GLOBAL INTEREST IN ANCIENT SCRIPTURES
REVIVE “FORGOTTEN LANGUAGE” SANSKRIT
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-Cao Yan, a 36-year-old teacher from China, came to India
last year on a mission to decode ancient Buddhist literature. Cao Yan
picked up Sanskrit in the year-long training he received under retired
professor Pushpa Dikhshit, an eminent Sanskrit scholar based in
Chhattisgarh. Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan has 33,668 students enrolled
in its centre for a non-formal certificate program.
Cao
is not the only one interested in learning the “forgotten language.”
Professionals are learning Sanskrit to read ancient texts and use the
knowledge in their current profession. “I teach Buddhist philosophy (in
China). A lot of Buddhist scriptures were originally written in
Sanskrit. So it was necessary for me to learn Sanskrit to be able to
research and teach other students in this field,” Cao, who teaches at
Wuhan University in China, said.
Nearer
home, Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan is witnessing a turnaround in its
fortunes. Established in 1972 by the ministry of human resource
development, it's a deemed university with 11 campuses across the
country. Nearly 750 students enrolled in its distance mode this year,
which is up from about 300 students in its debut year in 2010 “We have
engineers, teachers, businessmen and even farmers learning Sanskrit
these days. They have perhaps realized that matter related to their work
and life is available in Sanskrit books,” said Ratnamohan Jha, national
coordinator of non-formal Sanskrit education.
Increased
awareness about Vaastu Shastra, Yoga and Ayurveda has also added to the
relevance of Sanskrit. Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan's Delhi campus has
36 students in the current batch of its entry-level course, Shastri
Bridge. Of them, seven are engineers, three are teachers and two are
doctors. However, employment opportunities for Sanskrit learners are
dismal.
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Many
professional people started to learn Sanskrit and many academics from
foreign universities (such as Columbia University in the US, Margug
University in Germany and Sorbonne University in France) appreciate
Sanskrit and its heritage value. “People from other professions have
started to value the source of all scientific and practical knowledge.
And this has globalized Sanskrit in the process,” says Dr Pankaj K.
Mishra, associate professor, department of Sanskrit, St Stephen's
College. “Texts available in Sanskrit are so vast that one can find
information about many topics and issues that we deal with today,” says
Radha Vallabh Tripathi, Vice-chancellor, Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan.
WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?
Sanskrit is the language of the Divine abodes. The Divine abodes are
inhabited with unlimited Saints who are always drowned in the felicity
of the Bliss of their beloved God. The language of these abodes is
Sanskrit. So all the prime scriptures (Vedas and Puranas etc.) are in
Sanskrit language, and this is also the language of the celestial
abodes. The Sanskrit grammar is produced on the earth planet by the
eternal Sages along with the Vedas and Puranas. Being the Divine
language it is perfect by its own nature. ... The perfection of the
pronunciation (of the consonants and the vowels) and the uniqueness of
the grammar that stays the same in all the ages (from the very beginning
of human civilization and up till today) are such features which
themselves prove that Sanskrit is not manmade; it is a Divine gift to
the people of this world.
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