An Indian culture chief has called for Korea-India cultural relations to follow the path of strong economic ties as a year-long Indian festival draws to a close here.

Dr. Syed Shahid Mahdi, vice president of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations, visited Seoul to mark the end of the “Namaste Korea” (Greetings to Korea) festival that has run since last year.

Last week’s finale of the festival organized by the Indian Embassy and the Indian Cultural Centre in Seoul, along with the National Theater of Korea, featured recitals of Bharathnatyam classical Indian dance by Rama Vaidyanathan and percussion music by Indian orchestra the Delhi Panchavadyam Trust.

And Mahdi said more could be done to build on this good foundation.

“We should do more to promote culture, and we have a good base now. Sometimes economic and trade relations follow cultural relations but in this case it is preceding,” he said. “Right now, Indian people know about Korean cars like Hyundai and Samsung electronics.”

While India’s current overarching influence on Korea basically stemmed from Buddhism, he felt more should be done in fields including literary translation and film.

Some departments of Korean study have opened in universities in India, and Korean films have screened at India’s Asian Film Festival.

“The discriminating audience came to learn that something is happening here but I think we still need to promote it more,” Mahdi said. “I think translations of literature will be a very good way of sharing mutual relations.”

Korea is also planning to open its own cultural center in New Delhi, following India’s opening a center in Seoul.

Mahdi said that cultural relations were important: “So that we can understand that we do belong to one common humanity, irrespective of nationality or race. We can feel a certain human warmth introduced into the relationship.”

Another area of cultural exchange is coming in the use of Indian alternative therapies of Ayurveda and Unani in Korea.

“These two systems were established before the colonial period. After the British came it was very much discouraged but it didn’t die,” explained Mahdi. “It is now becoming popular in Korea. The Westerners would call it alternative medicine, basically you can say that a lot of these are supplements.”

He reported that one herbal healthcare brand, Himalaya, had increasing sales in Korea and is now being used in many spas here.

By Kirsty Taylor (kirstyt@herald.com)