Their love for Sanskrit brings them here

Aakanksha N Bhardwaj

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Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, June 27

When one of the students cracks a joke, everybody else laugh. For an outsider, it will be difficult to understand what has been said as the joke has been told in the Sanskrit language, but this bunch of learners comprehend it easily.

An atmosphere dominated by Sanskrit welcomes you at Guru Virjanand Gurukul Mahavidyalaya in Kartarpur, near here, and the students are the beginners who have been learning the language here for past almost 10 days.

The lecture by resource persons, answers by the learners and the interaction between mates, everything is in Sanskrit. They use ‘odanam’ for rice, ‘rotika’ for chapati, and ‘dugdham’ for milk while interacting with each other.

A Sanskrit-speaking camp has been organised by the school from June 18 to June 27 where around 70 persons from across the state have been participating.

Interestingly, the learners do not have any Sanskrit background. Engineers, students pursuing medical education and wards of labourers have reached the place to learn the language.

They all interact with each other in Sanskrit and even during the cultural evening, they sang songs and staged plays in the language.

Udya Aryan, principal of the school, said the cultural activities were held in Sanskrit only.

He said it must be understood that only this language had the capability to originate new words.

“Every evening, the learners gather and discuss their thoughts and what have they learned in the language,” he said.

They have also given Sanskrit names to recreational activities, ‘bhasha krida’ and ‘sankhya krida’, in which they take part.

“The idea is that it does not get boring for the learners who have come here to learn the language,” said the principal.

They have learned Sanskrit words such as ‘upanetram’ which is used for spectacles, saandra mudrikaa’, which means a CD. While ‘Pinchah’ and Vyajnam are the words used in Sanskrit for switch board and fan, respectively.

Richa Goyal, a history teacher from Ludhiana, is among the learners. She now greets everyone in Sanskrit by folding her hands. Even an 11-year-old student is a part of the team.

Varis Kumar, an engineer, who has completed his education from Hong Kong is also learning the language.

He said: “It is the love for history and ancient languages that he wanted to know about the language more.”

“I want to know everything about Sanskrit,” he said, adding that this was the best class he could ever join.

Pinki, daughter of a daily wage labourer, is from Malerkotla. She is pursuing medical education.

She said she wanted to speak the language as her father motivated her to do so.

“Now, I don’t like to talk in Hindi much, but Sanskrit is what I want to speak,” she said.

As she gets up after the class, she joins her friend and starts communicating in the language again.