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India

Although India is far from Lithuania both geographically and culturally, the two countries have long-lasting ties. These ties are immortalized in numerous plaques and monuments for Lithuania(ns) in India.

Lithuanian-Sanskrit ties mural in Delhi

The newest of these actually celebrates the oldest ties. The Lithuanian mural painted on Harcourt Butler Secondary school in Delhi by a Lithuanian artist Linas Kaziulionis in 2023 includes Lithuanian and Sanskrit language words that sound the same.

Fragment of the mural

Both Lithuanian language (still the majority-spoken-language in Lithuania) and Sanskrit (historic language of North India and the sacred language of the Vedas, still held as very important for India's identity) are Indo-European languages. While there are many Indo-European languages (including English), Lithuanian is known to have retained various archaic Sanskrit-like features lost in many other languages. The „Lithuanian is the living language most similar to Sanskrit“ tenet, while somewhat oversimplifying, had an influence on Lithuanian language revival campaigns in the 19th century when it had been relegated to a secondary status in Lithuania itself. This belief also increased the interest in Indian culture in Lithuania, with, for example, the restorers of traditional Lithuanian Pagan faith sometimes drawing inspiration in the surviving Hindu religion.

Lithuanian mural in Delhi

In addition to the Sanskrit and Lithuanian words, the mural depicts Lithuanian and Indian flags, as well as traditional Lithuanian windowpanes.

Sites related to famous Lithuanians in India

Like the other monuments and commemorative plaques for Lithuania(ns) in India, the mural in Delhi was painted on the initiative of Lithuanian embassy in India. The embassy itself is quite new – for decades after its independence restoration in 1990, Lithuania had no embassy in India, but the campaign of tightening diplomatic ties with Asian countries led to the establishment of the embassy in 2008. Discovering and marking the sites related to the earlier Lithuanians who had ties to India became one of the major tasks of the embassy ~2016.

While there was never a significant Lithuanian community in India, there were quite influential Lithuanians who lived there. Most of Lithuanians who left their mark in India were Roman Catholic missionaries. While Lithuania never had any colonies in India (or Asia, for that matter) and, in fact, itself spent centuries under a foreign colonial rule, it has been a Catholic country since the 14th century, and some of its people decided to join the endeavours of spreading the Catholic faith or helping the locals through the Catholic missions. In the recent century, though, missionaries were outnumbered by Lithuanian people who come to India because of their interest in Indian culture and faith - one such person is also commemorated in India.

Andrius Rudamina memorial

Five Lithuanians are now marked by plaques or monuments, each of them having lived in a very different period and location: 17th century missionary Rudamina in Portuguese Goa, 18th century priest Šostakas in Kerala, pre-WW1 priest Zaleskis now buried in Pune, interwar India lover and anthropologist Poška commemorated in Kolkata, and post-WW2 missionary Donatas Slapšys.

Andrius Rudamina memorial in Old Goa

According to the small memorial next to the Cathedral of Old Goa, Andrius Rudamina (1596-1631) was the first Lithuanian who landed in India, this having had happened on the 22nd of August, 1625. The memorial has this inscribed in English on one side and Lithuanian on the other side.

Andrius Rudamina memorial near the Cathedral of Old Goa

Andrius Rudamina was an orphaned Lithuanian noble who joined Portuguese Jesuits in order to come to what was then a Portuguese colony of Goa. When he arrived, the Old Goa Cathedral had been recently completed (1619). He didn't serve here long, though, as he was relocated to China after he caught malaria.

English language side of the memorial

The monument is located in front of the entrance of the cathedral.

Mykolas Šostakas plaque in Varapuzha

Mykolas Šostakas (1710-1773) was another Lithuanian noble who chosen the path of faith, becoming a monk at 16. He served as Apostolic vicar in Kerala at the time when there was no diocese, thus his rank was equal to that of a bishop. He worked at what is now the Varapuzha Basilica near Kochi (built in 1673).

