Sharjah: The Arabic version of a book containing 3,000-year-old Indian poetry was unveiled during a private ceremony on the sidelines of the Sharjah International Book Fair (SIBF).
“100 Great Indian Poems” is an anthology of 28 poems in 28 languages including Kashmiri, Bengali, Tamil and Urdu and boasts the works of legendary Indian poets like Mirza Ghalib and Firaq Gorakhpuri.
“Some of the poems in the book are as old as 3,000 years,” says Abhay Kumar, the Indian Ambassador to Madagascar, who edited the book, which was first published in 2018 and then in several languages (Portuguese, Italian, Spanish, Malagasy) has been translated. , French, Irish and Nepali).
“It will help take Indian poetry to millions of readers in the Arab world and it is a great moment of pride, not only for me but also all Indian poets – alive and from the past,” Kumar said.
Minni Bounama, director of content and publication at the Sharjah Institute for Heritage who translated the book as part of a first of its kind collaboration with the Consulate General of India in Dubai, which organized the launch event, said: “We translated book to introduce (to the Arab world) the Indian poetic heritage and to strengthen the cooperation and cultural ties between the UAE and India. ”
“This is just the beginning of a project aimed at strengthening the cultural bridge between the two sides by making the heritage of the two countries known on the widest scale.” he added.
Source: Telangana Today