Author: Nirmala Ganapathy
Publication: The Indian Express
Date: January 11, 2001
Introduction: ``The idea is to remove
the impression that Sanskrit is just a language. Sanskrit is on the lines
of mathematics and linguistics,''
Besides string theory and computer
architecture, students of the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, wiil
soon have the option of studying Sanskrit texts and the precise science
of Sanskrit grammar.
IIT Delhi is offering its students
a glimpse into Sanskrit classics after a directive from the Ministry for
Human Resources and Development. The ministry had sent similar letters
to around 40 institutes in the country, including the other IITs and the
Indian Institute of Science in July. Now almost a year later, IIT Delhi
has drafted the curriculum while the others are yet to get back.
``Once the proposal is passed, we
will send the Delhi IIT model with another circular to others. It's been
easier to deal with IIT Delhi because they are here,'' said an official
at the HRD ministry.
The inter-disciplinary programme
in Sanskrit will be an elective course meaning students have a choice to
opt for it out of several other courses, most of them in the humanities
and social sciences.
While the HRD Ministry wanted a
full-fledged centre, IIT plans to ``integrate Sanskrit studies into the
IIT system of education'' and to start degree-awarding programmes.
``The idea is to remove the impression
that Sanskrit is just a language. Sanskrit is on the lines of mathematics
and linguistics,'' said Wagesh Shukla of IIT's maths department, who is
also a Sanskrit scholar and has speaheaded the effort.
``We have notions of what constitutes
science which comes from the West. Sanskrit embodies an alternative approach
to intellectuality,' he says that the proposal had been accepted in principle
and only the formalities have to be fulfilled.
B.Tech, M.Tech and other students
will have the option of studying treatises on sciences like the Carakasamhita
or on poetics like the Rasagangadhara or in public administration and management
like the Arthasastra.
The decision to start the programme
will be ratified by the Senate, the highest decision-making body at IIT,
and then the HRD ministry. But ``in principle'' the programme has been
accepted.
But in IIT itself there is growing
concern about the induction of Sanskrit into the system. ``Our boundaries
are defined in IIT. This is like introducing technology in Sanskrit institutions,''
said one professor on the condition of anonymity.
While students are confused about
the utility of the course. ``It'll be interesting as an option,'' said
a final year student. ``But they should also start some foreign language
course which will help us in our careers,'' he added. ``If you want to
study Sanskrit, IIT is not the best place. I would not take it as an option
and I don't think people would go for it,'' says Lavanya Sharan, a second-year
B.Tech student.
But Shukla dismisses these murmurs
of dissent. ``Why is it that anything Indian is saffronisation? Our emphasis
is on things based in science and technology,'' he said.
The course structure would introduce
students to the ``Orders of Thinking available in Sanskrit,'' to compare
the Orders with Western thought. The curriculum has been prepared by a
core group of IIT professores and an advisory committee with Shukla as
the convener and other experts in the field like Vidyaniwas Mishra and
Kutumba Sastry of the Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan.
The other plan is to translate selected
texts from Sanskrit and to prepare course material based on Sanskrit texts
which may be used by other institutions. IIT will also start a text encoding
initiative and create Sanskrit-based software and CDs and DVDs.
The HRD letter, dated 25 July 2000,
to IIT Delhi specifically said that the department would ``prepare monographs
on the basis of original Sanskrit texts of various disciplines'' and to
prepare textbooks for the purpose of using in courses.
But IIT has decided to concentrate
on the scientific areas. One text which will be taught will be the Astadhyayi,
the grammar of Sanskrit which is ``responsible for the modern linguistic
sciences and is supposed to be the forerunner of artificial intelligence.''
The programme will also conduct research into the use of Sanskrit as a
``programming language.''
``Sanskrit is almost like a computer
language. The traditional scholar is a species which is dying out. Something
had to be done. We want to give our students an opportunity with Sanskrit
studies,'' Shukla said.