Tamil enthusiasts and political leaders have mourned the death of Alexander Dubiansky, a Tamil professor at the Moscow State University, who passed away in a hospital after testing positive for COVID-19.
The 79-year-old professor was an expert in Tamil, Tamil literature and Indian culture and joined Moscow University as a member of the teaching staff in 1973.
The news of the death was announced by the Embassy of India in Russia on Twitter, "Embassy expresses deep condolences on the sad demise of Prof Alexander Dubyanskiy, a great #scholar on Indian studies and #Tamil literature. He was a true friend of India & an advocate of #India-#Russia friendship. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family & friends."
Dubiansky has attended multiple conferences and meets on Tamil literature in India.
Earlier, in 2010, he arrived in Chennai to attend the World Classical Tamil Conference. At the time Dubiansky said, “Since I have been invited to attend the conference, I will be submitting two papers on Tholkappiyam and Silapathikaram at the meet.”
DMK president MK Stalin tweeted in Tamil, mourning the loss of the scholar. He said: "The death of Russian Tamil Scholar Alexander Dubiansky is a big loss. Large number of foreigners benefited from Dubiansky who taught Tamil in Russian universities. He submitted his paper on Tholkappiyam in Semmozhi meet. Deep condolences!"
CPM leader K Balakrishnan also condoled the death on Twitter. He said: "A few days earlier, Cre-A Ramakrishnan passed away. Back to back irreparable losses for Tamil."
Villupuram MP Dr Ravi Kumar wrote about the role of the professor in detail on Facebook. He enlisted the contributions made by the scholar, especially after the fall of Soviet Union. "In the last 25 years, he single-handedly kept the interest in Tamil thriving," said Ravi Kumar.
Students and Tamil enthusiasts paid their respects to the renowned professor on Twitter:
See some pictures taken when #AlexanderDubiansky was honoured by a felicitation volume, #தமிழ்தந்தபரிசு in 2016, on 28th April 2016, in #Moscowpic.twitter.com/v8h5HWgXM8