IyamAkashvani, Samprati Vartah Sruyanthaam, Pravachako Baladevananda Sagaraha is a line generations of radio listeners are familiar with.
Almost poetic and elucidating rendition of Sanskrit news by Baladevananda Sagar, a former senior news reader with All India Radio, might have drawn the attention of even those with little knowledge of the ancient language.
Shortly, Sanskrit students in schools across Kerala will have an opportunity to step into the shoes of the legendary news reader.
In a unique initiative, Samprativartah (www.samprativartah.in), an online Sanskrit news portal promoted by Sanskrit teachers in Ernakulam and Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) are set to conduct a three-day training in Sanskrit news reading for school students up to Standard Eight. Incidentally, Mr. Sagar had read the first news bulletin in the portal last September when it was launched.
The training will be at Saraswathi Vidyaniketan High School, Chengamanadu, from April 20 to 22 by experienced Sanskrit news readers and teachers associated with Samprativartah.
In
the early 1900s, analytic philosophers such as Russell and initially
Wittgenstein too, tried to develop artificial languages, which, unlike
ordinary language, would provide them with a more logical grammar, and
words with unambiguous meanings. Language was a major preoccupation for
later analytic philosophers such as Austin too, although he felt
ordinary language itself would serve the purpose of the philosopher.
Talking
about generative grammar, linguist Noam Chomsky said that grammar books
do not show how to generate even simple sentences, without depending on
the implicit knowledge of the speaker. He said this is true even of
grammars of “great scope” like Jespersen’s ‘A Modern English Grammar on
Historical Principles.’ There is some “unconscious knowledge” that makes
it possible for a speaker to “use his language.” This unconscious
knowledge is what generative grammar must render explicit. Chomsky said
there were classical precedents for generative grammar, Panini’s grammar
being the “most famous and important case.”
Walter
Eugene Clark, who was Professor of Sanskrit at Harvard University, and
who translated Aryabhatta’s Aryabhatiya into English, wrote that
“Panini’s grammar is the earliest scientific grammar in the world, and
one of the greatest.” He said the “Indian study of language was as
objective as the dissection of the body by an anatomist.”
Not
surprisingly, there are scientists who study Paninian grammar, with a
view to seeing what application they have in the area of Natural
Language Processing (NLP) research.
Dr. P. Ramanujan,
Programme Co-ordinator, Indian Heritage Group- C-DAC, Bengaluru, is an
authority on Paninian grammar. With a tuft, a namam on his forehead and a
traditional dhoti, he doesn’t look like a typical scientist. Ramanujan
is proof that traditional education need not stand in the way of a
career in science, for it is his traditional learning which has brought
him to where he is today.
Trained from the age of
three by his father, Ghanapadi Parankusachar Swami, Ramanujan completed
his study of the 4000 verses of the Divya Prabandham by the age of 11.
After his upanayanam, Vedic studies began. But he also had to go to
regular school, so that he had an almost 24-hour academic engagement,
studying one thing or the other.
A brilliant student,
Ramanujan wanted to become an engineer. But his father wanted him to
take up a job soon, and so suggested he do a diploma course. After
obtaining his diploma, Ramanujan joined HAL. Later on, he graduated in
engineering, and did his Masters in Engineering from IISc, where his
thesis was on Development of a General Purpose Sanskrit Parser.
What
would make a study of Sanskrit useful to a student of Computer Science?
“If a language has many meanings for a word, it is ambiguous, but when
Sanskrit has many meanings for a word, it is rich!” says Dr. Ramanujan,
who headed a project on ‘Computational Rendering of Paninian Grammar.’
The
richness of Sanskrit comes from the fact that everything is
pre-determined and derivable. “There is a derivational process, and so
there is no ambiguity. You can explain everything structurally. There is
a base meaning, a suffix meaning and a combination meaning. The base is
the constant part, and the suffix is the variable part. The variables
are most potent. With suffixes one can highlight, modify or attenuate.”
Two
different words may denote an object, but you can’t use them
interchangeably, for the functional aspect is what matters. For example
you can’t replace ‘Agni’ with ‘Vahni,’ for ‘Agni’ has its own
componential meaning.
An object may be denoted by the
base. An object can have sets of relationships and interactions with
other things in the world. For example, ‘Rama’, in relation to other
objects, may be an agent of some activity or the recipient etc. “Even
the interactions have been codified nicely and briefly. Clarity and
brevity are the hallmarks of Panini’s work. His rule-based approach is
his biggest plus point.”
Isn’t it true that in
Sanskrit you don’t have to coin words for a new invention or discovery,
and you can derive a word to suit the functionality of the object? “Yes.
You have all the components with you to derive a word.
You can use multiple suffixes, if need be, to show the particular function of an object.”
Does
meaning vary according to accent? “It does. For the same suffix,
different meanings are derivable because of accent differences. So you
have the Divine Couple, Jaganmatha and Jagathpitha. How do you show the
difference between our parents for all time and our parents in this life
alone? Accent helps here. This is how the Vedas are most apt, and this
has been fully noted by Panini. “He gave us a conceptual, functional
system. You take an example, apply the rules and get clarity about what
it means. So the structure is important. The component approach is
important.”
Wasn’t there an occasion when the work of
a Finnish scholar, who found fault with Panini, was referred to you ?
“The Finnish scholar said that Panini was wrong in some rules relating
to Vedic grammar. ‘Let Lakaara’ is used only in the Vedas, and Panini
wrote five sutras for it. The Finnish scholar felt Panini could have
handled this differently. George Cardona, from the University of
Pennsylvania, referred him to me. I pointed out that Panini cannot be
faulted internally. After all he set out a meta language first. He said
this is how I will write my rules. Externally, if you want, write a
grammar yourself. Many have tried and no one has been able to better
Panini.”
Have you included ‘Let Lakaara’ in your
programs? “Yes, I have. ‘Let Lakaara’ is very tough, because 108 forms
can be generated theoretically for every root. N.S. Devanathachariar,
Mimamsa Professor in Tirupati, appreciated my work.”
However,
Dr. Bachchu Lal Awasthi, a Presidential awardee and a grammarian, felt
that only as many forms as occur in the Vedas should be generated. His
objection was that one should use the Sutras to understand what existed,
but one should not use the Sutra to generate the rest.
When
Ramanujan explained that his program was done mainly to show how the
rules worked, Dr. Awasthi conceded that Ramanujan did have a point.
“This just shows that people can be won over, if we are able to show the
purpose of something.
New Delhi (PIB-GR-TYP-BIN):The President of India, Mr. Pranab Mukherjee awarded Certificates
of Honour to eminent scholars of Sanskrit, Pali/Prakrit, Arabic and
Persian and the Maharishi Badrayan Vyas Samman to young scholars for the
year 2014 at a function at Rashtrapati Bhavan on March 23.
