[It is unclear what this means for the fabric of high
society in New Delhi, with its golf links and polo tournaments. But one project
almost certain to benefit is the teaching of Sanskrit, the ancient language of
the Brahmin scholars, an effort that has been largely ignored by the Congress
government and ardently promoted by the Hindu right wing.]
By Ellen Barry
 |
| @ Mambalam Samskrita Vidyalaya |
NEW
DELHI — The Indian government’s National Sanskrit Institute, whose headquarters
are in a run-down section of western New Delhi, has the hallmarks of a
long-neglected state project.Unattached electrical wires
dangle down its facade, and one of its senior scholars, Ramakant Pandey,
greeted a recent visitor in a fluorescent-lighted office under a slowly
revolving ceiling fan, his mouth stained bright red with paan, as betel is
known in Hindi.
It felt like an office that did not receive many
visitors. Still, Mr. Pandey was not downhearted.
“Good times are coming,” he said. This summer marks a changing
of the guard, as a new group of elites led by Prime Minister Narendra
Modi set themselves up
in government-issued bungalows in the capital,
displacing the anglophone
intelligentsia clustered around the Indian National Congress.
It
is unclear what this means for the fabric of high society in New Delhi, with
its golf links and polo tournaments. But one project almost certain to benefit
is the teaching of Sanskrit, the ancient language of the Brahmin scholars, an
effort that has been largely ignored by the Congress government and ardently
promoted by the Hindu right wing.
“This government will help
Sanskrit, we know that,” Mr. Pandey said. “They are traditional people, they
love literature, they love culture.”
“And Modi ji is a traditional
prime minister,” he added, using a Hindi honorific.
Many linguists view these
efforts skeptically, noting that even in Sanskrit’s heyday, some 1,500 years
ago, it was primarily used by Brahmin intellectuals as a language of scholarly
discourse, and never served as a mother tongue.
In the most recent census,
only 50,000 Indians described Sanskrit as their first language — more than the
14,000 that gave that answer in 2001, but still less than one-hundredth of 1
percent of the population.
This has not quenched the
enthusiasm of Hindu nationalists, who see the language as a link to a
civilization uncorrupted by Persian-speaking Muslim emperors and
English-speaking British viceroys.
Early independence leaders had
hoped to phase out English as an official language, but that provoked
widespread protests in the country’s south, where Hindi is not widely spoken.
To this day, bursts of
resistance to English percolate though Hindu-right circles. Last summer, the
Bharatiya Janata Party leader, Rajnath Singh, was quoted as saying that English
“had caused a great loss to the country,” and that “there are hardly any people
who speak Sanskrit now.”
Revivalists have taken some
unusual steps in an attempt to bring Sanskrit into daily usage, like raising
their children in Sanskrit-only households and using the scholarly language in
pop-cultural genres, like detective novels and televised dramas.
This movement emerged into
view again early this month, when newly elected members of Parliament were
taking their oath of office: First, the foreign minister took her oath in
Sanskrit, followed by the minister of water resources, the minister for health
and at least two dozen others.
Mr. Modi himself sometimes
prefers to avoid speaking English despite his proficiency, addressing foreign
leaders in Hindi in the presence of a translator. In late May, there had been
rumors that he would go a step further and take his own oath of office in
Sanskrit.
Rakesh Kumar Misra, who edits
a weekly Sanskrit newspaper in New Delhi, said that in the days before the
ceremony, he had been contacted by Samskrita Bharati, an organization that
promotes the language, and prepared a full draft of Mr. Modi’s oath to be
published on the occasion.
But in the end, he said in an
interview, Mr. Modi stuck with Hindi.
“It would have been a great
boost for Sanskrit,” Mr. Misra said. “He must have decided that it was more
important to bind everyone together.”
Malavika Vyawahare and Betwa Sharma contributed
reporting.
Fight began among
neighbours over disposal of dirty water
By Rahi Gaikwad
A spat with neighbours
over disposal of dirty water resulted in a minor Dalit girl from Gujarat being
set ablaze on Sunday.
Chandrika Parmar (15)
suffered 70 per cent burns when her neighbours, also Dalits, launched a sudden
attack on her and her family. She is battling for her life at the Ahmedabad
Civil Hospital.
The incident took place
in Syla village in Surendranagar district. Chandrika had complained to her
neighbour, Suneeta Vaghela, about throwing dirty water outside her house,
leading to an argument. Ms. Vaghela’s father Motibhai Sumera then slapped
Chandrika’s younger brother Milan and threatened the family.
When Chandrika’s mother
Manjuben Parmar lodged a police complaint, the neighbours were infuriated.
“That afternoon, Mr. Sumera, along with his immediate and extended family
members, barged into the Parmar home and started beating everyone,” Chandrika’s
cousin Mahendra Parmar told The Hindu.
“They were carrying
sticks, red chilli powder and kerosene. There were nearly 10 of them. They were
trying to douse Chandrika’s younger brother with kerosene when she rushed to
his rescue. The assailants then turned on her. While three women held her down,
the men poured kerosene and set her on fire,” the cousin said.
Chandrika suffered
severe burns. “She is still in a critical condition,” M.M. Prabhakar, medical
superintendent of the Civil Hospital, told The Hindu.
“Had the police acted
on Manjuben’s complaint, the matter would not have escalated to this extent,”
said Anand Parmar, Chandrika’s elder brother. “Instead, the local police used
abusive words. They threatened to put me behind bars. When we went to the
police station, we were made to wait for hours.”
The police have
registered a case of attempt to murder, house-trespass and criminal
intimidation against Mr. Sumera, a civil engineer; Sangeeta Vaghela, a school
headmistress, and six other members of the Sumera family, based on Chandrika’s
statement.
“Such a violent
reaction to such a trivial issue is quite unexpected. There is no history of
animosity or violence between the neighbours, except for occasional arguments
over petty issues,” P.N. Momaya, Deputy Superintendent of Police, told The
Hindu. She denied the family’s allegations that the police was lax in acting on
the family’s complaint. “We took prompt action,” she said.
