Yesterday, I mentioned how the language has been consistently disregarded and sometimes blatantly discriminated against by the powers that be – and promised to share some examples. Below are some instances of the step-motherly treatment towards Sanskrit.
The  first, from Andhra Pradesh (courtesy Dr T H Chowdary) where the Urdu Academy’s grant stands at Rs. 14.0 cr. (a continuous increase over the last five years) as against a paltry Rs 5 Lakhs for the Sanskrit Academy.
Second, an excerpt from a Washington Post article on Summer Camps Revive India’s Ancient Sanskrit by Rama Lakshmi which mentions how the central …

Yesterday, I shared with you some thoughts on why learning Sanskrit (& Devanagari) may actually have very significant benefits and why it should be part of the school curriculum. I concluded that part with a promise to look into the case for making Sanskrit India’s National Language. Thankfully, I did not have to struggle much on this. A few months back, I stumbled on an excellent and well-researched article on precisely this topic.
This was a paper by Prof Makarand Paranajpe, Professor of English at JNU and a prolific author. Below, …

This series of  posts related to “Sanskrit” संस्कृत have been pending for a *very* long time. Something that I read last month prompted me to dust this off and finally publish on the blog. That “something” was this excerpt from Koenraad Elst’s though-provoking article titled, Hindu Survival: What is to be done? (emphasis added, throughout this post):
..If you want Indian unity, you’d better aim for an Indian language that will set India apart from the Anglosphere.
That Indian language can only be Sanskrit..Sanskrit if chosen as the link language would have sent …

Dear All, starting this month (as an experiment), I am going to try and post once a month, information & details about an institution or organisation that I believe is doing genuinely uplifting & noble work and needs support and funds. I will try and verify as many details as possible before posting about any such organisation or institution.  Further I will myself try and make a modest contribution before I ask any of you to donate to such a cause. Needless to add, institutions or organisations that are well-funded …

Dear friends, I am not sure how many of you will be shocked and outraged by what I am about to share with all of you. I was more than shocked and outraged, I was aghast and furious; and determined to do something about this. But first, a sad story of government invasion of sacred spaces (aka “management” of temples by government controlled “Trusts”), “secular” carvings, Agama violations and outrageous “renovations”. As some of you may know, I am very time-constrained at present so this post is more in the nature …

Please see this images below (courtesy Radha Rajan-ji)..No comment is needed, I think.
This image shows the logo and the letter-head of the Kalakshetra Foundation once upon a time; notice the images of Ganapati and Sanskrit verse…

…this subsequently morphed into…

..and finally to what you see below; shorn of all “non-secular” imagery…

**
And in case you are wondering why does this matter (courtesy, Radha Rajan; emphasis added)..
…(these violate) something fundamental to classicism – the essential Hinduness, particularly the bhakti that inspired classicism and inspires continuing adherence to the tenets of classicism in our …

Dear All: It is my pleasure to publish this guest post by KV Sarma J on “Athirathram” – one of the most ancient and sacred ritual associates with Vedic Dharma.  I should confess that if you had mentioned the word “Athirathram” to me before April, I would have drawn a blank on it. Now, I know better – in large part due to the efforts of bloggers like KV and others. Below is a condensed version of the full series that appeared on KV Sarma J’s blog…Please read, share and …

Dear All: I am publishing this guest post by Dr Jyotsna Kamat with the express intention of soliciting your support for a young, hard-working, earnest Sanskrit scholar languishing in a small village in Karnataka.  Please read his story (originally published here) below and get in touch with me if you can help in any way. Regardless of whether you can personally help the young man or not, please do share widely with friends and well-wishers of Sanskrit (emphasis added).
*** Sad Story of Study in Sanskrit by Dr Jyotsna Kamat ***
Recently …

UPDATE: Added Nepali and Telugu translations to Hindi, Marathi and English ones below.
UPDATE II: Added Gujarati.
Dear friends, kindly consider translating this short message in your own language and circulate it amongst your friends…It would help us to spread awareness on this important issue and do our bit to keep Sanskrit alive…I have already included the message in Hindi, Marathi and English below…please also have a look at Practical Sanskrit (also on facebook) and Samskrita Bharati
*** Request in Hindi ***
प्रिय मित्रों,जैसे की आप ओ ज्ञात होगा, भारत की जन गणना …

…don’t forget to tell the young ones about its origins! This post has been pending for a very long time in my drafts folder. It was prompted by a statement I read by chance many months ago about the origins of this favourite children’s game. That statement prompted some digging which ended up as this post. To start with this brief extract, courtesy Wikipedia about the origins of this game (emphasis added throughout):
Snakes and Ladders originated in India as a game based on morality called Vaikuntapaali (stairs to Vaikuntha) or …