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If Sanskrit is to live on, it needs to be taught better

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mkrishna100

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If Sanskrit is to live on, it needs to be taught better
If Sanskrit is to live on, it needs to be taught better - Rediff.com India News


The debate over Sanskrit has the country in thrall. Some are angry that German, which gives students access to a global education, has been given the short shrift. Others are jubilant that the glory of Sanskrit is being revived, while some question the rationale of teaching our children three languages.

Let us, for a moment, step away from the politics being played over language.
The goal, ostensibly, is to make Sanskrit relevant to the young student. But will this be served by the way it is taught at our schools and universities? Not really; for that, we need a change in our attitude towards the language and in the pedagogic styles that we follow.

A few years ago I enrolled for a course in Sanskrit. Aghast, many of my friends thought that I was straying from sanity. Some put it down to mid-life crisis and others to a hidden sadistic streak. Why Sanskrit? That was the general response.

Well, I made a feeble attempt to explain that I wanted to read some of the stories in the original and I wanted to study mythology and so…There was usually a polite smile before the conversation drifted to something else.

But it was true. I was drawn to the language for its literature. The words seemed to carry an entire universe within themselves; besides having made their way into the global lexicon. Learning Sanskrit, I believed, would open the hidden doors to an ancient world of stories, people and places.A course in Sanskrit is like a course in culture and society, in the history of trade and economics and much more. For example, aubergine is what the French call brinjal but both the words for the vegetable have their origin in Sanskrit vatimgana. The word travelled with the Arabic traders and acquired an ‘al’ and became ‘al badinjan’.

It travelled further and in France, it changed to ‘aubadinjan’ and then, aubergine. It travelled to Portugal where the ‘al’, was dropped and it became ‘badinjan’ and subsequently brinjal which is how it travelled back to India when the Portuguese colonised parts of the country.

Sanskrit gives us an insight into the people who spoke it. The wry humour in its Subhasitams (aphorisms), the wit and sparkle in its Samvad (dialogue) and the unusual perspectives of its Natakas (plays) and Kavyas (poems) are illuminating.

The language and the way it was used and coded into a complex set of grammar rules and principles tell us how people lived, what made them laugh and what angered them; it lets us into the philosophical, linguistic and literary debates that raged in an ancient time.

Unfortunately, that is not what you get when you sign up for a course in India. In most colleges and schools, the emphasis is on grammar and spoken Sanskrit. This is the way all languages are taught, its teachers say. What’s wrong?

To begin with, Sanskrit was never really common lingo. It was the language of poets and playwrights. To expect students of the language to converse only in Sanskrit today is unrealistic. However, what is interesting is to see the languages and words that Sanskrit has spawned.

Another problem is that Sanskrit enthusiasts look at it as a tool to glorify our past. It becomes a way to assert our superiority over other civilisations. Sanskrit is devabhasha, or the language of the gods, which takes it out of the realm of natural languages. While that may be a great way to describe a beautiful language, it cannot form the basis for its study.

As J E H Smith, professor of philosophy and author (Nature, Human Nature and Human Difference: Race in Early Modern Philosophy) writes on his blog titled Why I’m studying Sanskrit: “Now in classical Indian philosophy the idea of a transcendental language that is channelled through human beings but that is not produced by them yields very interesting reflections about the nature of both language and meaning," he says.

"But as an understanding of language today, this theory can have no place among thoughtful, reasonable people,” he adds.

When I studied the language, I found that it was seen as a means to the reading of the Bhagavad Gita and for chanting mantras. Sanskrit was not a language to be loved but one that would help pursue better understanding of religion. No language can survive such abuse.

Sanskrit can be a window into a rich cultural and philosophical society that benefited from diverse and often opposing points of view. Read the Subhasitams, which are two-line or four-line aphorisms covering a wide range of subjects, and it becomes clear that this was a society that was not afraid to laugh at itself.

For instance there is one about old men who can take everything in their stride -- balding pate, wrinkled skin, walking sticks and dentures -- but not the fact that the young girls now call them grandfather.

And there is another that says we must heed those words that are strung together in a sensible manner and reject all else, even if they were spoken by Brihaspati (the guru of gods) himself.

The plays are a revelation, too, as are the Kavyas and the epics and even the manner in which the literature has been defined and categorised.

A mahakavya (Ramayana and Mahabharata are examples), for instance, must be broken down to cantos, must include a description of nature and the place where it is set, apart from telling a story that has a hero and several other characters.

A language takes years to develop and even longer before it can produce a complex system of classification for its literature.


If non-Sanskrit speakers have to appreciate the richness of its literature, it has to be made more accessible. And that does not mean setting up camps for speaking Sanskrit or Gita-chanting programmes.


Resources that offer easy to read translations of the texts online with well written commentaries may be enough. It has to be more about the legacy of the language and less about its obscure grammar rules or pronunciation.

A Sanskrit teacher who taught at a Kendriya Vidyalaya asked me to join a batch of about 10 kids at her home if I was keen to learn the language. I did, where, to my horror, she proceeded to berate all the children for their inability to pronounce a word or conjugate a verb. There is more to the language than that.

At the university I attended, many of the Sanskrit classes were conducted almost entirely in Marathi. Marathi is a great language with its own set of riches but, for a student who knows neither language well, this is a sure way of ensuring that she never comes back.

If Sanskrit is to live on, it needs to be taught better, and universities in India must invest in creating resources just as their counterparts are doing across the world with Latin.


Sanskrit too is being researched and studied with a great degree of rigour in several universities in the United States, Germany and the United Kingdom. To do the same in India its teachers and fans must separate their love for the language from that for the country or religion.
 
As a person who self studied Sanskrit and later formalized my studies by doing a 2 year Sanskrit course all I can say is people tend to shy away from Sanskrit becos it is being glorified!

