Obviously a puff piece, but it also has cultural ramifications if it should happen to catch on - lots of Islam's problems are tied to its being rooted in Arabic. Sanskrit was the lingua franca not only of India, but also of the Indianized states of Southeast Asia, which included most of present-day Indonesia and all the land mass from Burma to southern Vietnam. The Thai court, for instance, maintains a resident Brahmin, as did the Lao court until the commies abolished the monarchy. The form of the religion in vogue at the time was heavy into the Shiva-Parvati story, with frequent appearances by Lakshmi (Lady Luck), Jaya (Victory), Mahendra, Rama, Ganesh and a host of others - definitely the "Un-Islam," and not resembling too closely today's Hinduism.
There is a unique village in Rajgarh district of Madhya Pradesh where almost all the people always converse in Sanskrit.
Excellent idea...
Children are determined to teach Sanskrit to people who they meet. Villagers initially resisted the language but now after three years, they can't do without it.
It's rather as if a town in Italy decided to go back to speaking Latin...
Jhiri in Madhya Pradesh's Rajgarh district has renewed the old custom and people have taken it upon themselves to popularise Sanskrit. So for the past three years, Sanskrit has been the medium of education at all schools in Jhiri. Now the children speak fluent Sanskrit, even outside the school. In fact, they want to make a career in the ancient language.
It's not just the children, even the grown-ups now speak only in Sanskrit. "I get immense pleasure in talking in Sanskrit because it is our language," said Shyama Chauhan, housewife.
Three years ago, the villagers formed the Vidyagram Development Committee (VDC), which decided that everyone, regardless of caste or religion, would learn Sanskrit.
Sanskrit predates Hinduism and the caste system. It's the language of the Vedas and the Upanishads.
Now even those who may not know the technicalities of the language still speak fluent Sanskrit. "An illiterate girl of the village was stunned when she was being taught Sanskrit. She told me that the teacher asked her things like singular and plural. She said that she knew how to speak Sanskrit but did not know the grammar part," said Uday Singh Chauhan, president, VDC.
For the residents of the village Sanskrit is not only a language but also a medium to become more cultured and civilized and this has helped them to a large extent in achieving the goals of social harmony, development and prohibition.