The scheme for award of Certificates of Honour was introduced in the year 1958 by Ministry of Human Resource and Development, Government of India to honour the scholars of Sanskrit, Arabic and Persian Languages. The scheme was extended to cover Pali/ Prakrit in 1996.
From the year 2008, the scheme was
further extended to cover one international award for an NRI or
foreigner for their lifetime achievement in the field of Sanskrit.
The Maharishi Badrayan Vyas Samman for
young scholars in the age group of 30 to 40 years in the field of
Sanskrit, Pali/ Prakrit, Arabic and Persian has been introduced from the
year 2002.see details
Akshaya Mukul & Indrani Bagchi,TNN
|
Mar 24, 2015, 02.58 AM IST
RELATED
NEW
DELHI: Hoping to close the chapter on German-Sanskrit row, the HRD
ministry is finalizing a new Memorandum of Understanding to be signed
with Germany. Significantly, unlike the earlier MoU that made German
third language in Kendriya Vidyalayas, the new one will be limited to
teaching the language as an optional subject.
The draft MoU
will be vetted by the ministry of external affairs (MEA) before
formalizing it with Germany. A ministry source said, "The government is
not opposed to German. We only had problems with a foreign language
becoming third language for KVS students. It was violative of the
three-language formula and the national curriculum framework." The new
MoU will ensure that KV Sanskrit teachers are not sent to be trained as
German teachers. An element of reciprocity will also be introduced, the
source said.
German ambassador Michael Steiner told TOI: "We
are not aware of such an agreement. But I stand ready to sign such an
agreement at any time."
The draft agreement comes weeks before
Prime Minister Narendra Modi visits Germany to inaugurate the Hannover
Fair with Angela Merkel. Modi will be in Berlin for his first bilateral
summit with Merkel in mid-April, and an outstanding problem on German
language in Indian schools is the last thing the government wants. Modi
and Merkel have already had to lower temperatures on the German-Sanskrit
row during their meeting on the margins of the G-20 summit in Brisbane
last November. Giving a readout of the meeting then, the MEA
spokesperson had said, "The Prime Minister assured (Merkel) that he
himself is a votary of young Indian children learning other languages.
How it is best done within the confines of the Indian system, we will
work it out."
Three specific clauses of the earlier MoU that
will be changed include the introduction that KVS has taken a decision
to offer German as a third language in its schools. Paragraph 2.1 of the
earlier MoU said the purpose is to "introduce German in these schools
as one of the third languages from classes VI to VIII". The same
paragraph went on to state that under the MoU teachers from "within the
KVS teaching staff" will be identified to be trained as German teachers.
"All these will be changed," a source said. The HRD ministry has
already decided to institute an inquiry against Avinash Dikshit, KVS
commissioner, for his alleged role in making German the third language
in KVs.
Sunday, 15 March 2015 - 5:15am IST | Place: Mumbai | Agency: dna | From the print edition
Though
there have been efforts to translate classical Indian literature into
English and other Indian languages, these are few and far between, with
Western scholars still in the lead, says Gargi Gupta
There has been a steady dribble of modern translations of important texts in Sanskrit and other classical languages
(Prakrit, Pali, Tamil) from the West, but very, very few coming out of
India, especially in the post-independence years. Sanskrit professor
Prafull Gadpal, who has been working to translate the ancient text Divyavandana into Hindi without even knowing who will publish it, epitomises the anomaly. Divyavandana, a vast collection of early stories about the Buddha
that scholars say was written down sometime in the second century AD,
is one of the main sources for what we know today of the history,
culture and religious practices of Mauryan India. Discovered by British
civil servant BH Hodgson in Nepal in the early nineteenth century, parts
of it were first translated into English in 1844 by the pioneering
French Sanskrit and Pali scholar Eugene Burnouf. In the century and half
since, several Western scholars have translated it, the best known
being John Strong of Princeton University (Ashokavandana, or The Legend of Emperor Ashoka,
1983), Canadian scholar Joel Tatelman (four cantos for the Clay
Sanskrit Library in 2005), and Andy Rotman (Smith College, US), whose
translation of the first 17 cantos came out in 2008.
However, there has been no translation of Divyavandana in
the country of its origin —though one Indian, PL Vaidya, made a
significant addition to scholarship with his critical edition in
Devnagiri in 1959.
For Gadpal, an assistant professor at Delhi's
Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan who's working to correct the imbalance, it's
a labour of love. The Sansthan, a deemed university set up in 1970 by
the central government to "propagate, develop and encourage Sanskrit
learning and research", has not commissioned Gadpal to translate the
text. But the professor has nonetheless been hard at work for more than a
year, taking time out from his duties at the university's distance
learning programme to pore over a dog-eared, spiral-bound photocopy of
the 1959 edition compiled by Vaidya.
"I don't know how long it will take and who will publish it," Gadpal confesses. The Gadpal-Divyavandana tale reflects the neglect to translate important texts in Sanskrit and other classical languages for today's generation. "There
has been no major dedicated translation programme to translate books in
Sanskrit or other classical languages into English or Indian languages.
The government had set up the National Translation Mission around a
decade ago, but the focus has been on translating classics of European
languages into Indian languages. Translations of classical texts was
never on the agenda, unlike in the West," agrees Radhavallabh Tripathi,
former vice-chancellor of the Sansthan. Some efforts In
recent decades, the Sansthan has been at the forefront of scholarly
publishing in Sanskrit. But going by its catalogue, its emphasis has
been on bringing out critical editions, anthologies and commentaries —
with translations (in Hindi, not English) few and far between. Also,
religious texts such as the Vedas, Puranas, the epics and commentaries thereof, dominate.
Among
government institutions, the Sahitya Akademi has an active
Sanskrit-language publishing programme, including translations, notable
among which are Kalidasa's poems and plays (eight volumes), and Astadhyayi, Panini's treatise on Sanskrit grammar (13 volumes), brought out between 1992 and 2007.
The
Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA), an ancillary body
of the union culture ministry, has over the years built a catalogue of
translations of well-known and obscure texts not just in Sanskrit, but
also on aesthetics and the arts. It has, for instance, brought out
translations of two important seventh century books in Persian called
the Tarjuma-i-Manakutuhala and Risala-i-Ragadarpana. These are modern, critical translations with all scholarly appurtenances — footnotes, annotations, glossaries and the like.
There
have been several endeavours in this sphere in the non-governmental
sector. Best known among these is the Gita Press in Gorakhpur which
brought out a series of lucid, faithful and cheap translations into
Hindi and other Indian languages of the principal religious texts: Bhagavad Gita, Ramcharitmanas, Upanishads and the Vedas.
