By Srinivas Iyer
The Swami Vivekananda Cultural Centre (SVCC), the cultural arm of the High Commission of India in Colombo, organized the second Bharat-Sri Lanka Hindi Sammelan on January 12, 2026 at the Sri Lanka Foundation, Colombo. The event brought together more than 400 scholars, teachers and students of Hindi from Sri Lanka and India, reflecting the deep-rooted cultural and linguistic ties between the two countries.
The Sammelan was inaugurated by H.E. Santosh Jha, High Commissioner of India to Sri Lanka, in the presence of Hon. (Dr.) Madhura Seneviratne, Deputy Minister of Education and Higher Education of Sri Lanka, who attended as the Guest of Honour. A key highlight of the ceremony was the felicitation of eminent Hindi scholars of Sri Lanka who have devoted decades to the promotion and teaching of the language in the island nation.
In his inaugural address, the High Commissioner highlighted Hindi’s rising global importance as the third most widely spoken language in the world, with over 600 million speakers. He appreciated the sustained efforts of Sri Lankan scholars and educators and outlined the initiatives of the SVCC, including scholarships for Sri Lankan students to study in India, capacity-building programmes for teachers and professors, and academic and cultural exchanges aimed at strengthening Hindi studies in Sri Lanka.
The daylong programme featured academic sessions with distinguished speakers from Sri Lanka, a poetry recital showcasing the creative richness of Hindi, an open forum encouraging dialogue on the role of Hindi in modern education, and cultural performances celebrating the shared heritage of the two countries. The event concluded with performances of Hindi film songs by the Old Hindi Film and Song Lovers’ Association of Sri Lanka.
More than 100 writers and scholars from 19 Indian states participated in the Sammelan, along with representatives of eight universities and over 50 schools and organizations from Sri Lanka. On the occasion, the journal Sri Lanka Hindi Samachar and a Hindi translation of a book comprising 21 short stories by renowned Tamil author Ayathurai Santhan were also released.
With Hindi now taught in 88 schools and 10 public universities in Sri Lanka, the Sammelan also marked the spirit of World Hindi Day and reaffirmed the growing popularity of the language, while serving as a meaningful platform to further strengthen cultural and linguistic ties between India and Sri Lanka
