Theatre of Film Arts Hall, Sofia on 1 August, which was attended by around 450 people including Ambassadors of various countries, members of diplomatic corps, officials of different Bulgarian Ministries, members of Friends of India Club, students of Indology Department, Sofia University, media representatives, etc.

Under the Fellowship Programme for Foreign Scholars instituted by the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR), Mrs. Galina Rousseva-Sokolova, Associate Professor & Vice-Dean, Faculty of Classical and Modern Philology, Sofia University, received scholarship beginning In January 2010 to pursue research work at the prestigious Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India.