Keeping India's ancient Sanskrit language alive

A group of scholars, upset at the gradual decline of an ancient Indian language, have accomplished the unbelievable by managing to revive the dying Sanskrit language, the world's oldest known tongue.New Delhi-based Samskrita Bharati has, during the last two decades of its existence, succeeded in initiating at least four million Indians into speaking the language without making the mistake of associating the language with the Hindu religion, the exclusive preserve of the upper caste Brahmins.

"Lots of non-Hindus like Muslims and Christians are joining our classes to learn Sanskrit. Moreover, we are conducting our classes in shanties and essentially lower caste dwellings to popularise it. We even indulge in gimmicks as our volunteers board city buses and start speaking in Sanskrit. This method attracts the attention of common men. The ice is broken the moment others manage to follow what we are speaking," says Chamu Krishna Shastry, general secretary of the Samskrita Bharati, adding Sanskrit is easier than learning any other language.

It was a realistic question that prompted Shastri and his friends into launching in 1981 what they termed as 'Speak Sanskrit Movement'. "Some of us wanted to launch a Sanskrit magazine and during one of the meetings the question cropped up how can people read the magazine if they cannot understand it. So teaching Sanskrit to ordinary people became our top priority," Shastry informs.

So far they have also managed to train 18,000 volunteers who teach the language across the country. To make it simple, they do not insist on a beginner learning the Devanagari script, as they are encouraged to read and write Sanskrit in their own language. It is fascinating to find Shastry using Sanskrit as the medium of communication with his wife and little son. All his staff (volunteers) also speak to each other in the same language. And to ensure that their Speak Sanskrit Movement actually becomes a people's movement, they do not accept government grants, they run their activities through public donations.

"Culture and language complement each other. If we lose a language, we will lose a culture and along with it the knowledge captured in that language," he reasons, adding that Sanskrit is a treasure house of knowledge in the fields of philosophy, literature, physics, chemistry, astronomy, architecture, medicine, metallurgy, mathematics and music.

While the once common man's language becomes no one's language in India, Shastry and his team of volunteers have succeeded in making people of three villages, Mattur and Hosahalli in Karnataka and Mohad in Madhya Pradesh, adopt Sanskrit as their language for communication. He also points out that people in some tribal villages of Lahaul and Spiti in Himachal Pradesh talk in a language called Chinali which essentially is Sanskrit.

"India was ruled by foreigners for over 800 years. Before that Sanskrit was the court language all over the country. However, during Mughal rule the language suffered the most as Hinduism itself was under attack. Then the British came with their goal to rule the country and they in a systematic manner tried to kill Sanskrit, the fountainhead of the Indian culture.

While they closed down all Sanskrit schools and started English education, Sanskrit as a language continued to be taught but through a changed grammar-translation method which was both tough and outdated. However, their untiring efforts have started paying off, as the Central Board of Secondary Education has introduced pilot projects in 600 schools across the country where Sanskrit is taught through the communication method while the University Grants Commission has plans of introducing from this summer simple methods of teaching Sanskrit in various colleges.

"About 30 million school children still learn Sanskrit through the grammar-translation method in school every year. We are hopeful that switching over to teaching through the communication method would make a difference within the next five years," Shastry says with confidence. Their own experience that people do start speaking Sanskrit after a 20-hour course spread over 10 days has encouraged them to dream big.

Their two-year correspondence course is also highly successful. So far Samskrita Bharati has published 65 books, eight audio cassettes and two CD Roms to help learning the language a simple exercise. Presently they are working on a book in which Sanskrit can be taught through the use of Urdu language, which he says is on demand of the Urdu-speaking people of the country.They are also teaching the language in 13 countries and Shastri says that they might start their Speak Sanskrit course in the Gulf countries this coming winter on the persistent demand of the Indian community living there.

"We have managed to break the language free from the shackles of Hindu religion. It is no more a prerogative of the high caste Hindus to learn this language. We are sure Sanskrit would get revived and attain its pristine glory soon," Shastry says in Sanskrit, succeeding in driving home his point that learning Sanskrit is not that difficult as one could follow what he said after spending sometime in his company.