What Madhav says is very true. I was fortunate that someone who happened to be Pakistan obtained copies of two manuscripts of the Manusmṛti in the lat 1990s from the Panjab University Library in Lahore (La1 and La2 in my edition). I do hope some international funding will be available to digitize these before they all turn to dust.
Patrick
On Dec 13, 2025, at 10:07 AM, Madhav Deshpande via INDOLOGY <indology@list.indology.info> wrote:
Thanks, Antonia,
This is a nice detailed article. Many years ago, when I was searching for manuscripts of the Śaunakīya Caturādhyayika, I saw a reference to a manuscript in the Lahore University library. I contacted the librarian, and he responded by saying that there are many rooms filled with Sanskrit manuscripts, but no one knows what they are. He was generous in offering to help me if I could come to Lahore. Due to my home circumstances that did not materialize. I hope someday the collection of Sanskrit manuscripts in Pakistan would be digitized and made available for researchers.
Madhav
Madhav M. DeshpandeProfessor Emeritus, Sanskrit and LinguisticsUniversity of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USASenior Fellow, Oxford Center for Hindu Studies
Adjunct Professor, National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bangalore, India
[Residence: Campbell, California, USA]
On Sat, Dec 13, 2025 at 7:26 AM Antonia Ruppel via INDOLOGY <indology@list.indology.info> wrote:
The Tribune article shows up for me without any issues, but perhaps that's because I am in the EU? At any rate, I've pasted the text below:
The teaching of Sanskrit has quietly returned to classrooms in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan for the first time since Partition, with the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) introducing a course in the classical language. What began as a three-month weekend workshop gradually evolved into a full four-credit university course after the overwhelming response it received.
Dr Ali Usman Qasmi, Director of the Gurmani Centre, told The Tribune that Pakistan houses one of the richest but least-studied Sanskrit archives at the Punjab University library. “A significant collection of Sanskrit palm-leaf manuscripts were catalogued in the 1930s by scholar JCR Woolner, but no Pakistani academic has engaged with this collection since 1947. Only foreign researchers use it. Training scholars locally will change that,” he says.
The LUMS also plans to offer courses on the Mahabharata and the Bhagavad Gita. “Hopefully, this sets a momentum,” says Dr Qasmi. “In 10-15 years, we could see Pakistan-based scholars of the Gita and the Mahabharata.”
Dr Qasmi said initially, a weekend programme was offered that was open to everyone--students, researchers, lawyers and academics. “After we saw the response, we decided to introduce it as a proper university course. Even though the number of students is still small, we hope it will grow over the next few years. Ideally, by spring 2027, we should be able to teach the language as a year-long course.”
At the heart of the initiative is Dr Shahid Rasheed, Associate Professor of sociology at Forman Christian College, whose interest in Sanskrit began long before the LUMS approached him. “Classical languages contain much wisdom for mankind. I started with learning Arabic and Persian, and then studied Sanskrit,” he told The Tribune. With no local teachers or textbooks, he turned to online platforms, studying under Cambridge Sanskrit scholar Antonia Ruppel and Australian Indologist McComas Taylor. “It took almost a year to cover classical Sanskrit grammar. And I’m still studying it.”
After Dr Qasmi reached out, Dr Rasheed took a sabbatical from FC College to teach the course at the LUMS. “I mainly teach grammar. When I was teaching ‘subhashitas’, the wisdom verses or shlokas, many of my students were fascinated to discover that so many Urdu words come from Sanskrit. Many didn’t even know that Sanskrit was different from Hindi. In the first week, they found it a challenging language. But once they grasped the logical structure, they started enjoying it. The pleasure of solving something difficult is immense,” he says.
“Modern languages derive from classical traditions. There is just a veil that separates them--once you cross it, you realise they are all our own,” adds Dr Rasheed.
Dr Qasmi explains that the initiative also aligns with the university’s broader language ecosystem, which includes Sindhi, Pashto, Punjabi, Baluchi, Arabic and Persian. “We understand the importance of connecting with this incredible tradition, which is part of the Pakistani-Indian global heritage. So much of our literature, poetry, art and philosophy go back to the Vedic age. Many historians believe that the Vedas were written in this region. It then becomes even more important to read the classical texts in their original language.”
Despite the political sensitivities involved, both scholars believe the intellectual climate is shifting. Dr Rasheed often encounters curiosity about his own study of the language. “People ask me why I’m learning Sanskrit. I tell them, why should we not learn it? It is the binding language of the entire region. Sanskrit grammarian Panini’s village was in this region. Much writing was done here during the Indus Valley Civilisation. Sanskrit is like a mountain--a cultural monument. We need to own it. It is ours too; it’s not tied to any one particular religion.”
“If we want people to come closer, then it’s essential to understand and absorb our rich classical traditions. Imagine if more Hindus and Sikhs in India started learning Arabic, and more Muslims in Pakistan took up Sanskrit, it could be a fresh, hopeful start for South Asia, where languages become bridges instead of barriers,” concludes Dr Rasheed.
On Sat, 13 Dec 2025 at 14:55, Shrinivas Tilak <shrinivast_k11612@yahoo.com> wrote:
Members of the Indology group often provide links to very interesting topics pertaining to Sanskrit etc to a newspaper in India. Unfortunately, there is a torrent of ads that you need to negotiate before you finally are able to reach to the story. I am often tempted to give up and not proceed. Is there some way to archive the story in an ads-free location?
On Saturday, December 13, 2025 at 12:20:39 a.m. EST, Ananya Vajpeyi via INDOLOGY <indology@list.indology.info> wrote:
Congratulations are in order then, Antonia!Warm best,AV.
On Sat, Dec 13, 2025 at 2:02 AM Antonia Ruppel via INDOLOGY <indology@list.indology.info> wrote:
Dear Madhav,
Thank you for sharing this! Here's the original piece in the Tribune that The Wire is referring to:
Shahid Rasheed, who is behind this initiative, is a true polymath and co-founder of a school trust (https://i-care-foundation.org/charity/zaawiya-trust-school/). I think he began learning Sanskrit with McComas and has been doing Latin and Greek (and some more Sanskrit) with me at Yogic Studies for a while now.
Antonia
On Thu, 11 Dec 2025 at 17:05, Madhav Deshpande via INDOLOGY <indology@list.indology.info> wrote:
A Welcome Development: https://thewire.in/south-asia/in-a-first-since-independence-a-pakistan-university-is-teaching-sanskrit
Madhav M. DeshpandeProfessor Emeritus, Sanskrit and LinguisticsUniversity of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USASenior Fellow, Oxford Center for Hindu Studies
Adjunct Professor, National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bangalore, India
[Residence: Campbell, California, USA]
_______________________________________________
INDOLOGY mailing list
INDOLOGY@list.indology.info
https://list.indology.info/mailman/listinfo/indology
_______________________________________________
INDOLOGY mailing list
INDOLOGY@list.indology.info
https://list.indology.info/mailman/listinfo/indology
--
Ananya Vajpeyi
_______________________________________________
INDOLOGY mailing list
INDOLOGY@list.indology.info
https://list.indology.info/mailman/listinfo/indology
_______________________________________________
INDOLOGY mailing list
INDOLOGY@list.indology.info
https://list.indology.info/mailman/listinfo/indology
_______________________________________________
INDOLOGY mailing list
INDOLOGY@list.indology.info
https://list.indology.info/mailman/listinfo/indology
This message is from an external sender. Learn more about why this <<
matters at https://links.utexas.edu/rtyclf. <<
_______________________________________________
INDOLOGY mailing list
INDOLOGY@list.indology.info
https://list.indology.info/mailman/listinfo/indology