The early 20th century found both the Czech and the Indian society undergoing a transition which in many respects bore similar characteristics. Both the Indian and the Czech people were striving to achieve independence and both were looking beyond the borders of their countries to find encouragement and support for their cause. The people of the Czech nation, who had already sought self–determination for quite a long period of time, looked with sympathy on the similar struggle of the Indian people. The newly formed Czechoslovakia was now able to create new economic, cultural and social contacts and (later) political relations. The growing interest in India was most apparent in the Department of Indian Studies of the Charles University, in the Oriental Institute (Prague) established in 1922 and in the Indian Society launched at the Oriental Institute in 1934. The Czech scholars who focused on Indian studies, namely Vincenc Lesný, Otakar Pertold and Moriz Winternitz, among others, spent long periods of time in India, where they made contacts with leading Indian scholars, artists and national leaders. Some Indians who visited Czechoslovakia (Subhas Chandra Bose, Rabindranath Tagore and Jawaharlal Nehru etc.) developed deep sympathy and friendship towards Czechoslovakia and her people, which they especially expressed during the Munich crisis (1938) and in the following years.