Courtesy :Sri. GSS. Murthy
Whither Sanskrit?
G S S Murthy
Never before, perhaps, has Sanskrit received encouragement as much as it is receiving now. The Central and State Governments have set up Sanskrit Universities. There are private organizations dedicated to studies of Sanskrit texts. Electronic media have come in handy for conducting on-line lectures and courses, paid and free, and showcasing various aspects of Sanskrit through video. The Old and the young are enthusiastically learning to understand, write and speak Sanskrit.
Behind all this frenzy of enthusiasm for Sanskrit lies the core thought that Sanskrit is a repository of Great Knowledge. The part played by Sanskrit in India is the same as that of Latin in medieval Europe as the vehicle of communication for philosophy and science. Sanskrit became the Pan-Indian language of communication among the literati. Besides religion and philosophy Sanskrit texts covered areas of what are now called astronomy, astrology, mathematics, medicine, zoology, chemistry, agriculture, sociology etc. European scholars of Sanskrit of the 19th century played an important part in the glorification of Sanskrit. People who never studied Sanskrit developed a reverence towards Sanskrit. As Sanskrit is held in high esteem by the educated all over India it had the potential to be used as a binding force for national integration and as a symbol of national pride. People who matter but do not have deep knowledge of the Sanskrit texts started converting this reverence into a political tool. Such blind reverence may lead to pseudo-science taking a prominent position in the scheme of things in India. There are indeed nuggets of Gold in the mines of Sanskrit even in the areas of what are called science and mathematics. However, tall claims that Sanskrit texts contain much of Science and technology have no foundation.
Sanskrit has a hallowed past. But what is its future? What will be the part played by the Academic Institutions of Sanskrit in designing the path that Sanskrit will take in future? That is the question. Will these institutions continue to study Sahitya, Vyakarana, Nyaaya, Vedanta and Jyotisha and churn out scholars in these areas to teach a newer set of prospective scholars in these areas? If that happens - the chances are that it will happen – the number of Sanskrit scholars will grow. Will Sanskrit grow?
A language keeps growing when it becomes a medium for new thought absorbing in the process new vocabulary and phraseology, borrowed and created. English and some Indian languages are dynamic and vibrant mainly because of their eagerness to venture out to new areas of knowledge and new areas of artistic creativity. Sadly this eagerness to venture out is missing in the corridors of Sanskrit Institutions. The ambience of Sanskrit universities is such that they turn out to be teacher- factories. To accommodate the scholars spewed by universities, more universities will come up. Perhaps other than becoming Sanskrit academics, scholars coming out of Sanskrit colleges can become priests and astrologers.
Is that the vision for Sanskrit? Should we not envisage that scholars graduating from Sanskrit universities would be as knowledgeable in various branches of knowledge as, say scholars graduating from a University where Hindi is the medium of instruction? It is understandable, if a university which provides liberal education has a department of Sanskrit where emphasis is on traditional knowledge in Sanskrit texts. Such specialized departments which contribute to the growth of knowledge about Sanskrit texts rarely contribute to the growth of Sanskrit as a medium of knowledge. It would not be a surprise if Sanskrit is not spoken in such departments. It would be perfectly acceptable if graduates coming out of such departments mostly become teachers and research scholars. But would that narrow future be acceptable for graduates coming out of a Sanskrit university?
Academicians have to always keep in view their progress in the academic field and progress in academics is measured by the number of papers published and their impact , number of ancient texts edited critically etc. All these certainly deepen the knowledge about the corpus of Sanskrit texts but will do nothing to broaden the knowledge that exists in Sanskrit. We need to have texts in Sanskrit in every branch of modern knowledge so that persons who graduate from Sanskrit universities fit into any job where a general graduate fits in. A new orientation is required in what is expected of a Sanskrit University.
Sanskrit Universities have certainly helped in popularizing Sanskrit. Samskrita Bharati, an independent organization has done much in popularizing the idea of conversational Sanskrit. There are hundreds of scholars who can comfortably converse in Sanskrit. A pleasant ambience of Sanskrit exists in symposia and seminars conducted by them. But the subject matter of discussions is rarely anything beyond what is given in old stagnant texts.
In addition to the study of Sanskrit texts a Sanskrit university has to widen the knowledge base of Sanskrit. Emphasis should be on creating Sanskrit texts in areas where none or precious little exists. To be specific, the areas which need to be covered are
translating the best of literature(contemporary and old) from other Indian languages and English. [ It would be too ambitious a program to directly translate from other Eastern and European languages as translators need to be scholars in Sanskrit and the source language.]
creating at the first instance, text books in Sanskrit up to the graduation level in all areas of study such as physics, chemistry, mathematics, biology, social sciences etc.[ This has to be undertaken centrally as a mission with clear targets of time and expenditure entrusted to a committee].
creating critical and authoritative dictionaries from other Indian languages to Sanskrit.
encouraging scholars to write original works in Sanskrit in new areas such as the following: Human Rights, World history, World geography, Man, nature and climate, Philosophy of Science, Western philosophy and religions, mathematics of logic.
expanding the courses offered steadily to cover more and more areas of knowledge.
Study of modern works in Sanskrit.
recognizing creative works of academics for grant of PhD's and their career advancement.
Quite obviously, all the above steps are dependent upon the availability of scholars who are not only fluent in Sanskrit but also knowledgeable in a subject which is almost non-existent in Sanskrit. Fortunately the ambience of interest in Sanskrit has drawn a large number of persons who are experts in their own fields of modern knowledge into study of Sanskrit and a suitably designed policy could attract this rich pool of experts into the work of widening the knowledge base of Sanskrit.
The above is what one would call the top-down approach for re-orienting Sanskrit Pedagogy. This can be dove tailed to a bottom-up approach where the emphasis is on setting up of primary and secondary schools where the medium of instruction is Sanskrit. Such schools should be modern non-religious institutions although there could be a limited number of them integrated with religion where students are taught in the traditional guru-kula style mainly to be patronized by religious Mutts.
It is at the policy level that planning is required to provide a new direction to Sanskrit pedagogy in Sanskrit universities and institutions. The vision must be to provide yoga [development and broadening the base] as well as kshema [preservation and maintenance of what exists] of Sanskrit. Over a period of time Sanskrit could seep into Indian bazaars like English and Sanskrit could be vibrant and dynamic like any other Indian language.
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