From ‘The Ten Principal Upanishads’ to Robert Frost’s signed, first edition copy: Books exchanged between PM Modi and President Biden and their significance

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is on a three-day state visit to the United States of America (USA), met and presented special gifts to President of USA Joe Biden and First Lady of USA Jill Biden on Wednesday, June 21. During their official meeting, PM Modi was also felicitated with some exquisite gifts by the Bidens.
Among the many gifts PM Modi presented President Biden and First Lady Jill Biden, the book gift that stood out was ‘The Ten Principal Upanishads’ co-authored and published by William Butler Yeats.Officials had told PTI, “A copy of the first edition print of this book, ‘The Ten Principal Upanishads‘ published by M/s Faber and Faber Ltd of London and printed at the University Press Glasgow has been gifted to President Biden.”

It is known that President Biden admires Irish poet WB Yeats’ works and he has often quoted Yeats in his speeches.
Meanwhile, Yeats’ admiration for India and his influence by Indian spirituality is also quite well known. So much so, that in 1937 Yeats’ had published an English translation of the Upanishads, which he co-authored with Shri Purohit Swami. The authors had collaborated for this through letters in the 1930s.
For the unversed, traditionally there are considered to be 108 Upanishads. Out of these 108 Upanishads, 10 are considered to be principal or Mukhya Upanishads which are widely studied in Hinduism. They are, namely: Isa, Kena, Katha, Prasan, Mundaka, Mandukya, Taittiriya, Aitareya, Chandogya, and Brhadaranyaka. ‘The Ten Principal Upanishads’ acts as an introduction to the 10 Upanishad to the readers.
Other gifts to the Bidens included: a 7.5 carat lab-grown green diamond, a sandalwood box, a silver Ganesh idol and diya, among other valuables.
During the official exchange of gift, the Bidens also gifted PM Modi a signed first edition copy of ‘Collected Poems of Robert Frost‘, a vintage American camera, a hardcover book on American wildlife photography, and an archival print of the first Kodak camera patented by George Eastman, as per reports.
Robert Frost is the only poet to win four Pulitzer Prizes for Poetry during his lifetime; he died at the age of 88 on January 29, 1963. Checkout eight interesting facts about Robert Frost HERE.