Renowned scholar Madan Lal Madhu passes away

Renowned scholar Dr Madan Lal Madhu, who translated several Russian classics into Hindi, passed away at the age of 88.
A Padma Shri awardee, Madhu lived in Moscow for past six decades and was recognised for his contribution to promotion of Indo-Russian cultural ties.
He died of a cardiac arrest on July 7 in Moscow and was cremated there yesterday, his family said.
He is survived by a son and a daughter.
Madhu, a poet and playwright and one of the founders of Hindustani Shamat, was awarded Friendship Order and the Pushkin Gold Medal by the Russian government for his contribution in the field of literature.

He had translated more than 100 Russian books into Hindi which include "War and Peace" and "Anna Karenina" by Leo Tolstoy, works of Alexander Pushkin, Anton Chekhov, Fyodor Dostoyevsky and Vladimir Mayakovsky.

Madhu, who had moved to Soviet Union in 1957, had also authored two memoirs. In the first book, he gave an account of his life in India while in the second book, he talked about his stay in the Soviet Union.
He had also translated several classical works in Hindi into Russian including Munshi Premchand's works.
Dr Ved Pratap Vaidik, journalist and author, who was a close friend of Madhu described him as a great scholar who contributed a lot towards Indo-Russian ties.