Is Sanskrit written in English/Hindi all Greek/Latin?

Despite several efforts to promote Sanskrit, only two out of 100 research papers in Sanskrit are being presented in the language. Scholars prefer either Hindi or English to write their PhD papers.

This has divided the Sanskrit lobby on whether the practice of learning Sanskrit in other languages be allowed to continue or should it be made a medium of instruction.

Government and scholars at Sanskrit Bharti, an RSS-affiliated body for promoting Sanskrit, have been trying to promote the language and bring it to the mainstream education curriculum.

The human resource development ministry has constituted a committee last month to suggest a long-term vision and road map for the development of Sanskrit for 10 years.

However, a month on, there is a split on traditional versus modern learning techniques. Scholars attached to university systems are of the view that Sanskrit be taught as a language and that there is no harm in presenting Sanskrit research papers in English or Hindi.

"A research paper in other languages can be accessed even by those who do not know Sanskrit. Making Sanskrit a medium will discourage students from picking up the language and valuable research work will have very few takers," said Professor Ramesh Bhardwaj, Sanskrit head of department at Delhi University. Bhardwaj is a member of the Sanskrit committee.

Scholars backing Bhardwaj's view also feel that to make Sanskrit a medium of instruction will require altering the overall syllabus from the school level.

"In our school curriculum, we have been teaching basic Sanskrit. The grammar and literature of other languages taught in schools are way ahead of Sanskrit. To make Sanskrit attractive and more accessible at the college level, the need is to correct the school text books," said Professor AD Mathur of St Stephen's College.

Mathur also feels that it is more important for students to be able to understand the rich content in these Sanskrit texts, even if it is available in other languages.

However, scholars from Sanskrit Bharti and Rashtriya Sanskrit Santhan, who support the traditional Sanskrit method and have been championing for the speak-Sanskrit movement want Sanskrit to be developed into a teaching medium.

"The current form of learning Sanskrit is adopted from the British. The British translated Sanskrit so that they could read it. For 150 years, we have been following their traditions," said a member of the committee, who did not want to be quoted. These scholars are also of the view that the British style of teaching Sanskrit has led to a decline of the language and that there is a need to go to the pre- British mode.

"We want Indians to read Gita and not the translation of Gita," added a professor.