Among the translations done post-independence are English poet and
publisher P. Lal's translation of the Mahabharata, and NP Unni's of
Kalidasa's works, published by various small publishing houses. In
recent years, Penguin has brought out a steady selection of translated
classics — not just of the well-known names like Kalidasa, but also
those of lesser known figures such as Nammalvar and Kshemendra. Western domination Sanskrit
studies, as we know it today, grew largely in the West through the
efforts, mostly in the early eighteenth century, by soldiers and civil
servants like Brian Hodgson, James Prinsep, William Jones and Horace
Wilson, who discovered these manuscripts, copied them out or carried
them back to the West, and translated them. However, 'post-colonial'
scholars today point out that these were not disinterested endeavours,
but a part of the British project to colonise India. Be as it may, the
fact remains that these were the forefathers of a thriving Sanskrit
studies tradition in the West, carried on now by departments in
well-known Western universities at Berkeley, Brown, Heidelberg, Oxford
and Cambridge.
The India story was quite different. "The growth of British systems of education resulted in the languishing of traditional gurukuls where
Sanskrit was taught. As a result, scholarship in Sanskrit or even
proficiency in the language has suffered," said SN Jha, professor at the
Sansthan.
In the early post-independence decade, a few institutes
such as the Bhandarkar Institute of Oriental Research, Deccan College,
and the Mithila Institute made notable translations of classic texts.
But, in a very real sense, the Murty Classical Library of India (MCLI),
announced this January, is the first concerted effort from within India
to open up the rich and vast corpus of classical literature
to the world. Rohan Murty, the son of Infosys founder Narayana Murthy,
has set up MCLI with a $5.2 million donation with the intent of coming
up with authoritative, lucid and contemporary translations of 500
classics of Indian literature. Five of these were unveiled at the launch
function: a volume of Abul Fazl's Ain-i-Akbari, Bulle Shah's Sufi poetry, Manu Charitra by 16th century Telugu poet Allasani Peddana, an anthology of poems in Pali by female Buddhist bhikshus called Therigatha, and Sursagar, a collection of poems by Surdas.
The
irony, of course, is that Murty has tied up with Harvard University for
the project, which is inspired by the famous Clay Sanskrit Library, a
landmark initiative by American millionaire and Sanskritist John Clay.
From the 1990s, when it began, to 2009, Clay's initiative brought out 56
volumes — 15 volumes on the Mahabharata, five of Ramayana, besides some of the Kathasaritsagar, the poetry and plays of legends such as Kalidasa, Bhartrihari, Bhatta, Jayadeva and Kshemendra.
Sheldon
Pollock, who is general editor of MCLI, was earlier co-general editor
of Clay Sanskrit Library. The translators, thus far, are all leading
lights of Sanskrit studies or comparative religion departments in
marquee American universities, all but one of Indian origin. This
dominance of Western scholars, say Indian Sanskrit scholars, leads to
bias in the translations. "There are many renowned scholars of Sanskrit
in the West, but what they lack is cultural understanding. As a result,
their references to Indian gods can be downright offensive to Indian
sensibilities," says Tripathi.
That may be true. What is needed is
academics like Gadpal who will get the cultural nuances right. But
where is the incentive and backing so that more people like him can come
forward to fill up this critical gap in our learning of our past?
Thanks to Ramanujan’s effort, one can now access Sastras through the computer.
(This is the first of a two-part article on Dr. P. Ramanujan’s work on Sanskrit and computers)
In
the late 1920s, Ghanapathi Parankusachar Swami won a prize in Sanskrit.
When asked whether he wanted the prize of Rs 3,000 in cash or kind, he
asked for books! Thus he acquired a wonderful library. This enabled his
son Ramanujan to pore over the books every day.
Ramanujan
spent seven years putting the contents of the Sastras into a database.
He culled 30,000 sutras from all the Sastras, classified the different
aspects of the Sastras, and gave his compendium the name, Sakala Sastra
Sutra Kosa.
When a retired professor of Physics from
IIT Madras, who became a sanyasi after being initiated by Sringeri
Pontiff, Paramananda Bharati, organised a conference in Delhi on
Sanskrit and Computers, Ramanujan told him about the kosa and was asked
to present a paper at the conference.
The paper was
on using computers for Sanskrit. Many IIT professors were present and
what caught their attention was that Ramanujan had come up with a flow
chart in Sanskrit, and a programme for the generation of nouns. The then
President of India, Dr. Shankar Dayal Sharma, was so impressed that he
suggested that Dr. Bhatkar- founder director of Centre for Development
of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) - make use of Ramanujan’s services. In
1990, Ramanujan joined C-DAC, Pune. While in Pune, Ramanujan developed
DESIKA, a comprehensive package for generating and analysing Sanskrit
words.
What does DESIKA do? “Given a Sanskrit word,
it gives you the hidden meanings, the meanings with which it is packed.
Key in a word and DESIKA gives you the noun attributes like paradigm,
ending type, noun base, number and case, and similarly for verbs.”
When Ramanujan joined C-DAC, their ISCII standard was in the testing stage. Ramanujan wrote the Vedic part of the standard.
Around
this time, a question was raised in Parliament about what Indian
scientists were doing in the field of Computers and Sanskrit. Ramanujan
was asked to make a presentation in Parliament. He presented DESIKA, and
later gave a demo in the Parliament annexe. The then Prime Minister
P.V. Narasimha Rao, who held the Science and Technology portfolio,
attended the demo and was amazed at the simplicity of DESIKA.
Ramanujan
made a second presentation in Parliament in 1993. The question now was
about how to handle differences between Vedic and classical Sanskrit.
Ramanujan replied that this would pose no problems, and showed a 73 by
26 matrix, which he had prepared (73 individual characters in the Vedic
part and 26 parameters). For every Vedic syllable, there are three
components- consonant, vowel and accent, and each syllable has 26
parameters, which define it fully.
In 1994, C-DAC
began work on Vedic fonts and today, all the Vedas have been rendered
machine readable. Searchable, analysable Sastraic contents, Itihasas,
Puranas, Divya Prabandham are all now available too, with value added
features such as retrieval as word, stem, compounds, including Boolean
search. You can use the same keyboard layout for any script.
Ramanujan
entrusted to students of Veda Pathasalas, the task of typing out old
texts. “One lakh pages have been typed, and 600 texts covered. But the
task of annotation still remains, because there are not enough
knowledgeable people to do the job.”
Aren’t people
who study for many years in pathasalas competent to do this? “Not
necessarily. Most of the pathasalas concentrate on rote learning. I feel
we can dilute the memorising part and concentrate on analysis. We need
to make this kind of study monetarily attractive as well.”
