Reviving Sanskrit
Recently the number of people studying Sanskrit, the best known of India’s classical languages, has been increasing, according to an article I found today. The piece mentions that there’s a lot of interest in Sanskrit both in India, and among India ex-pats in the USA and other countries.
Reasons for this include the booming Indian economy, which has lead more people to take an interest in India’s history, and also the efforts of a group called Samskrita Bharati, whose mission is to “bring the pan-Indian language back to the mainstream and lay the groundwork for a cultural renaissance”. There are more details of their work here.
In one village called Ganoda in Rajasthan, many of the people are apparently able to speak Sanskrit and use it to some extent in their everyday lives.
Do you speak Sanskrit or have you studied it? Are there any other places where Sanskrit is used as a community language?
4 Responses to “Reviving Sanskrit”
d.m.falk on 12 Jul 2007 at 11:51 pm #
This is bolstered by the fact that Sanskrit is one of India’s official, national languages.
d.m.f.
Podolsky on 13 Jul 2007 at 5:11 am #
Many years ago I studied Sanskrit for some time. I know that there are some institutions in India where it is not the subject, but the language of instruction. Nevertheless I doubt there are common people who are able even to understand a Sanskrit text, to say nothing of speaking it.
Sanskrit is an extremely complex language. True, there are textbooks for children, but I don’t think it will ever be revived.
d.m.falk on 14 Jul 2007 at 11:12 am #
There is, additionally, a small daily newspaper printed in Sanskrit, published out of Mysore, India, named “Sudharma”, with a circulation of about 2000, with most copies received by post subscription.
d.m.f.
renato figueiredo on 14 Jul 2007 at 7:55 pm #
It is a language I would like to study. I have been getting some dictionaries and grammars at the web, but still didn’t time to study it.
John on 17 Jul 2007 at 7:51 pm #
According to the Samskrita-Bharati, it’s spoken in 3 other towns: Mattur and Hosahalli in Karnataka and Mohad in Madhya Pradesh.
I wonder closely this spoken language adheres to Classical Sanskrit.