An article of importance

[krishna shastry]

Dear Scholars,

Though I had posted this Article in this group yesterday, I came to know that it did not open in a few computers. Hence it is being posted again, 

More over, this is a smaller file.
The article discusses the present difficult situation being faced by Samskrit.

The present situation is the result of our "inaction" or inability to properly understand and prioritize our "actions" in the last one or two decades.

Today if we repeat the same, within the next two or three decades, our children would see the fall of Samskrit to the unimaginable nadir.

Taking refuge under the rhetoric that "Samskrit is Amarabhasha" "no need to protect, it will protect itself" will be an excuse to one's inaction or unwillingness to act.

I earnestly appeal to every one of you to read and act.

Please pardon me for using harsh words both in this letter and the article.

If any one of you want to personally convey anything to me, you may kindly do the same to the following ID - krishna...@hotmail.com
Chamu Krishna Shastry
91-11-23533579/9868113005

[Veeranarayana Pandurangi]

dear sir, 

thanks for your thought provoking paper on the sanskrit education.

though I am not expert in this issue, here is a small observation on it.

Many people in Rajasthan opine that by making compulsory to write answers in sanskrit instead of hindi or english is one thing that making things difficult for students. it is taking sheen of sanskrit as a paper. 

we have to think about this and find a good solution.

--
निराशीर्निर्ममो भूत्वा युध्यस्व विगतज्वरः।। (भ.गी.)
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--

Veeranarayana N.K. Pandurangi
Head, Dept of Darshanas,
Yoganandacharya Bhavan,
Jagadguru Ramanandacharya Rajasthan Samskrita University, Madau, post Bhankrota, Jaipur, 302026.

अथ चेत्त्वमिमं धर्म्यं संग्रामं न करिष्यसि।

ततः स्वधर्मं कीर्तिं च हित्वा पापमवाप्स्यसि।।

तस्मादुत्तिष्ठ कौन्तेय युद्धाय कृतनिश्चयः।

निराशीर्निर्ममो भूत्वा युध्यस्व विगतज्वरः।। (भ.गी.)

[krishna shastry]

Yes, there is such a notion in Rajasthan. The reason is that Samskrit medium, i.e. text books meant for teaching through Samskrit medium, were introduced without teacher training, even without introductory workshops for Samskrit teachers. This is a well known fact that Samskrit teachers through out the country are not equipped/competent for teaching Samskrit through Samskrit because they were not taught through Samskrit during their studies, and again, in-service teacher training for Samskrit teachers is seldom held. Hence not the Samskrit medium, but the way it was introduced was a problem.

When 'Direct Method' was introduced in English Language Teaching 1920 by English Education Council, London, The English Grammar Schools through out Europe, opposed it since the teachers in those schools were teaching English through Grammar Translation Method. Then English Education Council conducted Orientation Courses for teachers continuously for four years and then English through English became a reality.

I would be posting another article on 'Samskrit through Samskrit' soon, may we discuss this particular issue thread bare after I post that article?
Chamu Krishna Shastry
91-11-23533579/9868113005

---

Date: Wed, 8 Aug 2012 19:33:56 +0530
Subject: Re: {भारतीयविद्वत्परिषत्} An article of importance
From: veer...@gmail.com
To: krishna...@hotmail.com
CC: bvpar...@googlegroups.com

[V Subrahmanian]

In the 'shatAvadhAnam' program of last Saturday at Bangalore, almost all the 'pRcchaka-s' who were in Dr. S.R.Ganesh's team were qualified Engineers who had not undergone any formal education in Samskrtam.  Yet their knowledge in both conversational and composing Sanskrit verses in difficult meters on any given subject on the spot was amazing.  Dr. Ganesh said that these persons had picked up so much Samskrtam by their own efforts and come to such a high level.  It was indeed inspiring to be there in that program.

Each of us who are into samskrtam at any level has a responsibility in furthering one's own knowledge and also disseminating knowledge to others.  I engage in gathering neighboring children and teaching them small stories from 'sambhAShaNa sandeshaH' or 'Rasanaa' by asking them to read the lines and explain the meaning myself.  Generating interest in learning Samskrtam and nurturing it has to be a lifelong mission.  Teaching subhAShitas, explaining the meanings and asking them to commit them to memory is also a fine exercise.  Stotra teaching also comes in this group. 

subrahmanian.v

On Wed, Aug 8, 2012 at 10:42 PM, S.S <snmp...@gmail.com> wrote:

I do think that training is extremely important.   Even in the corporate world, to use some simple tools, users are given
many many hours  of training.  So in the case of Samskritam , teachers must be trained to teach in Samskritam.
 