I have sat for my exam in India where fellow students taking exams were priests who came bare foot for the exam dressed in traditional attire.

Everyone in the hall had a serious face and hardly anyone smiled.

Sanskrit means serious study for most people..this tends to scare others away that is hard and not easy to study.

The mindset of glorifying Sanskrit needs to change.

It should be treated like any other language only then everyone will feel its user friendly.

Yes..its true when people know you studied Sanskrit they start to feel you are insane.

But who cares? Insanity is fun too.
 
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If you learnt Sanskrit thru self study that is admirable.

I studied Skt in school but never felt it anything other than a chore then. Though I have fond memories of my classmates and the pranks we used to play together in class time - as the Skt maash used to be absent on many days. We also used to be rewarded better marks compared to those who took Malayalam as first language. I used to confuse between Skt and Hindi words / grammar.
 
I feel mother tongue tamil and sanskrit mother language of most indian languages must be learnt by all, preferably in school. I studied tamil, sanskrit, hindi and english in school. While working to build better rapport with foreign partners, learnt japanese, german, french and italian - all except german with the help of linguaphone audio courses and phrase books. enough to manage daily chores and basic technical stuff.

sanskrit gives one to access religious and secular literature at source level, and provides vastly different experience. both tamil and sanskrit give a different perspective to life.
 
If you learnt Sanskrit thru self study that is admirable.

I studied Skt in school but never felt it anything other than a chore then. Though I have fond memories of my classmates and the pranks we used to play together in class time - as the Skt maash used to be absent on many days. We also used to be rewarded better marks compared to those who took Malayalam as first language. I used to confuse between Skt and Hindi words / grammar.
hi

i did my ph.d in sanskrit philosophy from delhi university....even i studied sanskrit as first language in Kerala instead of malayalam

first language....even in our school/class....gals are better in sanskrit than boys...we had nice time with sanskrit maash....lol
 
When it comes to studying Sanskrit one must give some time . I have found usually many people become impatient and give up learning and I agree with the OP that not many people teach Sasnkrit in an enjoyable way .I have found many people having sound knowledge of Sanskrit but very poor when it comes to teaching it in an interesting way . A good teacher if he/she can create that interest in learning sanskrit in the student than half the work is done .
For TBs Sanskrit is essential to understand the various mantras used in the ritual ( Sandhyavandanam , Ammavasya etc ) and also to Understand the fundamental Hindu Texts - Bhagavad Gita , Vishnu Sahasranamam , Lalitha Sahasranamam , Ramayana , Bhagavatham .
 
If you learnt Sanskrit thru self study that is admirable.

yes..I self studied at the age of 37..I had no choice..there was no Guru to teach me...self study was my only option. I started self studying Sanskrit bcos I was getting fed up of reading translations of religious books..I wanted to read it directly. I studied Sanskrit daily for 1 hour sometimes even more.

At that time I did not even know Devanagari script but I found Devanagari script easy to learn and by buying books from India the rest is history.

When one has no Guru..one puts in more effort to study and learn.

So its not impossible to self study Sanskrit even at an older age.

All that is needed is effort and dedication and its never too late to start.

But I have noted that many still feel a Guru is needed.

Even after finishing my 2 year distance study course I was told by those in India to study Panini's grammar is not easy without a Guru.

Cos when I was asking for recommendation for books many seemed surprised that I was planning self study for Panini's grammar.

But if we get good notes from books....self study is still possible and Panini's grammar can still be within reach.

We just have to try..try and try..no harm trying.

Even now on daily basis I still read Sanskrit books to improve my command.
 
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Our Skt Sir in Pre-Degree class (now Plus 2) gave us one piece of advice : If you make it a habit to read Valmiki Ramayana 1 chapter a day - then in 2 yrs time you would become a Skt scholar !
Never tried it then and I doubt if I would try it in future too - so cant say about its effectiveness :)
 
yes..I self studied at the age of 37..I had no choice..there was no Guru to teach me...self study was my only option. I started self studying Sanskrit bcos I was getting fed up of reading translations of religious books..I wanted to read it directly. I studied Sanskrit daily for 1 hour sometimes even more.

When one has no Guru..one puts in more effort to study and learn.

So its not impossible to self study Sanskrit even at an older age.

All that is needed is effort and dedication and its never too late to start.

Self study is good in one way in that you can study at your own pace - and spend your time enjoying the text too. You can choose your texts... I am never abke to discipline myself to study in the conventional step by step way....I
always prefer going through many texts in detail and letting the learning come unconsciously..
 
hi

i did my ph.d in sanskrit philosophy from delhi university....even i studied sanskrit as first language in Kerala instead of malayalam

first language....even in our school/class....gals are better in sanskrit than boys...we had nice time with sanskrit maash....lol

tbs...(Y)
 
I believe that a language is a medium for effective communication at one level and a medium to express irrepressible creativity of the human mind at another level.

I learnt Sanskrit by teaching it to myself. So I do not have good proficiency in that language.

I love that language as much as I love Tamil.

A "செம்புலப்பெயல் நீர் போல அன்புடை நெஞ்சம் தாம் கலந்தனவே" impresses me so much that I remember that line every time I walk on the road while it is raining. If I happen to meet that poet today somewhere I will give him everything I have for just that one line.

Similarly the "வாகர்த்தாவிவ ஸம்ப்ருக்தௌவாகர்த்தப்ரதிபத்தயே, ஜகத; பிதரௌ வந்தே பார்வதீ பரமேஸ்வரௌ!!" sends me into a deep meditation about the inseparability of vAg and its arththa.

While English is again a versatile language for conveying ideas precisely, the expression of a creative urge is not accompanied by so much of beauty in it as in Tamil or Sanskrit.

Just an ignoramus's understanding of languages.
 
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