Dear Editor,
It is incorrect to describe Sanskrit as a ceremonial language used in only religious rituals. The Sanskrit language and it’s literature are a repository of knowledge encompassing every walk of life, be it science and technology, agriculture and sculpture, astronomy and architecture, medicine and metallurgy, mathematics and management, economics and ecology. Siddharta-Shiromani and Kutuhalam are famous works on mathematical astronomy by Bhaskaracharya, a great mathematician and astronomer of the 12th century AD. The law of gravitation was propounded by him about 500 years before Newton. Sage Virahmira authored the famous Brahm-samhita on agriculture. Sushruta is known to have performed miraculous surgeries asnd wrote Sushuruta Samhita, a compendium on aryuveda, a treatise on health and longevity. Buddhist philosopher Nagarjuna was also an erudite ayurvedic physician and an expert in chemistry. There is no harm if our future technocrats and scientists are made aware of the great legacy of our ancestors. We need Sanskrit to bridge the ancient and the modern, to unravel the knowledge contained in the ancient texts and to lead India into the forefront of the future knowledge-driven globe.
S. K Dua,
Via-e-mail
