Need of Commercialisation of Sanskrit

Samskrit is the language which needs no introduction. In the land of Bharata, it is the voice of soul and wisdom. It is the link that connects Bharata’s past and present. Sanskrit literature and language is a vast repository of knowledge encompassing all spheres of life like Science and Technology, astronomy and architecture, medicine and metallurgy, agriculture and sculpture, mathematics and management, economics and ecology. 

During the Muslim invasion of Bharata, huge amount of literature and knowledge of Samskrit were burnt to ashes. Yet, even what remains now is still more vast and diverse than any other language on the Earth. In today’s globalised economy and in the present knowledge society, Bharata needs Samskrit more than ever before, to bridge the ancient and modern, to unravel the knowledge contained in the ancient texts, to protect our Intellectual Property Rights, to explore new avenues of innovations and to lead Bharata into the forefront of the knowledge driven society.

Rationale for commercialisation of Samskrit

The efforts of Samskritha Bharati to make Samskrit as the communicative language instead of just remaining as the beloved and ornamental language should be highly appreciated. If Samskritha Bharati works hard to take samskrit to the houses of common people, the meticulous and strenuous efforts of the Rashtriya Sanskrit Samsthan in enriching people by providing Sanskrit literature and language at higher levels is to be equally appreciated. 

The committee of MHRD suggests that it’s vested in the hands of Sanskrit scholars and not on the Governments. Teaching Sanskrit through Samskrit formed the crux of the recommendation. The committee is of the hope that the Sanskrit scholars will rise to the occasion and that the Government will play a supportive role. 

    One cannot deny the paradigm shift taking place in education globally. It is a known fact that globalization caused commercialization of Education in Bharata. Commercialising Education in Bharata gave strength to Macualay’s Education system which measured Education in terms of money. Since Childhood, we have been forced to believe, No English–No career–No future. 

               This paved the way to the decline of the Gurukula system. This also marked the downfall of Ayurveda and other traditional shastras.  Here is where ‘raising to the occasion’ situation arises. The long-term MHRD committee recommendations emphasize that reviving Sanskrit Education implies reviving the value based living that people of Bharata lived earlier. The technique to eliminate the demerits of commercialization through commercialization could be well understood from the ‘Non-Greedy commercialization’ as practised by Swami Ramdev. 

What is commercialization of Samskrit?

    If you have an idea, and you want to bring that idea into function or fruition and make it a reality and not go just as a passing thought, then you have to take action that requires resources, manpower, capital, time and energy. All ideas require resources to actualize. 

    The MHRD has a lot of innovative ideas to revamp Sanskrit Education in Bharata. If those ideas should be actualized then commercialization becomes a necessary evil. It is through commercialisation that we could transform daydream to a vision. Commercialization helps to make money which in turn helps in the evolution of our culture and society. 

Recommendations —

1. We should establish and nurture a Sanskrit Learning Society in every city. This requires a lot of human resources whose commitments to Sanskrit Education will put the whole people of the area to get advanced Sanskrit Education. 
2. Like the British Council set across countries for the development of English language, Samskritha Bharati or any such agency should be established in major cities which conducts classes, Exams or Seminars and training programs not in a non-profitable way but to mobilize resources. The exams should also attract and serve International students.
3. Setting up a virtual university and offering online degree programmes is the blessing in disguise during the lockdown period. Let a permanent virtual university of the Govt be set up so that Sankrit learning becomes easily accessible to all people especially to aspirants in states like Tamilnadu who couldn’t otherwise get higher education in Sanskrit as only a handful of institutions are offering Sanskrit.
4. It’s a widely known fact that some political parties take decisions to please minority votes and hence they prevent Sanskrit being taught in schools. A chakra vyuham should be planned and effectively done to break such barriers with little tactics. 
5. Sanskrit should be made compulsory in all schools and colleges but this should be done with utmost care so as to avoid emotional and unrealistic demands. A backdoor entry will work wonders. 
6. Setting up private Sanskrit libraries in every city with Sanskrit scholars in the city and rare books and textbooks could be printed in large and made easily accessible for common people. 
7. Elibrary where ebooks could be accessed with nominal subscription rates. 
8. The salary of Sanskrit teachers should be lucrative. This will attract other young aspirants to pursue degrees in Sanskrit and become Sanskrit teachers. 
9. Setting up tourist spots – like museums, exhibitions and a samskrita city  where our ancient Sanskrit culture is brought back to the younger generation. 
10. Let’s cut down the cost of education for other foreign languages like French, german, Russian, Spanish etc as they are of no consequence in today's world.
11.  Increase more Sanskrit courses in swayam.gov.in
12. Let's form a dynamic Sanskrit IT team for the much needed development in Sanskrit digitally.
13. Let there be an institution which serves all sanskrit merchandise like T-shirts and paintings with shlokas, traditional items like copper jug and other new innovations at reasonable prices.
14. A much needed government funded/aided Sanskrit TV channel to be created.
15. School education through Sanskrit medium should be made possible.

The Conclusion

    The revival of Sanskrit Education is in a nascent stage. Most ideas and resources in Sanskrit Education sit on the shelf and do nothing. It is time that we turn our rich resources into a commercialised product. If not done now, it will become even harder to turn the resources into a profitable product. Let us not forget - No Revenue. No salaries. No employees. No investors and at last No Company!

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