Sanskrit revival

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sanskrit revival is the accumulation of attempts at reviving the Sanskrit language that have been undertaken.

[edit] History

In 1891 there was organized activity among the Theosophists in India promoting and participating in the revival of Sanskrit. ^[1] In 1894 the American Asiatic and Sanskrit Revival Society was established. ^[2]

In the Republic of India Sanskrit is included in the 14 original languages of the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution. Many organizations, like the Samskrta Bharati, are conducting Speak Sanskrit workshops to popularize the language. The "All-India Sanskrit Festival" (since 2002) holds composition contests. The 1991 Indian census reported 49,736 fluent speakers of Sanskrit.^[3]

The Central Board of Secondary Education in India has made Sanskrit a third language (though it is an option for a school to adopt it or not, the other choice being the state's own official language) in the schools it governs. In such schools, learning Sanskrit is an option for grades 5 to 8 (Classes V to VIII). This is true of most schools, including but not limited to Christian missionary schools, affiliated to the ICSE board too, especially in those states where the official language is Hindi. An option between Sanskrit and a local language as a second language exists for grades 9 and 10.^{[citation needed]}

All India Radio transmits news bulletins in Sanskrit twice a day across the nation. Besides, Sanskrit learning programmes also feature on the list of most of the AIR broadcasting centres.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Work of Samskrita Bharati

Samskrita Bharati is an organization working for Sanskrit revival. It is a tax exempt nonprofit organization with its headquarters in New Delhi, India. The International Centre, “Aksharam,” a complex located in Bangalore, India, is its international centre. It houses a research wing, a library, audio-visual lab, and staff quarters. It also has several state-units spread across the country both in the US and India. The US chapter is a registered nonprofit tax-exempt organization with its headquarters in San Jose, California.

Samskrita Bharati functions as an umbrella organization for various organizations working for promotion of Samskrita.

[edit] Mattur village

The Mattur village in central Karnataka claims to have native speakers of Sanskrit among its population. Inhabitants of all castes learn Sanskrit starting in childhood and converse in the language. Even the local Muslims speak and converse in Sanskrit. Historically, the village was given by king Krishnadevaraya of the Vijayanagara Empire to Vedic scholars and their families. People in his kingdom spoke Kannada and Telugu.^[4]

[edit] References

[edit] See also

• Vyakarana
• Tanittamil Iyakkam
• Altindische Grammatik
• Kshetresa Chandra Chattopadhyaya
• Dr. Ram Karan Sharma

[edit] External links

• NDTV story on an Indian village where Sanskrit is being spoken
• Sanskrit studies in Calcutta
• Graduate studies in Sanskrit