Ramanujan
was the Principal Investigator for the TARKSHYA (Technology for
Analysis of Rare Knowledge Systems for Harmonious Youth Advancement)
project, which envisages providing Sanskrit institutions across the
country with high speed connectivity, for promoting heritage computing
activities. Content has also been developed for online study. Three
courses have been designed: Vedic processing, Sastras and manuscript
processing. “We have video lectures by 40 scholars. Students can access
the lectures through their mobiles. If a student wants to search
something later, he can do so, for a verbatim transcript is available.”
For
manuscript processing, a computer application program, called
Pandu-lipi Samshodaka has been developed by C-DAC, which has browse,
search, index, analyse and hyperlinking features.
Ramanujan
takes me round his library, which has many rare manuscripts, some of
them more than 400 years old. They have all been digitised. He feels
students must seek out old manuscripts, for who knows what treasures lie
hidden in them?
How can we tweak education for
students of traditional learning? “A student of Indian logic should
study Western logic too. A student of vyakarana must study modern
theories of linguistics. Study should be interdisciplinary- mathematics
in ancient Sanskrit texts and in modern texts; transdisciplinary- that
is different areas within Sanskrit such as vyakarana, mimamsa, nyaya;
multi disciplinary- a student of ayurveda could perhaps study the
therapeutical aspects of music.”
Helpful for scholars
Ramanujan
has a website parankusa.org, in which he gives the Arsheya system for
the Krishna Yajur Veda. This is a topical arrangement of contents. What
is actually followed today is the Saarasvatha system, which does not
have such an ordering. Giving the Arsheya system alongside the
Saarasvatha ordering, has been of great help to many Sanskrit scholars.
Life’s back to Delhi Assembly as MLAs and well-wishers gather for
oath-taking on Monday. (Source: Express Photo Praveen Khanna)
Written by Mayura Janwalkar
| New Delhi |
Published on:February 24, 2015 2:44 am
The first sitting of the sixth Delhi Assembly was marked by a
stand-off between the newly-elected speaker and leader of the BJP
legislature party, cheering and hooting crowd in the visitors gallery
and MLA’s oaths taken in six different languages.
Delhi’s 67 new MLAs belonging to the AAP and the three from the BJP
were sworn in on Monday afternoon followed by the election of the
Speaker and his deputy on the floor of the House.
If the proceedings during the Assembly session held on Monday are any
indicator of things to come, the BJP’s trio may have to do more to be
heard in the 70-member assembly dominated by the AAP.
Even as the AAP’s MLAs endorsed the appointment of Shahdara MLA Ram
Niwas Goel as the speaker, BJP’s Om Prakash Sharma made an attempt to
flash a vernacular daily that carried a news article about a FIR filed
against Goel.
Sharma, however, managed to say, “There is a news item today..”
before his voice was drowned in the desk-tapping by AAP MLAs who
unanimously agreed with the appointment of Goel as Speaker and Bandana
Kumari as deputy Speaker. Minutes later, Sharma was in the middle of AAP
MLAs shaking Goel’s hand and congratulating him.
The visitors gallery was packed with families of MLAs who wanted to
witness the oath-taking. Despite repeated requests not to clap, the
crowd continued to applaud and cheer as their MLAs. While most MLAs took their oath in Hindi, three of them took it in
Bhojpuri, three in Punjabi, two in Urdu, two in English and Kapil
Sharma, MLA from Karawal Nagar, who was the last to be sworn-in, took
his oath in Sanskrit.” “About four days ago we were asked which language we would like to
take our oath in. I chose Sanskrit because our country has a deep-rooted
connection with Sanskrit and I am very comfortable with the language,”
Sharma told Newsline.
Kirari MLA Rituraj Jha, who took his oath in Bhojpuri, stood out with
his magenta cap, red kurta and dhoti. On the Assembly floor, MLA Nitin
Tyagi was seen trying on Jha’s cap and fist-bumping MLA Kumari Sarita
Singh after she took her oath.
The crowd cheered the loudest for S K Bagga, MLA from Krishna Nagar, who defeated BJP’s CM candidate Kiran Bedi.http://indianexpress.com/article/cities/delhi/aam-aadmi-party-begins-at-delhi-house-with-67-cheers/
Napoleon was cent per cent right when he said that the
word impossible is found only in the dictionary of fools. Actor Anupam
Kher's television show "Life Mein Kuchh Bhi Ho Sakta Hai" (anything is
possible in life) vindicates the French military leader's dictum.
A few days ago, I read in an English daily that a cyber geek had
translated the dialogues of Bollywood classic 'Sholay' into Sanskrit. It
seems amusing to imagine Gabbar Singh, the formidable bandit character
in the film, mouthing those killer dialogues in the ancient language of
holy texts.
It catapulted me to the time about a decade ago when I was at a
seminar on "Challenges before Punjabi language in the 21st century" at
Punjabi University, Patiala. Speaking on the topic, a noted prose writer
said Punjabi had ample opportunities to flourish as a cultural
language, while as a medium of instruction and intellectual debate, it
had limitations.
His frank statement hurt some members of the audience who took pride
in their mother tongue. The hall started buzzing with murmurs. About
half a dozen scholars vented their ire against the sacrilege. Now it was
the turn of the erudite gentleman who had made the observation to
clarify. All smiles, he ascended the podium and said: "Friends, I am
firm on my stand and reiterate with all responsibility and commitment
that intellectual discussion in Punjabi is not possible.
This is no handicap of the language but just as you can't have
qawwali in Sanskrit." The listeners had a good laugh and broke for
lunch.
Hardly a week later, I found in my mail an invite from the languages
department to an inter-school Sanskrit qawwali contest. I remembered the
learned author who had dismissed the possibility, and an itch struck me
to ring him up. I asked him to accompany me to the event and see for
himself the marvel. As is the wont of scholars, he didn't budge an inch
from his stand, and said children must have mixed a little bit of
Sanskrit in their song compositions.
He didn't accompany me but I sat curious all through the contest. To
my wonder, I found the schoolchildren at professionals-like ease while
presenting Sanskrit qawwalis at the beat of claps. It was a moment of
revelation, when my belief became firmer that anything is possible in
life. parvesh.sharma184@gmail.com see details
Written by Mihika Basu
| Mumbai |
Published on:February 25, 2015 2:01 am
Stating that it was “high time” one learnt to distinguish
science from mythology, evidence-based reasoning from unthinking
acceptance of authority or speculation and the rational from the
superstitious, the guest editorial in “Current Science” journal severely
criticised certain aspects of this year’s Indian Science Congress. The
sessions that were held in Mumbai, according to the journal attempted to
create false history of Indian science.
