Bruhat Soma becomes the 28th Indian-American to win this prestigious title.
12-year-old Bruhat Soma has been declared the winner of the 2024 Scripps National Spelling Bee. The Indian-American student spelled 29 words in the tiebreaker round. A video of Soma reciting verses from the Bhagavad Gita has been garnering attention on the internet.
In a video shared by ANI, Soma can be seen standing with folded hands and reciting shlokas. “I slowly started memorising Bhagavad Gita and then little by little I started practising my spelling and now I am going to complete Bhagavad Gita… I have faith (in a Supreme Power) as God makes things happen,” the ANI post quoted Soma as saying.
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Soma also said he has memorized 80 percent of Hindu scriptures.
Watch the viral video here:
The video has been viewed more than 108,000 times, with several social media users praising Soma for his roots in Indian culture. “Your parents are amazing. Maybe I can teach my American Indian friends how to teach their kids Indian traditions,” one user wrote. “The magic begins when he starts reciting the shlokas. It takes me back to my childhood temple,” another user commented.
“And… as soon as he starts chanting the accent disappears. Reminds me of Sudhanshu Trivedi’s explanation that Sanskrit is accent neutral,” wrote a third user.
Soma became the 28th Indian-American to win the prestigious title. This year’s win was his third attempt at the national level. He correctly spelled 29 out of 30 words in 90 seconds, beating out Faizan Zaki of Texas, who only managed to spell nine words.
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First uploaded: 06 Feb 2024 17:38 IST