Just as an example - In Texas, there is an academic who has taken up Samskritam Studies.  This lady had no previous school
education in Samskritam either.  But, she has picked up conversational samskritam very easily.  Sure there are errors
and mistakes - but in about 6 months, she will be able to carry out a decent conversation. 
She listens to Samskrita-bharati's mp3 files every day to 'internalize' the conversational sentences.
I am also confident that this person will potentially create new samskritam material in future.

There are many other cases as well, where regular individuals have picked up the language and are able to converse in
Samskritam.   They are not scholars - but they are avid readers and practice samskritam conversation - and I am sure
that they can be very good in Samskritam and also create new material from different areas.

However, for them to read Raghuvamsham or Bhagavadgita in sarala-samskritam there are
are no books or materials !  If one want to read Hamlet - there are dozens of abridged  books!.
Quoting Mallinatha in the original is good for a few dozen people - but what about the rest, who would like to access
Kalidasa in sarala-samskritam ? 

So there is great responsibility on Samskritam scholars to create new accessible education material in Samskritam. 
Considering that there are so many Samskritam PhD's in so many universities - why are they not creating new
teaching materials for various levels ?.  I looked up the grants that are given by UGC - and found that there are none related
to research in teaching Samskritam,

It would be great to have small abridged books in sarala-Samskritam. Not just on kavya - but on itihaasa, nyaya etc etc...
It is time for all samskritam scholars to give something back to samskritam rather than always only milk the
knowledge in the samskritam tradition.

TRAINING:
UGC Guidelines for setting up Simple Samskritam Speaking Centers in Universities
http://www.ugc.ac.in/oldpdf/xplanpdf/Sanskrit_setup.pdf

RESEARCH:  UGC Research projects.
http://www.ugc.ac.in/page/MRP-Notices.aspx

सुब्रह्मण्यः

[Shrikant Jamadagni]

Dear scholars, Just a suggestion. I think from whatever class (whether 5th or 8th etc) Sanskrit is introduced in school; for 1 year Sanskrit should be taught only orally. Only listening and speaking.  This will make them intimate with the language by developing  basic sentence-forming skills and vocabulary. This may make things very easy later on. warm regards Shrikant Jamadagni Bangalore --- On Wed, 8/8/12, Veeranarayana Pandurangi <veer...@gmail.com> wrote:

From: Veeranarayana Pandurangi <veer...@gmail.com> Subject: Re: {भारतीयविद्वत्परिषत्} An article of importance

[चन्द्रशेखरः]

Great idea.

one thing that can be noticed in this original message is: at the moment, we had been very slow, we should feel the emergency to put things the way they were before British rule took away, now there is no stopping by brits, we can do it, these are our roots.
संस्कृतं पुनः भासतु च वर्धतु

चिन्तयामः तत् सिद्ध्यर्थम्

अधुना

[Dr.BVK Sastry]

Namaste

Sri Chamu KrishnaShastry's assertive statements are to the point.
Yes,<we have to think about this and find a good solution >.

This wrong notion about 'Sanskrit teaching-examination System' in
schools is permeating in almost ALL states of India; especially the
school management and communities. This has also lead to the language
factionism and division -approach projecting Sanskrit as a threat to
local languages. The tags of ' Sanskrit as a vedic /Brahmanical /
Priestly class /Oppresive / Casteist' language are vigorously planted
in young minds in the study of other topics, especially social studies
covering history of india.

This issue is not limited to India! The question needs to be
expanded from < Why Indians should study Sanskrit as a part of Public
funded schooling system? How this should be structured? for what
perceived goals? > TO < Why any one should study Sanskrit as a part
of earlyschooling and spiritual grooming system? What beenfits can
Samskrutham bring in to the Health care -Wellness Culture as a part of
life style? How this should be structured at various levels, in a
nation wide, community specific need based mode ? What investment
needs to be made in what kind of tools and delviery mechanism to be
developed ? Who should make supporting investments in what scale? For
whom is Samskrutham a Challenge of Identity as a Language and Culture?
>.

The problem is global. The solutions touch beyond India, beyond
Hindus to a global yoga community. In other words, the question is :
What can Samskrutham deliver to every one on earth, for enriching
life, helping health and wellness, leading good life ?

