Sanskrit has 2.5-lakh takers and counting

Mou Chakraborty & Zia Haq
Kolkata/New Delhi, September 21, 2007

RECENTLY, 32 Muslim students went up to the head of Kashmir University’s Sanskrit department S.Razdan, requesting her to help them learn Sanskrit. Surprised at their interest, Razdan wrote to the Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan’s Jammu coordinator, Professor Vishwamurthy Shastri.
The boys’ interest in what’s often considered a dead language is not a one-off case. Doctors, lawyers and even housewives across the country are rediscovering the classical language that goes back 4,000 years.
The latest report of the country's apex body for Sanskrit learning under the Union HRD ministry --- the Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan --- reveals that between 2004 and 2006, over 2.5 lakh people have learnt Sanskrit through its “non-formal course”. Among them are 500 doctors, as many lawyers, 4,000 businessmen, 8,000 housewives and 20,000 retired professionals.
The institute had started the course as a pilot project in 2004 with just 5,000 students at 100 centres. Today, there are over 1,000 centres nationwide. “It is remarkable that none who enroll do so for a degree, but for the love of the language. Remember it's a non-formal course,” said the Sansthan's national coordinator Ratan Mohan Jha.
In Kolkata, the new-found interest in Sanskrit has led the Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda University to open the School of Indian Heritage from the current academic session. “People who know science do not know Sanskrit and those who know Sanskrit do not know science. Increasingly, the scientific community is showing an interest in our ancient science but for that, they will have to know Sanskrit,” said Swami Atmapriyananda, vice-chancellor of the Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda University.
But why is there a sudden interest in the language. Dr. Atulananda Ramteke, who runs the Agile Orthopaedic Clinic in New Delhi’s Shalimar Bagh, said: “Principles of ancient Sushruta medicine always attracted me. That is why I had opted for the course.”
“The language has so much rhythm, it brings peace to your mind even when you are highly stressed. And once you learn Sanskrit you know how to solve complex management problems,” said S. Gautma, a management graduate from the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta. He is now pursuing a course in Sanskrit from the Ramakrisha Mission Institute of Culture at Golpark.
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