SHILLONG: The Bengali version of acclaimed book, ‘Great minds on INDIA’ authored by Shillong-based writer and researcher Salil Gewali, was released by Governor of West Bengal Keshari Nath Tripathi at Raj Bhavan, Kolkata on Friday.
After releasing the book, the Governor said, “The book showcases the exceptionally rich civilisation of India and its remarkable contributions to the world in the development of the modern science, mathematics, language, metallurgy, cosmology, psychology, and other areas of studies.”
Quoting from Gewali’s book, the governor said, “Twenty-four centuries before Isaac Newton, the Indian scriptures asserted that gravitation held the universe together. The Sanskrit speaking Aryans subscribed to the idea of a spherical earth in an era when the Greeks believed in a flat one.”
Emphasising the importance of the book in the present contest, the governor further added that the title serves as a light of wisdom even to the educated who lost their faith in the ancient heritage.
He said former President Abdul Kalam had regarded Vedas as the oldest classics and the most precious treasures of the East.
“Unless we are awakened now, a day might come when we have to send our children to the western countries to study Upanishads and Patanjali Sutras”, he said.
The book was translated into Bengali by RN Das and edited by Nirmal Maity of Kolkata. It was first published in the photo copy format in 1998 and later brought out in its normal print format in 2009 by Academic Publications of Shillong earning praises from across the country and abroad.
The first original English edition was unveiled in 2009 by the then Governor of Meghalaya R S Mooshahary and the book’s translated editions in Hindi, Malayalam and Marathi were also released.