While trying to initiate a course in Sanskrit Language, IIT Madras has not only faced opposition from communist-backed groups inside the campus but has also been a victim of regional language politics. Which has led the Humanities and Social science department (HSSD) of IITM, to finally drop the plan of starting a course in the Sanskrit language.
The earlier proposed slots for the Sanskrit course has now been replaced with Chinese language courses. It is very unfortunate to see Sanskrit language courses in IIT-M being replaced with foreign language courses.
In a brief period of past 400 years, many foreign invaders have made an attempt to destroy the essence of this language.The Mughal rule followed by British rule in India have witnessed such attempts. Macaulay, who was the then Secretary of Board of Control of British regime in India, recommended his Government to implement a policy which would replace the Sanskrit language based education with the English language.
The reason by which this classical language has sustained through the ages is only due to its rich heritage. Many Ancient travellers have translated Sanskrit texts into various Foreign languages. The importance of Sanskrit language has been realised by many countries worldwide. Many Universities in Germany and the United Kingdom are now running successful courses in Sanskrit language.
Apart from realising its Classical legacy, World is now realizing the other efficient use of this language. Sanskrit’s inherent vibrational properties and its grammar, make it one of the most efficient engine for computational linguistics. Computing linguistic uses the structure of Sanskrit’s grammar, to translate different languages in real time through computational linguistics. This helps to understand different languages in real time.
Realising the importance of Sanskrit language, the students of IIT-M have started discussing the topic among themselves. Now that the response to this discussion has been good and it has been appreciated by other students of IIT-M, students are now enthusiastic to learn this language more, by starting a class among themselves. In another attempt to revive the language, the Vande Mataram group, a patriotic initiative by IIT Madras students, recently organised a talk by Mr Rajiv Malhotra on the topic “Contemporary Indology Studies”. Mr Rajiv Malhotra has also written a book “Battle For Sanskrit”. IIT Madras students are now stressing on a demand to establish Sanskrit as a regular academic course in IIT’s.
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