Sanskrit to be an elective subject in schools

The Skeptic z900672a at bcfreenet.seflin.lib.fl.us
Mon Oct 10 21:12:58 UTC 1994


On Mon, 10 Oct 1994, David Magier wrote:
> and studied and spoken by many people. But I doubt there are many
> people anywhere in the world (even pandits) who spoke Sanskrit as
> their first language in the home for all their daily-life uses of
> language, census claims to the contrary notwithstanding.
That goes to prove another of my point that language is more a politics 
than usage. I was raised in culture which worships Sanskrit but does not 
speak it. The same was true for Hindi in Panjab where many people who 
spoke Panjabi claimed Hindi as their mother tongue causing friction in 
Panjab so that Panjabi has become equated with only a particular 
religion. As David pointed out a few people claimed Sanskrit as their 
mother tongue in census questions. It is in the same spirit that Hebrew 
was revived as national language of Israel. 
In retrospection and as political prudence it would have been better if 
India had revived Sanskrit as national language in stead of Hindi. 
Sanskrit would have been equally hard for north and south Indian and 
their would have been no complaint in 1947.

Moreover, Sanskrit means Cultured or cultivated language which proves 
that there must be  a language of the masses whether it was Pali or Prakrit.

There are people who will claim Esperanto or Cobol as their mother tongues.
 






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