Samskrita Bharati Sanskrit (was Re: pronunciation of Sanskrit)

[jacob.baltuch at infoboard.be]

Adi Hastings wrote:

>The 'simple' Sanskrit taught by Hindu Seva Pratishtanam (Sanskrita
>Bharati) in Bangalore is not exactly the same as C.K. Ogden's BASIC
>English (which was supposed to rely on ca. 700 'primitive' lexemes to
>construct an infinite number of BASIC sentences). Rather, the
>simplification has involved a certain amount of lexical levelling (i.e.,
>reduction of synonymous roots, etc.), simplification of the nominal
>declensional system (instrumental and dative, I think, are replaced by
>various prepositional constructions), the aorist has been thrown out (as
>too complicated and cumbersome), and the past tense is usally expressed
>using nominalized verbs (e.g., past passive and active participles in -ta
>and -tavant), rather than imperfect or perfect finite conjugated verbs.
>There have been other simplifications and "register levellings" but I
>can't remember them off the top of my head.

Is this "simplified" Sanskrit considered by Samskrita Bharati to be
only a step towards the acquisition of "full" Sanskrit or is it con-
sidered to be a goal in itself, maybe a way to bypass English (in
many cases I would assume a fairly "simplified" English too) for All-
Indian communication?