On August 19, 2010, the IOM RAS was visited by Ven. Mahindawansa Thero, the abbot of two Buddhist monasteries in Sri Lanka. One of the monasteries was established in 1860 by Ven. Sri Subhuti who had contacts with Ivan P. Minayev, the founder of Russian Indology. Letters sent by I.Minayev to Ven. Sri Subhuti are kept at the monastery in Sri Lanka. The main purpose of Ven. Mahindawansa Thero's visit to the IOM was to see the letters sent to I. Minayev by Ven. Sri Subhuti and kept now at the Orientalists' Archives, IOM RAS.

The guest and his retinue were accepted by the IOM's Head, Prof Dr Irina F. Popova, who presented to Ven. Mahindawansa Thero copies of Ven. Sri Subhuti's letters and made a short excursion through the Institues.

In the end, Ven. Mahindawansa Thero demonstrated the reliquary with a fragment of the Buddha's tooth (authenticity of the relic remains unsettled) kept at his monastery in Sri Lanka.

PHOTOS

The IOM's Head, Prof Dr I.F. Popova offers Ven. Mahindawansa Thero copies of Ven. Sri Subhuti's letters kept at the Orientalists' Archives of the IOM RAS

Ven. Mahindawansa Thero . Prof Dr I.F. Popova shows the exhibition of the books published by the IOM RAS 

Ven. Mahindawansa Thero extracts the reliquary with a fragment of the Buddha's tooth. The reliquary

The general photo of the researchers and guests of the IOM RAS in the Green Hall of the Novomikhailovsky Palace

Photos by M.B. Iokhvin