The Dilemma of Sanskrit Revival - Part 1

In the recent times, there has been a significant effort to revive Sanskrit as a spoken language. The noble intentions and pain-staking efforts are worthy of great applause indeed. Seems like more and more people are becoming aware of the Sanskrit language. In the zest of this spread, the language itself is being subjected to compromises - some of them of really serious nature. This multi-part post is an attempt to identify the genesis of such side effects.

The British Raj Effect
Whether Sanskrit was actually an everyday spoken language of common masses or was it just a link language - is a subject of debate. In any case, it is clear that over the centuries, use of Sanskrit decreased gradually and its use was confined at the scholastic level, and then mainly to the study of scriptures. The introduction of the British colonial education system in India during 1830-1860 and its subsequent adoption delivered a big blow to the currency of Sanskrit. During the following 4-5 generations, the English was firmly established in the minds of Indians as the language of official business, and as a path to earn better livelihood and stature in society. Since then till date, English has continued to maintain that status in the Indian society. This transformation brought changes to many facets of the Indian society, including its languages. During the period 1920-1960, there were many books on Sanskrit grammar, written primarily in English. We also see that many of these have grammatical structures oriented towards the English grammar, perhaps with the thought that it would be easy for the students studying English. However, another important development that took place during this era was the gradual change to the fundamental structure of the Sanskrit language itself, importing some of the English language structural formations. This was the effect of reverse-education - that is first English, then Sanskrit. This led to the displacement of Sanskrit as a native language to a translational representation of thoughts in English.

The Growth Pangs
Sanskrit ceased to be a common (if not of masses) spoken language - for centuries. Bringing it back into currency is not going to be easy. It might take generations. The modern technological tools might speed up that process. However, like any tool, these technological tools could be good or bad. The revival efforts need careful and appropriate handling. The structure and usage of the language needs to be unearthed thoroughly, interpreted properly and then adopted in its true spirit. Otherwise, it will be an exercise of merely getting familiar with the words and throwing them in the usage. Such a language can hardly be called "Sanskrit".

Continued in Part 2...