Current Science, published every fortnight by the Current Science
Association, in collaboration with the Indian Academy of Sciences, is a
leading interdisciplinary science journal from India. It was started in
1932 by the then stalwarts of Indian science, C V Raman, Birbal Sahni,
Meghnad Saha, Martin Foster and S S Bhatnagar, and completed 100 volumes
in 2011. The guest editorial titled “The ‘historic’ storm at the Mumbai
Science Congress” was published in the latest edition.
During a session on “Ancient Indian sciences through Sanskrit” on
January 4 at the Congress hosted by Mumbai University, the retired
principal of a pilot training centre, Captain Anand Bodas, presented a
paper, claiming that the science of building and flying a plane was
recorded by Maharishi Bharadwaj in Brihad Vimana Shastra, several
millenia before the Wright Brothers built an aeroplane. This paper
hogged the headlines and created a lot of controversy at the cost of
other scientific breakthroughs and findings.
“The debates surrounding the Congress generated specific
controversies. The first concerned ancient Indian aviation technology. A
presentation made on the subject based on Bruhat Vimana Shastra
attributed to Maharshi Bharadwaj and Vaimanika Sastra (VS) by G R
Josyer, described four types of ‘vimanas’ from these ‘ancient’ books.
One of these vimanas was supposed to fly around Mach 10, another had a
base exceeding 300 m in diameter; but curiously there is not a word on
the crucial question of weights.
These designs have been shown to be scientifically unsound in a
critical analysis of VS (Scientific Opinion, 1974) by a group of reputed
scientists in the Departments of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
at the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru. For example, the designs
violated Newton’s laws and even got the sign wrong for the thrust of
their engines,” read the guest editorial by Prof Roddam Narasimha,
Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research. He is at
present DST Year-of-Science Professor 2013-2017.
It goes on to say that the work seems traceable to an original,
“dictated by a self-taught, impoverished but serious Sanskrit scholar in
Karnataka”, sometime during 1900-1922, and could not have been Vedic by
any criterion. “This effort at creating a false history of Indic
science is a spectacularly bad example of the absurd lengths to which
attempts at glorification of our past can go,” the editorial said.
In a telephonic interview with the The Indian Express, Narasimha
said, “The history of Indian science, especially early Indian science,
is fascinating, provided we can learn to look at it objectively. “There
are, however, two camps. One claims that our ancients knew all about the
branches of modern science and technology, ranging from relativity and
quantum mechanics continued…see details
Sources said the Manohar Lal Khattar government wants to introduce Gita
in the curriculum before the next academic session.
Written by Mukesh Bhardwaj
|
Updated: February 26, 2015 11:18 am
The BJP government in Haryana has asked the School Council for
Educational Research and Training (SCERT) to suggest which shlokas from
the Bhagavad Gita can be introduced in the school curriculum.
The SCERT was approached after the Education Department analysed the
issue. The SCERT’s recommendations would be referred to an educational
consultative committee headed by retired school teacher and education
activist Dina Nath Batra. Batra was behind Wendy Doniger’s book, The
Hindus: An Alternative History, being withdrawn by the publisher.
T C Gupta, director general, higher education, said, “We have
referred the matter to the SCERT for their perusal. It is up to them to
propose from which level Gita can be introduced at school level.”
Sources said the department is in a fix since Sanskrit is not a familiar
language for schoolchildren. The SCERT has been asked to find a way
around this — possibly by providing Hindi and English translations for
the shlokas.
A final call on the issue would be taken by the Batra-led committee,
which was formed by Education Minister Ram Bilas Sharma recently. “We
are set to introduce Gita in the school curriculum and there is no
opposition to that. Even if there is any opposition, we have a strong
resolve to introduce shlokas and there is no stopping that,” Sharma
said.
Sources said the government wants to introduce Gita in the curriculum
before the next academic session. The government also plans to spread
Sanskrit in the state by introducing two courses, Oriental Training and
Shastri. About 1,000 teachers would be recruited for this purpose.
“After we get enough Sanskrit teachers, it won’t be a problem to make
children learn the language. There will be a good response once it
becomes a job-oriented subject,” said a senior BJP leader.see details
There have been
several efforts to keep Sanskrit alive in popular culture. A team of
Wikipedians in the City has now joined this endeavour.
They
are doing their bit for the language by working towards the expansion
of Sanskrit Wikipedia. Roping in college professors and students to
actively contribute to Sanskrit Wikipedia, the team is spearheading a
movement for popularising Sanskrit Wikipedia, Wikisource, Wiktionary and
Wikiquote.
In a first such workshop on ‘Samskrit Wiki’ organised
by the Samskrit Wiki Group here on February 14 and 15, 2015, Sanskrit
professors were given basic understanding about Wikipedia editing.
Professors
from Rashtriya Samskrit Samsthan (Sringeri and Puri campuses),
Rashtriya Samskrutha Vidyapeetham, Tirupathi, Karnataka Sanskrit
University, Samskrit Academy (Hyderabad), participated in the event
apart from Sanskrit lecturers from several colleges in the city. These
professors will henceforth actively contribute towards enriching
Sanskrit Wikipedia.
The Samskrit Wiki Group is based out of
Samskrita Bharati in the City. Content development of Sanskrit wikipedia
is one of the projects of Samskruta Bharati. Speaking to Deccan Herald,
Shubha, co-ordinator of the Samskrit Wiki wing, Samskrita Bharati, said
that they had conducted several exhibitions earlier in this connection,
but this was the first such workshop being held.
“Many of the
participants had not heard of Sanskrit Wikipedia. People usually
associate Wikipedia with information available in English. Not many
people are aware about Wikipedia in regional languages. Very few know
that Wikipedia also exists in Sanskrit,” she said.
Wiki-friendly students
Now
that the professors have been trained, the group will visit the
educational institutions and start training students too, so that they
can contribute for Sanskrit Wiki. This would also give them an
opportunity to enhance their writing skills in Sanskrit. Shubha said
that several Sanskrit students were not tech-friendly and were not used
to computers. This would expose them to technology.
The team was
also keenly pursuing advocating inclusion of Wiki editing in BEd and
MEd syllabus, apart from its inclusion in ‘Acharya,’ a Sanskrit degree
equivalent to post-graduation.
‘Need more experts’
The
main challenge in expansion of Sanskrit Wikipedia is that there are not
many language experts available for the task. The volunteers need to
find relevant Sanskrit words for several modern concepts. Unless one is
an expert in the language, it is difficult to find the appropriate
words.
“It is not a mother tongue for most people. If one wants
to write in their mother tongue, they need not think much. But this
requires effort,” Shubha pointed out.
Sanskrit Wikipedia began in
2003. The Samskrit Wiki Group team started working towards expansion of
Sanskrit Wikipedia in February, 2011. When they began, there were 4,000
articles in Sanskrit Wikipedia. “Several entries were in Hindi and we
had to translate and rework on them,” Shubha told Deccan Herald.
