The problem with Sanskrit education in India is that its attraction lies mostly in the guarantee of jobs in schools. When Classical language is made an optional subject in the secondary stage most schools drop the posts of Teacher-in-Sanskrit to save money and the bell tolls for Sanskrit, when made compulsory the University Departments overflow. In Bengal at present we are seeing a tide following a long period of ebb. Let somebody howl and influence a big constituency in Andhra, they will see good days. Another fact. Till the early part of the twentieth century there was a natural attraction for Sanskrit. The University Sanskrit departments drew the best students till about the sixties in Bengal. The decline came after that. I often wonder if the same problems arose in the West too regarding Greek and Latin. I asked some friends. They were reticent or did not know. Will somebody kindly enlighten us? Best DB --- On Wed, 29/6/11, Herman Tull <hwtull@MSN.COM> wrote: From: Herman Tull <hwtull@MSN.COM> Subject: Re: [INDOLOGY] No incoming Sanskrit students at Andhra University :-( To: INDOLOGY@liverpool.ac.uk Date: Wednesday, 29 June, 2011, 12:10 PM I was there as a student in the Wisconsin program 30+ years ago (actually in Telugu, but Sanskrit and Telugu were housed together).  It was a pretty lively place back then...   Has there been a similar dwindling of Sanskrit students at other large Indian public universities?   Herman Tull   From: Dominik Wujastyk Sent: Wednesday, June 29, 2011 4:01 AM To: Subject: [INDOLOGY] No incoming Sanskrit students at Andhra University :-(   http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/hyderabad/Sanskrit-goes-defunct-at-Andhra-University/articleshow/9032252.cms