Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu called for a mass movement to revive Sanskrit learning where all the stakeholders should contribute to the re-discovery of India’s rich classical literature and cultural heritage. “A language cannot be preserved only by Constitutional provisions or Governmental assistance or protection,” he said.
Addressing the 9th Convocation and Decennial Ceremony of Karnataka Samskrit University in Bengaluru, he said that a language lives and gets propagated if it is valued by families, communities and educational institutions. Referring to the rapid technological changes, he said that technology has opened up new opportunities to preserve and propagate our classical languages including Sanskrit.
“Digitalization of ancient manuscripts, epigraphs and inscriptions, recording of the recitation of Vedas, publishing books bringing out the meaning and significance of ancient Sanskrit treatises would be some of the ways to preserve our culture embedded in Sanskrit texts,” he added.
Calling Sanskrit as an intangible heritage of our country, the Vice President said that it has been the fountainhead of our knowledge and literary traditions. “Sanskrit helps us understand the soul of India. If one has to understand the Indian worldview one has to learn Sanskrit,” he emphasised.
Naidu further opined that to appreciate the literary genius of Indian poets and to research on the civilisational richness of our great country, one has to be a student of Sanskrit.
He underscored that the usage of Sanskrit was not limited only to philosophical and religious subjects, rather there are a number of treatises in Sanskrit on a wide range of subjects like ayurveda, yoga, agriculture, metallurgy, astronomy, state craft and ethics, which have contemporary relevance. He asked the students to explore these areas of knowledge and discover new facets of our ancient texts.
Naidu highlighted that Sanskrit has a special place in our cultural landscape as most of the Indian languages have originated from it. “We can appreciate the Indian ethos and the deep cultural connection that binds all Indians if we learn Sanskrit. It is the language that brings us together,” he stressed.