Varapuzha Basilica

After his death in 1773, he was buried there. However, his grave was destroyed by a major flood in the early 20th century. In 2016, it was "replaced" by a floor plaque that looks very much like a Medieval grave and is located in front of the altar.

The Latin plaque listing his achievements mentions Šostakas as Nicolaus Szostak.

Šostakas plaque

Additionally, Mykolas Šostakas appears at a plaque listing the Carmelite missionaries from Europe buried in that church. Šostakas is listed by his monk name "Florentius a Iesu Nazareno". While other missionaries have a single country of origin, Šostakas has two of them written: "Poland (Lithuania)", owing to the complex history of the time, where Poland and Lithuania were joined in a single Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, but the nobility on the Lithuanian side often preferred Polish as a language for the culture and faith. Šostakas is also mentioned on another list outside the church, without the country of origin mentioned there.

Šostakas in a list of Carmelites buried there

Mykolas Zaleskis grave in Pune

Mykolas Zaleskis (1852-1925) is buried in Pune, India, right next to the altar of the chapel of the Papal Seminary which he helped to establish.

Having received a mission to establish a seminary in South Asia that would prepare native priests (altering the common practice where only European priests would serve South Asian parishes, while the natives were relegated to lower positions), Mykolas Zaleskis initially established such seminary in Kandy, Sri Lanka (1893). After the South Asian countries moved to independence, however, the seminary was moved to Pune, India, in 1955 (the original seminary in Sri Lanka also operates but it serves only Sri Lanka nowadays)

Zaleskis grave

While Mykolas Zaleskis died in Rome in 1925 and was initially buried there, his will was to be buried at the Papal Seminary. Thus, he was reinterred in Kandy, Sri Lanka. The grave was once again moved to Pune in 1955 together with the seminary.

Close-up of Zaleskis's grave

In 2025, a museum was established in the seminary that describes its history and has information on Zaleskis, as well as artworks depicting Zaleskis.

Museum entrance door with a painting of Zaleskis (right)

Having been born when Lithuania was ruled by the Russian Empire and Polish was considered the language of the elite in Lithuania, it is said that Zaleskis spoke Polish natively. He was born in a Lithuanian-majority area (Veliuona), however, his family belonged to the nobility, which, at the time, was Polonized due to a linguistic shift. That said, Zaleskis also spoke Lithuanian (as well as many other languages, including Tamil and Sinhalese). His grave lists „Veliuona, Lithuania“ as his birthplace (in Latin: Wielonae in Lithvania). Using the name „Lithuania“ may be considered an important political statement in 1955 when the plaque was unveiled as, at the time, Lithuania was occupied by the Soviet Union (something never recognized by the Vatican).

Exhibit at the museum

Zaleskis‘s name is spelled variously as Zeleski and Zaleski in the Pune seminary materials. On the grave, he is listed as "Ladislaus Michael Zaleski". He is also respected by the Poles, so much so that the Polish Pope John Paul II came to visit his grave when he visited India, a fact now marked by an additional plaque in front of the grave.

Museum exhibits

While located in the seminary, the chapel and the grave are accessible to visitors and so is the museum, although the museum may be locked and one needs to find local people to unlock it.

Antanas Poška Plaque in the University of Calcutta

Antanas Poška (1903-1992), claimed to have been Lithuania‘s first indologist, is commemorated in the Central Library of the University of Calcutta with a commemorative plaque.

The plaque is located in the 2nd floor library hall near the floor. It is written in three languages: Lithuanian, Bengali, and English. It has dedication to Antanas Poška as a „Great Lithuanian and a student of University of Calcutta in years 1933-1936, awarded posthumously with honorary d.litt. degree in 2014 for his contribution to indology studies“.

Antanas Poška plaque

Poška‘s life was both adventurous and tragic. He was an avid traveller who, together with another famous Lithuanian traveller of the time Matas Šalčius, in 1929 set off to travel from Lithuania to Asia on motorcycles. While Šalčius traveled far and wide all over the world, Poška settled down in India, falling in love with its ancient culture. He obtained his bachelor‘s degree in the University of Bombay (1933) and continued postgraduate studies in the University of Calcutta. He participated in various research expeditions (e.g. in the Andaman Islands), he met Mahatma Gandhi and Rabindranath Tagore, he also translated Indian classical literature such as Bhagavad Gita to Lithuanian language, aiming to popularize and spread the knowledge of Indian culture in Lithuania and Europe.

