The first Vietnamese to receive the Ananda Coomaraswamy Award

The Ananda Coomaraswamy Award (2008) of the Indian Academy of Literature was awarded to Associate Professor, Dr. Do Thu Ha (Faculty of Oriental Studies - University of Social Sciences and Humanities).

Every year, the Sahitya Akademi (under the Indian Academy of Sciences) has a system of selecting Asian writers and scholars with outstanding achievements in the field of culture and arts to award honorary membership of the Academy through an award named Ananda Coomaraswamy. This activity of the Sahitya Akademi aims to promote research on art, culture, literature, history and other social sciences by Asian scholars. Since 1996, the Academy has awarded this award to 03 Asian scholars.

[img class="caption" src="images/stories/2009/03/20/img991.jpg" border="0" alt="Assoc.Prof.Dr. Do Thu Ha at the award ceremony" title="Assoc.Prof.Dr. Do Thu Ha at the award ceremony" width="154" height="233" align="left" ]

The award ceremony took place on February 21, 2009, during the Annual Festival of Letters at the Rabindra Bhawan Convention Center, New Delhi, with the participation of many representatives of the Indian Academy of Sciences such as President of the Indian Academy of Letters Sri Sunil Gangorpadhyay, Vice President Professor SS Noor, Secretary General Sri A. Krishna Murthy... and representatives of the Vietnamese Embassy in India.

The Indian Academy of Letters was established by the Government of India in March 1954 and has been actively working to promote the development of Indian literature and art, and to strengthen cooperation in literary and artistic activities at home and abroad. In addition to the Anada Coomaraswamy Award for foreign scholars, the Academy also annually awards the Bhasha Samman Award to Indian writers and scholars through the selection of literary works or works translated into 22 languages ​​officially recognized in India.

During the period from January 20, 2009 to February 23, 2009, Associate Professor Dr. Do Thu Ha visited, lectured and had academic exchanges with scholars and students at 09 universities and 05 research centers in India, including Calcutta University, Rabindra- Bhavana Visva- Bharati (Santiniketan University), Ramakrishna Mission College in Kolkata; Dravidian University, Mysore University, Dhvanyaloka- Center for Indian Studies in Bangalore and Mysore; Mumbai University in Mumbai; Delhi University, Jamia Miia Islamia University, Sangeet Natak Akademi and Lalit Kala Akademi in New Delhi... The presentation topics of Associate Professor Dr. Do Thu Ha focused on the main contents: Introducing her initial achievements in the research of famous Indian epics such as Ramayana and Mahabharata; about Rabindranath Tagore; contemporary Indian literary trends in comparison with Vietnam; Some influences of Indian culture on Southeast Asian countries including Vietnam, the situation of Indian studies in Vietnam...