Sad State of Sanskrit in India and a Book’s Effort to Change It

A recent book is a welcome step in popularising Sanskrit language without the additional communal baggage.

Mantra Sanskrit. (Photo: iStock)

“Sujalāṃ suphalāṃ, malayaja śītalām, śasya śyāmalāṃ, mātaram, Vande Mātaram”

As school students, we had memorised the ‘national song’ by rote with no understanding whatsoever of what the Sanskrit words meant. Some keen students (who participated in quiz contests) knew its antecedents and significance, even the broader meaning gleaned from the English translation, but the rest were clueless. They were not to blame.

Our Sanskrit teachers were just not interested in making the language less daunting, or firing up our imagination, or going beyond the syllabus, making the language come alive. Compare this with my first day at Alliance Francaise when the teacher told us that the first class would be the last class she would speak to us in English.

The only aim of the school students was to secure 40 percent in Sanskrit in class 8th and never having to see the face of the language ever again.

The situation was not unique to our school. It was and still is prevalent all over the country. Despite tuition, my children struggled with it and it was with a huge sigh of relief that they said good riddance to it after barely scraping through.

The present situation is such that Sanskrit, the king of languages, the fount from which many other languages emerged, is spoken by only 14,000 people in a land of 1.25 billion. The only state in India where it has been accorded an official status, among other languages, is Uttarakhand.

Representative image of a Sanskrit Text. (Photo: iStock)

Colonisation to Blame for the Deplorable Condition of Sanskrit

Why has the situation come to such a pass? It started with British colonisation. TB Macaulay introduced English and western concepts to education in India. He published his arguments in the "Macaulay Minute" published in 1835 in which he asserted, "It is, I believe, no exaggeration to say that all the historical information which has been collected from all the books written in the Sanskrit language is less valuable than what may be found in the most paltry abridgement used at preparatory schools in England."

He further went to add that “the natives are desirous to be taught English, and are not desirous to be taught Sanskrit or Arabic; that neither as the languages of law, nor as the languages of religion, have the Sanskrit and Arabic any peculiar claim to our engagement; that it is possible to make natives of this country thoroughly good English scholars, and that to this end our efforts ought to be directed.”

Thus began Sanskrit’s decline.

As if that wasn’t enough, British scholars, after a short and rudimentary exposure to Sanskrit, started translating the ancient scriptures and documents into English. Obviously, the result was shoddy and wanting in scholarship. A significant repertoire of English-translated Sanskrit texts were penned by Britishers, which in turn was relied upon by scholars down the ages to perpetuate and cast in stone, the tardy and sloppy original translations. At the stroke of midnight in 1947, these were the ancient texts in English available to the newly independent Indians.

The leaders did nothing to ameliorate the situation. Not that what needed to be done was not known. Nehru had acknowledged the beauty of Sanskrit language. He had once said,

If I was asked what is the greatest treasure which India possesses and what is her finest heritage, I would answer unhesitatingly – it is the Sanskrit language and literature, and all that it contains. This is a magnificent inheritance, and so long as this endures and influences the life of our people, so long the basic genius of India will continue.

Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru

Yet, apathy, neglect and even propaganda militated against Sanskrit being accorded importance in the education system.

Modi-Led BJP Government Pulling Out All the Stops to Revive Sanskrit

The present government is pulling out all the stops to revive Sanskrit. Some ministers even took their oath of office in Sanskrit.

A Sanskrit week has been mandated across schools. "Sanskrit and Indian culture are intertwined as most of the indigenous knowledge is available in this language," said the government leaflet explaining the reason. Even vedic mathematics has been introduced.

Critics (including Hindus of other political persuasion) claim that the reasons are coloured by religious considerations since the language is closely linked to Hindu religious texts and pan the aggressive hard-sell. In a country where language politics has always been an emotive and sensitive issue, especially in the South (Tamil is not derived from Sanskrit), the argument is that the promotion of the language is a move by Hindu nationalist groups to impose their culture on religious and linguistic minorities.But this is an argument that is contested. “People have a misunderstanding that it is the language of the Hindus,” says Markandey Katju, a retired Supreme Court Judge. “Ninety-five percent of Sanskrit literature has nothing to do with religion.”

Be that as it may, Sanskrit is back on the front-burner. The jury is out as to which is the most optimum method to popularise it.

A New Book Tries to Instil Pride in Sanskrit Language

Against this backdrop, the recent release of Learn Sanskrit Through Your Favorite Prayers by Rohini Bakshi and Narayan Nambodiri (Juggernaut) is a hugely welcome step in instilling both curiosity and pride in our ancient Sanskrit poetry and prayer. The book is lavishly mounted with an easy-on-the-eyes font. The translation is masterly and comprehensible to the reader.

Both the authors have made it their life mission to popularise Sanskrit; making it user-friendly and bringing it to the door-step of the common man. I have been following Rohini on Twitter for the last 3 years and have seen firsthand how popular her #SanskritAppreciationHour has become (12,000 followers and counting – a stupendous achievement considering that only 14,000 speak Sanskrit).

Most importantly, her love and propagation of Sanskrit is not underpinned by any Hindutva ideology but an earnest desire to revive an ancient tradition which is religion, neutral and the common heritage of all Indians, not by making its teaching mandatory but by soft persuasion.

These are still baby steps. Phoenix takes time to rise. I hope to see, in my lifetime, worthy students, not rejects, join BA and MA courses in Sanskrit in colleges; cine-goers see Adi Shankaracharya, the 1983 film made in Sanskrit, without sub-titles; Indians of all persuasions take pride when postage stamps such as the one on Panini – the father of Sanskrit – are released; readers as conversant with Kalidas as Stephen King; the devout understand the meaning and significance of Bhuwa Swaha when oblations are offered in the holy fire during a havan.

Rohini’s and Narayan’s wonderful offering would then not be in vain!

(Ajay Mankotia is a former IRS officer presently working in a media company. This is a personal blog and the views expressed above are the author’s own. The Quint neither endorses nor is responsible for the same.)