Sanskrit Day 2022: Education Minister highlights importance of keeping Sanskrit language alive for future gene

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Sanskrit Day 2022: Education Minister highlights importance of keeping Sanskrit language alive for future gene
Sanskrit Day 2022: Education Minister highlights importance of keeping Sanskrit language alive for future gene

Africa-Press – Mauritius. The Vice-Prime Minister, Minister of Education, Tertiary Education, Science and Technology, Mrs Leela Devi Dookun-Luchoomun, participated, yesterday, in a lecture delivered by Professor Jatindra Mohan Mishra in the context of the Annual Sanskrit Day, at the Mahatma Gandhi Institute (MGI), in Moka.

A CD Album, ‘Samskrta-Bolligitavali’, was also launched on the occasion. In her address, the Vice-Prime Minister highlighted that Sanskrit was one of the earliest ancient languages that had not only given birth to many other languages, but had also equally nurtured and perpetuated knowledge and wisdom.

“Sanskrit, in addition to inspiring Asian Scholars, has profoundly marked Western Scholars of the calibre of Max Müller and Sir William Jones, amongst others,” she pointed out.

Mrs Dookun-Luchoomun indicated that all the scriptures of Hinduism, Buddhism, amongst others, were in Sanskrit. She added that nearly all places of worship such as ‘Kovils’ and Temples were united by the same words derived from Sanskrit and bound everyone.

“Sanskrit,” the Vice-Prime Minister underlined, “has found a top-notch place in Western Universities and is not confined only to literature, arts and philosophy, but is also a powerful medium in the field of sciences where the precision with which subjects such as Astrology are functioning in Ancient India can be seen.

” “Sanskrit language has found resemblance in vocabulary and grammar with the Latin and Greek languages and are often used in subjects such as Biology,” she observed. Furthermore, Mrs Dookun-Luchoomun stressed that the perspective from which Sanskrit was most commonly known in Mauritius was the linguistic one.

“The enrichment of Sanskrit lies in the fact that it has a well-established and robust grammar and, a Sanskrit speaking person can readily acquire any language in the world, especially the spoken aspect,”, the Vice-Prime Minister highlighted.

Vice-Prime Minister Dookun-Luchoomun also stated that in modern times, the language of technology was in itself a universal and unified one, and Sanskrit had its role to play there, too, with the wide momentum that it had gained in the field of IT, particularly in programming.

“It is amazing to see how the Indian Culture has a wonderful asset to share with the world in the form of Sanskrit,” she pointed out.

In addition, the Vice-Prime Minister lauded all Organisations and Unions that were promoting Sanskrit in Mauritius as, according to her, if a language was not genuinely practised, it would gradually fade out.

She thus reiterated her Ministry’s commitment to sustain efforts in order to promote a more regular and common usage of the Sanskrit language, especially in the spoken form, among the population.

On that score, the Vice-Prime Minister indicated that the Ministry of Education, Tertiary Education, Science and Technology was working in collaboration with the Sanskrit Speaking Union of Mauritius on a project regarding the teaching of Sanskrit.

“Consultations have already started and, on a pilot basis, Sanskrit will be taught to two categories of people, notably to students and to adults who wish to learn as well,” she announced.

As for the Chairman of the MGI Council, Mr Premlall Mahadeo, he pointed out that Sanskrit was a divine mother language, and the discovery of Sanskrit as a sister language by the Western Countries had made it an essential tool to understand the origin and early stages of European languages.

“It has been observed that there is more awareness and growing interest in the West for Sanskrit studies than in India, and, here at the MGI, we are working on consolidating and promoting this divine gift of India for the benefit of humanity,” he stated.

The Director-General of the MGI, Mr Rajcoomar Rampertab, for his part, expressed pride that Sanskrit, a language of India’s rich culture and heritage depiction, was taught at the MGI and had attracted so many students to pursue courses as regards the Sanskrit language.

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