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published some of the  Purāṇas  and parts of the  Rāmāyaṇa . There are volumes in Russian of  Mahābhārata  and also a second edition of  Mahābhārata , translated in full. We have also published the full translation of  Manu-smṛti  with Sanskrit commentaries. Interest in these publications was so great that they sold out in a week. They are now completely out of stock. It was impossible to get them in the book market after a month. There is great interest among reading people here in Moscow and the U.S.S.R. toward ancient Vedic culture, and from this point of view we published many such books.
Śrīla Prabhupāda:  Among these  Purāṇas , the  Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam  is called the  Mahā-Purāṇa .
Prof. Kotovsky:   Mahā-Purāṇa .
Śrīla Prabhupāda:  Yes. We have translated the full text—first we present the original Sanskrit text, its transliteration, the English equivalent for each word, then the translation, and then a purport, or explanation of the verse. In this way, there are eighteen thousand verses in  Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam . We are translating everything literally. You can see. Each and every verse is being done like that for the whole  Bhāgavata Purāṇa . The opinion of the  ācāryas , the great saintly sages who are the preachers of the  Bhāgavata  philosophy, is  nigama-kalpataror galitaṁ phalam : this is the ripened fruit of the Vedic desire tree [ Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam  1.1.3]. It is accepted by all the Indian scholars, and Lord Caitanya especially preached this  Bhāgavatam . So we have the complete  Bhāgavatam  in its English translation. If you want to see it, I can show you.
Prof. Kotovsky:  It seems to me that in the Moscow and Leningrad libraries we have nearly all the major texts of ancient Indian culture, beginning from the  Vedas , the original texts in Sanskrit. For instance, in the Leningrad branch of our Institute there are six or eight editions of  Manu-smṛti . This Institute was founded in Imperial Russia in Leningrad, so in Leningrad we now have a branch of our Institute dealing mainly with the history of Asiatic culture. You will find here an account of what is being translated and what studies are being done on the history of Indian religion and also the state of Indian religion, Hinduism, in Hindu India today.
Śrīla Prabhupāda:  Hinduism is a very complex topic.
Prof. Kotovsky:  Oh, yes. [They laugh.] Really, to my understanding, it is not a religion from the European point of view; it is a way of life—religion, philosophy, a way of life, whatever you want.
Śrīla Prabhupāda:  This word “Hindu” is not a Sanskrit word. It was given by the Muhammadans. You know that there is a river, Indus,