A conference to celebrate the 80th birthday of the distinguished orientalist
Prof. Mme. Mzia Andronikashvili, member of the Georgian Academy of Sciences,
took place in Tbilisi in December 2000. It was organised by the State University,
the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Academy of Sciences, the Asia-Africa
Institute of Tbilisi. Apart from official congratulations and recollections
of friends and former pupils, the programme was devoted to contributions
as general linguistics, and oriental, historical and philological studies,
especially those dealing with Iran
and Georgia, and inspired by Prof. Andronikashvili's well-known two-volume
monograph, „Studies in Iranian-Georgian linguistic Contacts“ (Tbilisi,
1966), as well as her magnificent translations of the Riguveda, of the
Avesta, and of old Persion Achemenien inscriptions.
A distinctive school of thought has grown up around Prof. Andronikashvili
and her numerous students, many of whom are now active in teaching of and
research into Iranian and Indo-European languages and comparative linguistics.