Page 58 - Khabar Magazine (February 2020)

Heritage

Voltaire, the French philosopher, having been pro- exclusive to kings and the Brahmins. As an example,
foundly impressed by the Upanishads, translated these in the classics of Sanskrit literature, such as Shakun-
scriptures further into German, whereupon Germany talam, you see that King Dushyant speaks in Sanskrit,
became the nidus of Sanskrit language! The British while his beloved Shakuntala, a forest raised maiden,
also established Sanskrit schools in England, Wales, speaks in Prakrit.
and Scotland. In fact there are As the use of Sanskrit passed
colorful stories of the penchant into the hands of Brahmins and
some of these Europeans had to concentrated there, they exploited
learn Sanskrit. this advantage to gain power and
Sir William Jones (1746-1794) money. Knowledge became a priv-
was a great English philologist ileged commodity. Characters like
who mastered 28 languages Shambuk in the Ramayana and
mostly on his own. He failed to Ekalavya in Mahabharata illustrate
find a guru who would teach him this discrimination. Brahmins,
Sanskrit, because of a religio-cul- for their own benefit, imparted
tural barrier. Finally, a 90 + -year- a religious hue to the language.
old shastri (“scholar” in Sanskrit) This worked successfully in their
agreed to tutor him, provided Sir favor in the effort to dominate
Jones did not enter his house but the poorly educated masses of In-
kept perched on his porch. He dia. Subsequently, even Brahmins
was humiliated for every mis- could not long retain the power
take he made while learning the and sophistication of this sacred
language, sometimes by the guru language, which now was bereft
throwing his shoes at him. But of all its multiple facets.
he learnt the language neverthe- The tragic outcome of this
less and produced some innova- degradation is evident in the
tive research by drawing parallels prevalent belief of even edu-
between Greek, Latin, and Sanskrit cated Indians that only Brahmins
and connecting their roots to Goth- can perform religious rituals and
ic, Celtic, and Persian languages. He translated San- the medium of their expression should be restricted
skrit literary classics like Shakuntalam and Hitopadesha to Sanskrit—even if they do not understand it and
into English. Not long ago, the University of Texas at have no way to know if the performing priest is suffi-
Austin acquired all his papers from England to pre- ciently equipped with the required knowledge!
serve in its library. Sanskrit grammar is extremely sophisticated, ne-
Now, many American universities have begun of- cessitating years of dedicated study. Lay people do not
fering courses in Sanskrit. have that sort of time available nowadays. Does that
In need of CPR mean we throw away the baby with the bathwater?
In the land of its origin, however, Sanskrit has lost In our globalized world where rapid change is a given
steam. During the colonial era, Lord Macaulay set in and the old is often rudely shoved aside in favor of the
motion the introduction of English as the medium of novel and exciting, I humbly submit that it would be a
administration, education, and a means for livelihood. blunder to relegate Sanskrit to obscurity. To regard this
Britain’s domination brought with it technological language and its scholars as “antiquated” is a common
advances and trade. India’s doors opened to the mistake stemming from a lack of vision.
world at large, English being the global lingua franca. Sushma Swaraj, the late Minister of External Af-
And what about Sanskrit? Today, only 24,821 Indians fairs of India, delivered a stunningly erudite and pen-
and 1,669 Nepalese people consider Sanskrit as their etratingly convincing lecture on the need to preserve
mother tongue! Sanskrit as part of our valued heritage. Her lecture
Historically, too, its elitism has cost some setbacks. on the importance of Sanskrit language (available for
Because of its complexity and precision that left no viewing on YouTube) is a gold standard on the subject.
room for ambiguity, the language subsequently became While I do not see a possibility of Sanskrit
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56 • FEBRUARY• 2020 KHABAR MAGAZINE