[INDOLOGY] training in poetic composition in traditional Sanskrit education?

[Dipak Bhattacharya]

Till the sixties it was expected of undergraduate and post-graduate
students of Calcutta to write their answers in Sanskrit at the examination.
This started at the higher secondary level in the explanation of Sanskrit
verses. Some took to English but writing in one’s mother tongue did not
create good impression.

In the Departmental magazines of the undergraduate classes Sanskrit
compositions were encouraged under the supervision of a teacher towards the
development of skill. Philological deliberation was not encouraged. Poems
or articles singing to the glory of Sanskrit, apart from secular poetic
compositions, were welcomed. An article by me was revised by Pandit Sitaram
Shastri (Mithila) as it did not contain sufficient ‘māhātmyakīrtana’ of
Sanskrit. I made additions that made it acceptable.

Writing answers in Sanskrit had been the convention but was not compulsory.
It was supposed to be a mark of distinction and it paid by way of
relatively favorable assessment.  The emphasis was greater in the
post-graduate classes. Later, under vigorous political emphasis on the
mother tongue, it became the practice to write answers in one’s mother
tongue. The earlier enterprise petered out.

Sorry for a long lecture. I request forgiveness.

Best

DB

On Sat, Aug 29, 2015 at 4:00 AM, Allen Thrasher via INDOLOGY <
indology at list.indology.info> wrote:

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> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: Allen Thrasher <alanus1216 at yahoo.com>
> To: Indology List <indology at list.indology.info>
> Cc:
> Date: Fri, 28 Aug 2015 22:27:22 +0000 (UTC)
> Subject: training in poetic composition in traditional Sanskrit education?
> From reading about traditional (Early Modern and Modern) Western training
> in Latin and Greek, in which composition was an important part, I am led to
> wonder if it was standard in traditional Sanskritic education for students
> to be assigned to compose verse, either the basic Zloka for expository
> works or more elaborate kavya.  Any thoughts or evidence.
>
> Allen
>
>


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