Today
there are about 11,000 articles in Wikipedia, about 8,000 books in
Wikisource and about 3,000 pages of Wiki quote in Sanskrit, she said. see details
Film director K.S.L. Swamy, here on Tuesday, opined that
Sanskrit language has the potential to unite the country, keeping aside
all differences. He was speaking after inaugurating Hassan district
Sanskrit Sammelan.
Sanskrit is the mother of many
languages. Many languages in the world, including English, have borrowed
words from Sanskrit. “People of every region in the country can easily
relate with Sanskrit and that is the best tool to unite the country.
There are many great works in Sanskrit. As the future generations have
to study them, learning Sanskrit is necessary”, he said.
Srinivasan
M. of Samskrita Bharati, organiser of the sammelan, in his preliminary
marks said the event was held to spread awareness about the uses of
learning Sanskrit. “There are thousands of scripts in Sanskrit, not
translated to any other language. The scripts have valuable knowledge
that can help in facing new challenges of the ever-changing world”, he
said
Stating that more than 10 lakh people in the
country can speak Sanskrit, he said the number has been increasing
rapidly. Samskrita Bharati has been conducting classes to teach the
language, he added.
Earlier in the day, organisers took out a procession in the city to spread awareness on Sanskrit language.
‘There are many great works in Sanskrit. As future generations have to study them, learning Sanskrit is necessary’see details
There have been several efforts to keep
Sanskrit alive in popular culture. A team of Wikipedians in the City has
now joined this endeavour.
They are doing their bit
for the language by working towards the expansion of Sanskrit Wikipedia.
Roping in college professors and students to actively contribute to
Sanskrit Wikipedia, the team is spearheading a movement for popularising
Sanskrit Wikipedia, Wikisource, Wiktionary and Wikiquote.
In a
first such workshop on ‘Samskrit Wiki’ organised by the Samskrit Wiki
Group here on February 14 and 15, 2015, Sanskrit professors were given
basic understanding about Wikipedia editing.
Professors from
Rashtriya Samskrit Samsthan (Sringeri and Puri campuses), Rashtriya
Samskrutha Vidyapeetham, Tirupathi, Karnataka Sanskrit University,
Samskrit Academy (Hyderabad), participated in the event apart from
Sanskrit lecturers from several colleges in the city. These professors
will henceforth actively contribute towards enriching Sanskrit
Wikipedia.
The Samskrit Wiki Group is based out of Samskrita
Bharati in the City. Content development of Sanskrit wikipedia is one of
the projects of Samskruta Bharati. Speaking to Deccan Herald, Shubha,
co-ordinator of the Samskrit Wiki wing, Samskrita Bharati, said that
they had conducted several exhibitions earlier in this connection, but
this was the first such workshop being held.
“Many of the
participants had not heard of Sanskrit Wikipedia. People usually
associate Wikipedia with information available in English. Not many
people are aware about Wikipedia in regional languages. Very few know
that Wikipedia also exists in Sanskrit,” she said.sww details
Savouring Telugu flavours: Stefan Binder from Germany. —Photo: V. Raju
Savouring Telugu flavours: Stefan Binder from Germany. —Photo: V. Raju
There is a Chinese proverb which says learning is a treasure that will follow its owner everywhere.
Stefan
Binder of South Germany is an insatiable learner basking in the glory
of Telugu language in Vijayawada city. A student of cultural
anthropology back home in Berlin where he lives, his first visit to
India was a couple of years ago.
“As part of my
Masters, I started learning Telugu and Sanskrit and in the last
semester, I opted for Telugu. By the end of it, I was able to translate
Telugu in German,” he says.
Starting with locals
And
then, he started learning the language on his own. In the beginning, he
had problem in speaking Telugu with locals but later got used to it.
By
sheer coincidence, he landed in Andhra Pradesh for his research
project. “The Telugu taught in the university was very technical unlike
the colloquial one. Now I am confident of striking a conversation in
Telugu, even if it is about my research project,” says the 29-year-old
scholar with an emphatic nod. Ask him about the most difficult part of
Telugu and he points to its “syntactic structure which is different from
European languages. “Theoretically I can understand it,” he hastens to
add. The best part, he says, is that the Telugu grammar is not too
complex compared to Sanskrit or “my own mother tongue German.” Give him a
lot of time and a dictionary and he can translate Sanskrit too.
“Actually, my Hindi is better but my vocabulary is shrinking because of
late, I have been focusing only on Telugu,” he says.
Films his passion
He enjoys watching Bollywood films. “
P.K
and
Haider
were the latest ones and I also plan to see
Dum laga ke haisha
,” he adds. As far as food is concerned, the German youth is having a delicious time tucking into his favourite
dosas
in breakfast and delicacies like
pulusu
(gravy) made with sweet potato and ladies finger. “I love the combination of
mudda pappu
(dal) and
allam pachchadi
(ginger pickle) with ghee,” his smile returns.Mr. Binder calls his visit
a learning experience. “My first visit was to an undivided Andhra
Pradesh. I returned after a gap to find two different States with
boundaries redrawn. I have friends on both sides. But regardless of
physical barriers, I find the emotional chord intact,” he says.
As
part of my Masters, I started learning Telugu and Sanskrit and in the
last semester, I opted for Telugu. By the end of it, I was able to
translate Telugu in German
A regional centre of the Sree Sankaracharya University
of Sanskrit, Kalady will be established at Thuravoor near here. A plot
of six acres will be bought for the purpose.
A decision to this effect was taken at the meeting convened by District Collector N. Padmakumar on Saturday.
It
was also agreed upon that amount required for acquiring the land would
be sanctioned from the asset development fund of Aroor MLA A.M. Ariff.
A
final decision on the identified plots would be made after a joint
inspection by Mr. Padmakumar, Mr. Ariff and the management of the
centre. At the meeting, Sanskrit University Vice Chancellor M.C. Dileep
Kumar said the proposed campus was expected to include an academic
block, library, hostel and a ground.
The facility could also be upgraded to a research centre at a later stage.
Besides
Central and State funds, the assistances of the University Grants
Commission (UGC) would also be utilised for constructing the facility,
the Vice Chancellor added.
A sub-centre of the
varsity has been functioning at a building of the Thuravoor grama
panchayat since 1997. Among the courses that were offered were Master of
Social Work (MSW) and other postgraduate courses in Hindi and
Malayalam.
Deputy Collector R. Santhosh, District
Information Officer K.R. Pramod Kumar and Thuravoor Mahakshetram
Bhakthajana Samithy president T.G. Padmanabhan Nair also participated in
the discussion.
