Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi Meets with Director of the Institute of World Literature SAS, Róbert Gáfrik
Róbert Gáfrik, Director of the Institute of World Literature of the Slovak Academy of Sciences and an internationally recognised comparatist, met with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the Prime Minister's official visit to Slovakia on Monday, 15 June 2026. Narendra Modi praised Gáfrik's Slovak translation of the Upanishads, as well as his remarkable dedication to "Indian history, culture and spirituality."
The first Slovak translation of the Upanishads, the oldest philosophical texts written in Sanskrit, was published by VEDA Publishing House of the SAS in 2024. Shortly after its publication, the Indian Prime Minister highlighted this achievement in his regular public address.
Róbert Gáfrik, a long-standing researcher at the Institute of World Literature of the SAS, is currently involved in an international research project on European representations of India. He has devoted several publications to the encounter between Indian and Western cultures, including Playing with Foreign Culture: On the Reception of Old Indian Materials and Motifs in German Literature (2009), Depicting India in Slovak Literature (2018), and From Meaning to Emotions: A Reflection on the Contribution of Sanskrit Literary Theory to the Discourse of Western Literary Studies (2012).
On 17 June 2026, the South Asian news agency ANI published an article entitled "Slovak Academy of Sciences' Robert Gafrik Translates Sanskrit Upanishads into Slovak after Five-Year Effort." The article covered Prime Minister Modi's visit. It featured excerpts from an interview with Róbert Gáfrik, in which he spoke not only about translating the Upanishads but also about his long-standing interest in Indian culture and history, which dates back to his student years.
Prepared by: Jana Cviková, Institute of World Literature, Slovak Academy of Sciences
Photo: Facebook page of the Prime Minister of India