Poška plaque within the library (near the door on the right)

Sadly, far from everything went as planned for Poška. At the time, India was a colony of Britain, so, Poška would have had to defend his degree thesis in London. Initially, he lacked money for that, going back to Lithuania after his studies instead (1937). Soon, World War 2 broke out, and, in 1940, Lithuania was occupied by the Soviet Union, in 1941 this occupation was replaced by the Nazi German one while in 1944, Soviets occupied Lithuania again. During World War 2, Poška hid the books occupational regimes wanted to destroy (e.g. Jewish books targeted by the Nazi Germany), as well as hid the Jews from the Holocaust, for which he was recognized as a Righteous among nations. However, during the second Soviet occupation, Poška was exiled to cold parts of Russia and persecuted. Much of his works and translations were destroyed in these turmoils. Even after Poška was permitted to return to Soviet-occupied Lithuania in 1958-1959, the Soviet censorship didn‘t allow publishing his research; he was not permitted to leave the Soviet Union either, forcibly ending his connection to India, which he never re-established, as he died in 1992, very soon after Lithuania became independent in 1990.

As such, Poška‘s work had less impact and recognition during his lifetime than it could or should have had, something at least partly redressed by the Honorary Doctor status (2014) and the plaque (2015) in the University of Calcutta.

Calcutta University Central Library is accessible to the general public rather than just the students or the faculty, so, everyone may visit the plaque.

Donatas Slapšys grave in Shevgaon, Maharashtra

The last of the great Lithuanian missionaries in India was Donatas Slapšys who worked around Shevgaon, Maharashtra. He was born in 1921 and joined a monastery in 1937. During World War 2, he was studying in Germany. As Lithuania was occupied by the Soviet Union and the religious were persecuted, he couldn‘t return, so he became a pries abroad in 1947 and spent most of his life in Shevgaon, where he went to work together with Jesuit missionaries from Germany. He integrated well in the local culture, learning Marathi language and helping locals far beyond what would be expected from a Catholic priest. He used to be bale to tell where the underground water is, he planted trees (the fruits of which still help pay for parish expenses). For such endeavours, he was regarded to be a holy man, and even non-Christians were asking for his blessings.

Shevgaon church

While Donatas Slapšys served four different parishes (and would visit many more villages that had no church at all), he is said to have loved the one in Shevgaon the most. While most other missionaries asked for their remains to be repatriated after their deaths, Donatas Slapšys asked to be buried there, even though by the time he died in 2010 Lithuania was already independent for 20 years (since 1990). Therefore, Donatas‘s grave is now the only one that is next to Shevgaon‘s Holy Spirit Church, constructed by German missionaries in 1963-1966. On the grave, only Donatas Slapšys‘s name is written in the Latin script, while everything else is written in the local Devanagari, appropriately for somebody who integrated in the local culture so much that he visited Lithuania just once during the decades he served in India. His Lithuanian name is written as „Donatus“ which is an incorrect spelling but it would have the same pronunciation as „Donatas“.

Donatas Slapšys grave in Shevgaon

Close-up of Slapšys's gravestone

After India became independent and its self-confidence increased, new foreign missionaries became less welcome. By this time, however, the original missionaries have inspired enough Indian men to become priests. Therefore, Shevgaon‘s church continues to operate to this day, merging the Christian beliefs with Indian traditions (for example, the faithful here sit on the floor during the mass and remove their shoes when entering the church, something that is common in the Hindu temples and mosques but is rare in Christian churches elsewhere). Like in Donatas Slapšys‘s time, the priests are regularly visiting villages that lacks their own church, serving a Catholic population of some 4000 people. On the other side of the street from the church there is a hospital where Slapšys died and the patients of which Slapšys used to visit everyday while alive.

Interior of the church