The purpose of Sanskrit education is moved out beyond the cliche
answers ' Culture/ Indian (Bharateeya -Samskruthi) - OR- Culturing /
Hindu ( Hindu Samskara) - OR - Classical /Religious Language Skills
acqusitistion or appreciation ( Kavya-Sahitya -Bhashaa Jnana) -OR -
even understanding 'Religion-Ritual (Samskara-Pooja Paddhati) ' !

2. My analysis for reasons of current position of Sanskrit
Education :

First : The Indian Language Education modeling of Sanskrit in Public
Education on the lines of Englsi, which is an alien -social -
degenerative langauge of incompatible genre. This is native rejection
of 'Samskrutham' as Brahmi: Mother of Indian language. The result is
in improper fitment of gurukul-voice based training-evaluation system
for culture to montessori model of written examination for marks
scoring.

Second : Policy-Practical Executive Setting goal of Samskrutham
leanring on par with the social language (-especially local language /
english) usage. This is a total shift in the paradigm of Samskrutham
studies in India. The shift is from
<studying Samskrutham for Values - Samskruthi> to < Studying
Sanskrit for Language skill acquisiton for conversation - Bhashaa
Panditya and Samvaada > . The goal of Samskrutham studies was
redefined from the perspective of Social relevacne - Conversational
usage - Social connectivity. This brought in a new dimension of
popular appreciation as the standard of Samskrutham schoalrship.

Third : Initial Exposure of students to an inappropriate system of
Samskrutham /Sanskrit schooling education in an alien way, without a
ground preparedness for the students, teachers, parents.

Students are not prepared by age < around 14 years when they enter
high school to learn Sanskrit through sanskrit medium> .
Teachers are not prepared by training and pedagogy to teach
Samskrutham in a class-age-environment way.
Parents are not ready by community environment to appreciate the
impact of Samskrutham for life -values.

Thus, the current indian schooling system of Sanskrit has already
made 'Samskrutham' a foreign language to the native learner ! and
education system. This is a result of the policy and system related
shifts,distrubing the vision of 'Why Sanskrit education in mass media
- mass way required for India' - as deliberated in the Indian
Constitution and National Language Eduation policy. There is a
critical need to reflect: ( Vishwa-Samskrutham ityasya korthaH?) Why
Samskrutham For World ? Yes, <we have to think about this and find a
good solution>

Regards

BVK Sastry

On Aug 9, 9:51 am, Shrikant Jamadagni <shrikan...@yahoo.co.in> wrote:
> Dear scholars,
>
> Just a suggestion.
>
> I think from whatever class (whether 5th or 8th etc) Sanskrit is introduced in school; for 1 year Sanskrit should be taught only orally. Only listening and speaking.  This will make them intimate with the language by developing  basic sentence-forming skills and vocabulary. This may make things very easy later on.
>
> warm regards
>
> Shrikant Jamadagni
>
> Bangalore
>

> --- On Wed, 8/8/12, Veeranarayana Pandurangi <veera...@gmail.com> wrote:

>
> From: Veeranarayana Pandurangi <veera...@gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: {भारतीयविद्वत्परिषत्} An article of importance
> To: krishnashas...@hotmail.com
> Cc: "BVP" <bvpar...@googlegroups.com>
> Date: Wednesday, 8 August, 2012, 7:33 PM
>
> dear sir, thanks for your thought provoking paper on the sanskrit education.

> though I am not expert in this issue, here is a small observation on it.Many people in Rajasthan opine that by making compulsory to write answers in sanskrit instead of hindi or english is one thing that making things difficult for students. it is taking sheen of sanskrit as a paper.

>
> we have to think about this and find a good solution.
>

> On Wed, Aug 8, 2012 at 5:02 PM, krishna shastry <krishnashas...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
> Dear Scholars,Though I had posted this Article in this group yesterday, I came to know that it did not open in a few computers. Hence it is being posted again, More over, this is a smaller file.

> The article discusses the present difficult situation being faced by Samskrit.

> The present situation is the result of our "inaction" or inability to properly understand and prioritize our "actions" in the last one or two decades.Today if we repeat the same, within the next two or three decades, our children would see the fall of Samskrit to the unimaginable nadir.
> Taking refuge under the rhetoric that "Samskrit is Amarabhasha" "no need to protect, it will protect itself" will be an excuse to one's inaction or unwillingness to act.I earnestly appeal to every one of you to read and act.
> Please pardon me for using harsh words both in this letter and the article.If any one of you want to personally convey anything to me, you may kindly do the same to the following ID - krishnashas...@hotmail.com