Toddler learns 4,000 verses of ancient language by heart

[Madhav Deshpande]

Though I have not seen a 3yr old do this personally, I have seen Pt. S.L. Athalekar's eight year old daughter recite the Ashtadhyayi and the Bhagavadgita in this fashion.  This was in early sixties in Pune.  She could recite the texts in a linear way, retrieve a sutra if given a number and vice versa, and recite all sutras containing a given word.  She of course did not understand the meaning of the rules.  Later Pt. Athalekar was my classmate at the University of Pune and he could do these feats himself.  His daughter eventually graduated with Sanskrit for her BA and MA, and I was her professor for a short period.  Best,

                                                                                Madhav Deshpande

> ----------
> From:         Andrew Glass
> Reply To:     Indology
> Sent:         Thursday, February 6, 2003 1:57 PM
> To:   INDOLOGY at liverpool.ac.uk
> Subject:           Toddler learns 4,000 verses of ancient language by heart
> 
> A three-year old girl in India has become famous for her ability to recite thousands of verses in a dead language.
> Shraddha Vajapeyee can recite up to 4,000 verses called sutras from the Ashta adhyayi even though she cannot read the ancient language Sanskrit.
> 
> The text is a monumental Sanskrit treatise on grammar and linguistics, authored by Acharya Panini, a scholar who lived in the sixth century BC.
> 
> Her father, Ravi Shankar, an insurance agent at Janakipur near Lucknow, says his daughter learnt the entire tome by heart when she was two-and-a-half years old.
> 
> Since then she has been displaying her talent in various public functions across the country.
> 
> At a recent conference on the ancient text the child surprised Sanskrit scholars with a "flawless" rendering of the text.
> 
> Professor Ramakrishnacharya of the Sanskrit University in Tirupati told the Newindpress website: "It is a great thing to happen. I have never seen such an exhibition of talent.''
> 
> Her mother Aparna said: ''I would like to see my daughter as a Sanskrit pundit.''
> 
> 
> Story filed: 17:03 Wednesday 5th February 2003
> 
> Source:
> 
> http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_747672.html?menu=news.quirkies
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