After a full day at the ongoing Australian Spoken Sanskrit Summer School at ANU, student Jane reflected, “I’m enjoying the immersion in the language. The sounds resonate within like having a bath in love.”
Fellow student Ram agreed. “Sanskrita bhasham pathan mahat sukham anubhavami,” he told Indian Link. I feel great joy in learning Sanskrit.
Jane and Ram are two of a dozen students who have enrolled at the two-week program, coordinated by Dr McComas Taylor, Professor of Sanskrit at ANU’s College of Asia and Pacific.
“It’s the fifth such program we have organised,” Dr Taylor explained. “We run it as a community course, once every five years, with Dr Sadananda Das of Leipzig University. He’s well known in the Sanskrit world, and the most gifted teacher I’ve ever come across – he’s had the students feeding out of his hand.”
Sanskrit, an ancient Indo-European language of India, is the medium of Hindu scriptures and classical Indian epics, and the linguistic root of many modern Indian languages. It originated as early as 1700-1200 BCE, preserved as Vedic chanting tradition. It was around 500 BCE that Classical Sanskrit was born, when scholar Panini defined its grammar.
Although it is still used in Hindu rituals, and is widely studied and understood by linguists and academics, spoken Sanskrit is uncommon. But that is an idea Dr Taylor is happy to debate.
“You would believe (it is rare) if you weren’t a Sanskrit speaker,” he noted. “If you were a Sanskrit speaker, you’d know it is spoken all over India, not only in the religious centres like Varanasi or Pune. It is definitely more common now than it was ten or twenty years ago.”
While his own Sanskrit courses at Uni might involve reading the texts from the Vedas and Upanishads and learning grammar, he sees the teaching of conversational Sanskrit as using the knowledge in a productive way.
“Spoken Sanskrit is actively using the knowledge which would otherwise remain passive.”
The typical profile of the student in the course is someone who has had exposure to Sanskrit before.
“Our students are undergrads, retirees, yoga teachers, yoga practitioners, Hindus, Buddhists. This year they’ve come from all over Australia, and from Hong Kong. They have a curiosity about Sanskrit, and a desire to put passive knowledge about the language to active use.”
Only about a third are of Indian origin, and many are repeat students.
The course is promoted through networks of Indian students and Indian studies.
Dr Sadananda Das is quite pleased at how this year’s course has turned out.
“It’s been a happy time at Canberra,” he told Indian Link. “I’m quite overwhelmed. The students have been enthusiastic.” S
The program sees the learners deeply engaged – with exercises in speaking, active listening, singing, storytelling. Practice conversations are relevant and contemporary, such as daily routines, likes and dislikes, going shopping, watching the news on TV in Sanskrit.
A particular hit this time round, has been the telling of the story of Ganga descending from the heavens, recounted from an Amar Chitra Katha style comic.
While Dr. Das’s mainstream work at Leipzig University’s Institute of Indology and Central Asian Studies explores the rich literary and philosophical traditions of Sanskrit, his short community courses focus on its practical applications, breathing new life into the ancient language.
Having conducted Spoken Sanskrit courses some 52 times over nearly three decades, Dr Das has seen nearly 1500 participants thus far.
“There are four-week courses, or intensive two-week courses like the current one at ANU. I’ve been conducting them all across Europe – Heidelberg, Lausanne, London, Barcelona, Florence, and Berne. It is deeply gratifying for me that the participants are studying for love, for knowledge.”
He is thrilled with the feedback from the Canberra students: Fiona is happy to be able now to form simple, concise phrases in the language; Justin and Lotus have enjoyed the singing of the Subhashitas (short verses of moral advice); Oliver liked the story of Ganga; Ram and Ashok are beginning to understand the meanings of mantras and prayers; Lachlan feels the language is a doorway to Indian culture, and Barbara has enjoyed meeting others who love Sanskrit.
It’s clearly been an enriching pursuit.
“The Spoken Sanskrit course has raised the profile of the university, and (created) good will in the Indian cultural world,” Dr Taylor remarked.
READ ALSO: Dr McComas Taylor: Translating the Vishnu Purana into Sanskrit