A
sub-centre of Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit has been
functioning at a building of Thuravoor grama panchayat since 1997.see details
The
new terror outfit ISIS in Iraq and Syria has put India on its radar
with an objective of creating a global Islamic Sunni state. The New York
Time reporter, Carlotta Gall in her book “The wrong enemy; America in
Afghanistan, 2001-2014” explained how the internal radicalizing of the
young people by increasing number of preachers or proselytizing groups
arriving from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and the Middle East pose a threat to
the Asian countries. US in its war against terror has created more
problems for India. It hired Pakistan intelligence services and in
return gave Pakistan billions of dollars and advanced weapons much to
the disadvantage of India. C. Christine Fair, Assistant Professor of
Centre for Peace and Security Studies in the United States in her book
“Fighting to the end” noted Pakistan has already churned out $ 30
billion from US in supporting US war against terrorism in Afghanistan.
India’s security problem aggravates due to its lack of well thought out
border policy in the past decades. When the undercover capitalist and
dictatorial China was building motorable roads and Railway lines close
to India’s border in order to facilitate faster troop movement, Indian
leaders were sleeping for decades like the mythical Kumbhakarna.
Insurgency has seriously infested North East India. The worst is the
red corridor which continues to bleed the nation.
In fact, terrorism of any kind seriously
damages livelihood, creates trust deficit, ruins family life, triggers
migration, affects social and cultural life and leaves behind orphans
and widows in the streets. Terrorism bleeds the economy of nations.
Jammu Kashmir, the Maoist infested tribal belt and the north East India
have immense economic potential which can let people lead a happy and
prosperous family life. But the terrorist ideologues always succeed in
planting imaginary enemies in the minds of innocent people and persuade
them to fight. It has ruined agriculture, forestry, handicraft and
tourism sector in the terrorist infested districts. Prime Minister
Narendra Modi has rightly said terrorism has so far given nothing to
people and people should change their path for peace like Samrat Ashok
who embraced Budhism after a bloody Kalinga war.
India should look for permanent solution
to strengthen its security. Swami Vivekananda whose life was
mysteriously cut short at 39 said it is good to have a giant’s strength
but to use it in giant’s way is bad. India needs to work quietly to
acquire giant’s strength for its own safety. There are simple ways to
build an economically, physically and morally strong nation. Instead of
branding people poor and backward, we must understand their potential to
become rich amid good governance. There are millions of artisans in the
North East India, in the maoist infested tribal districts of
Chhattishgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh and in Kashmir who
add high value to simple organic material with their skill and
imagination. When artisans from Ladakh and Kashmir make pashmina shawl
from goat wool, the percentage of value addition is higher than any
industrial product. Similarly, the artisans across the country create
bewitching artistry on wood, clay, silver and brass etc. If they do not
get the profit they deserve after contributing creatively for long hours
there is something seriously wrong in the governance mechanism. If the
Union Government makes a dedicated investigation to know the end result
of various development schemes in the tribal belt, the root cause of
poverty will come to light. While treating the red corridor with arms
and ammunition there is need to punish the looters of the development
fund with ruthless accuracy. The scope of building an Indian tribal
regiment with the young tribal from the maoist infested districts should
be explored. The tribal are strong, intelligent and swift who can be
recruited in army. This could channel tribal energy for more
constructive purpose.
Serious problem like change in
demographic composition happens due to the weakening of faith among the
Hindu community. The prata arati (morning puja) has been stopped in
many temples. It should start in every temple across the country at a
particular time in the morning not as a display of strength but as true
devotion to god. People who think they love Hinduism must take an oath
to keep the temples clean and make it free from nuisance. There are so
many Hindu sheers who talk in multiple voices and does little to reform
Hinduism. There are thousands of temples across the country which are
nonperforming assets from religious point of view. Those temples can be
used as center of learnings and for inculcating finer emotions like
love, sympathy and moral courage among people. Unless the well to do
Hindus learn to treat the poor and underprivileged people with
compassion the ghost of religious conversion will continue to haunt
India. Thousands of people in Orissa and Bengal embraced Christianity in
order to escape hunger in the world’s worst man made famine of 1943. It
is the vulnerable people who pass through series of humiliation to
change their religious faith the way it happens to the Negros in USA and
in African countries. So a strong India can be built on the pillar of
compassion and fellow feelings.
India has to discover a cultural thread
to be together again. The language Sanskrit has immense potential to
cement north south divide. A simpler version of Sanskrit can be the
alternative national language as people in South love to accept Sanskrit
instead of Hindi. Over the years, the Sanskrit scholars have become
extinct in India. Interestingly, 25 universities in Germany teach
Sanskrit as a subject and Germany has produced more Sanskrit scholars
and published more books in Sanskrit than India in the last two decades.
It is believed, ancient Sanskrit manuscripts have given clue to modern
scientific discovery in Germany.
Uniform CBSE syllabus in schools across
the country can create one India feeling. After 68 years of
Independence the nation has not so far introduced single syllabus in its
schools. Sports create brotherhood among people. Look at our national
sport hockey which is being played in two three cities only.
Playgrounds are encroached by real estate giants for building shopping
malls and housing complexes. There is need for a public playground for
every 5000 people. Residents should be asked whether they want a
shopping mall or a community hall as it happens in many European
nations. We cannot build a strong youth force unless we popularize low
cost indigenous games. Our poor show in Olympic exposes our lack of
strength, stamina, discipline, dedication and above all; a sound sports
policy.
A strong nation is always built upon a
healthy nationalism only. In 1882, the French philosopher Ernst Renan
outlined his understanding of what makes a nation in his famous essay
entitled ‘Qu’est-ce qu’une nation?’ (‘What is a Nation?’). Renan said a
nation is the culmination of a long past of endeavors, sacrifice and
devotion. A heroic past, great men, glory, that is the social capital
upon which one bases a national idea. To have common glories in the
past, to have a common will in the present, to have performed great
deeds together, to wish to perform still more, these are the essential
conditions of being a people. The existence of a nation is a guarantee
of liberty, which would be lost if the world had only one law and only
one master.’ Indians have to work dedicatedly for minimum 20 years to
salvage its priceless social capital. Today developed nations do not
hesitate to misuse their intellectual capital to serve their business
interest. Global trade is full of traps and opportunities. Political
leaders with intellectual capital can distinguish opportunity from
global traps. This is high time to build a strong India with love and
compassion but without compromise with national interest.
NEW DELHI: Sanskrit
is not only being popularised in schools in the country but also abroad
in all CBSE-affliated schools, the government today said.
"Yes," said HRD MinisterSmriti Irani in a written reply in Lok Sabha on whether the government is taking steps to popularise Sanskrit language in schools abroad.
As on January this year, 197 schools in 24 countries where there is a presence of Indian diaspora are affiliated to CBSE, she said.
Irani, who replaced German with Sanskrit as the third language in Kendriya Vidyalayas recently in a controversial move, said CBSE
has already implemented communicative courses in teaching of Sanskrit
at secondary level and two courses -- Sanskrit core and Sanskrit
elective -- at senior secondary level.
In addition to a text
book, CBSE has also brought out a work book which promotes the
scientific and grammatical component in the teaching and learning of
Sanskrit. It has also conducted teachers' empowerment programmes and
brought out support materials for students and teachers, the Minister
said.
CBSE has also brought out a booklet on 'collection of
aphorisms on leadership from classical Indian literature' for the
benefit of students.
It would be studied throughout schooling as the nature of this booklet is perennial and general, she said.
Seventy-eight-year-old Krishnappa, who appeared for the
MA Sanskrit examination and passed with 57 per cent, will receive a
special award at the annual convocation here on Thursday.
A resident of Kanavanaghatta in Channarayapatna taluk of Hassan district, Mr. Krishnappa told
The Hindu
that his age did not deter him from appearing for the exam. After his
retirement, he said he engaged himself in reading spiritual books and
wanted to learn more. Mr. Krishnappa said he was aware that Sanskrit was
an ocean of knowledge and this urged him to do Master’s in the subject.
“More
than a postgraduate degree, I wanted to attain spiritual knowledge and
hence read a number of books. I will continue to read and acquire
knowledge till my last breath,” he said.
Mr. Krishnappa will receive a cash prize.
K. Rajesh, a judge from Kerala, had appeared for the LLM examinations and secured a rank. He will be felicitated too.
Rajan Zed, president of Universal Society of Hinduism, delivers a prayer
from Sanskrit scriptures before the Idaho Senate on Tuesday in Boise.
TOPICS
For the first time the opening prayer for the Idaho
state senate was said on Tuesday by a Hindu cleric amid protests by some
senators who claimed the United States was a Christian nation and
denounced Hinduism, local media reported.
Universal
Society of Hinduism president Rajan Zed, who said the prayer in Sanskrit
and English, made a call for the legislators to “act selflessly without
any thought of personal profit” because “selfish action imprisons the
world.”
He was invited by Senate President Pro-Tem
Brent Hill to be a guest chaplain and deliver the invocation which is
usually made by a Christian chaplain at the start of the day’s
legislative session in Boise. According to The Idaho Statesman,
when protests were made before the session, Mr. Hill said: “I reviewed
the prayer. It did not seem offensive in any way.” He added: “It refers
to ‘deity supreme’.”
Senator Steve Vick, who walked
out of the Senate chamber before Mr. Zed’s invocation said that Hindu
prayers should not be allowed because the U.S. was “built on the
Judeo-Christian, not only religion, but work ethic, and I don’t want to
see that undermined”, the Statesman reported. Hindus “have a caste system,” he added. “They worship cows.”
He
was one of the three Republican senators to boycott the prayer. Senator
Sheryl Nuxoll said she boycotted Mr. Zed’s prayer because she believed
the United States is a Christian nation and “Hindu is a false faith with
false gods,” according to the newspaper.
But Mr. Hill, who is also a Republican, told the Statesman,
“In my mind, you either believe in religious freedom or you don’t... We
have had Jewish prayers, many denominations of Christian prayers.”
The Statesman quoted Mr. Zed as saying of the protests: “We don’t mind. Hinduism is more embracing.”
KTVB-TV
said that Mr. Zed noted “that most of the legislators welcomed him
warmly” and said, “We all have different viewpoints, and that is
wonderful, that is what makes our country great.” He added: “We are all
looking for the truth. If we can join our resources together, we can
reach there faster.”
Senators from both the
Republican Party, which controls the Senate, and the Democratic Party
shook the saffron-clad Mr. Zed’s hand and thanked him for coming, the Statesman said.
The
U.S. does not have an official religion and the secular constitution
prescribes strict separation of religion and state. However, federal and
state legislatures open their sessions with prayers, even though
prayers are prohibited in government schools because of the
constitutional injunction.
In 2000, Venkatachalapathi
Samuldrala of Shiva Hindu Temple in Parma, Ohio, made the opening
invocation in the House of Representatives in Washington. Mr. Zed said
the opening prayers at the federal Senate in 2007 when it was disrupted
by protesters from the public gallery.
Idaho borders
Washington State, where two Hindu temples were vandalised last month.
The second attack occurred the same week that an influential Christian
fundamentalist preacher, Pat Robertson, said on his TV show that Hindu
prayer “sounds like gibberish.”
A former candidate for the Republican Party’s presidential nomination, he had earlier called Hinduism “demonic.”
PONDA:
Praising Brahmeshanandacharya Swami Maharaj of Tapobhoomi Kundaim,
Ponda, for promoting the Sanskrit language, Sanskrit scholar Pt
Vasantrao Gadgil, in an address, hoped that Tapobhoomi Sampradaya will
set up a Sanskrit academy and a Sanskrit college on priority.
Pt Gadgil was addressing a gathering at the three-day international
Sanskrit Mahasamelan held as part of the Janmashthami Mahotsav of his
Holiness Dharmabhushan P P Brahmeshanandacharya Swami Maharaj at
Tapobhooomi, Kundaim recently.
Organised by Padmanabh Shishya
Sampradaya Trust, Shree Khsetra Tapobhoomi Kundaim Gurupeeth, Shree
Brahmanand Sanskrit Prabodhini and Swami Brahmanand Ved Mahavidyalaya in
association with the directorate of official language, government of
Goa, the programme was attended by top dignitaries from India and
abroad.
These include Rajesh Parmar, founder of International Siddhashram
Shakti center London; Shivanand Saraswati Swamiji (Italy); Goa governor
Mridula Sinha; Brahmideviji, president of Sadguru foundation; Rajeshjee
Malhotra, researcher and author, USA; Prakash Vazrikar, director,
directorate of official languages; Vishwamitra Tulsi (UK); Prof
Ramachandraji Naik, president Padmanabh Shishya Sampradaya- Tapobhoomi
and Yoganand Shastri (Poland).
Other dignitaries present were
Mahesh Bakal, president Swami Brahmanand Ved Mahavidyalaya and Upadhyaya
Satish Gaude, president Brahmand Sanskrit Prabodhini.
Prakash
Vazrikar and Rajiv Malhotra were also felicitated at the hands of Swami.
They praised the Sampadaya for promoting Sanskrit and yoga in a big
way.
Comment for this article has been closedsee details
Life’s back to Delhi Assembly as MLAs and well-wishers gather for
oath-taking on Monday. (Source: Express Photo Praveen Khanna) 
Sources said the Manohar Lal Khattar government wants to introduce Gita
in the curriculum before the next academic session. 
