By Asit Srivastava
Lucknow, Aug 27 (IANS): Teachers of Sanskrit are soon going to put online a module of courses that will enable anyone to log on to the internet and learn Sanskrit, the mother of most Indian languages.
"In its attempt to develop, propagate and encourage Sanskrit learning, the varsity and its various campuses have undertaken the e-tutorial project for learning Sanskrit online," Sarvnarayan Jha, principal of the Lucknow campus of deemed university Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan, told IANS in an interview.
"The project is being designed in a manner that would enable people to learn Sanskrit through self-study. The student need not have any Sanskrit background for the online course," he added.
According to officials, the online course will be launched within two months.
"Initially, the course will focus on training people to frame sentences relating to daily activities that in turn would help them gain confidence to converse in Sanskrit," said Jha.
According to him, the online course will also have a segment of books written by eminent Sanskrit authors.
"You normally do not have Sanskrit books on the internet, but we will have provisions for the same on our upcoming website," Jha said.
Works of renowned scholars like Valmiki, Ved Vyas, Kalidas, Panini and others will be posted on the site that will also have rare manuscripts, he added.
Officials hope the website will contribute to the revival of Sanskrit and will also make it popular amongst masses.
"The project is excellent and will definitely get a good response not only from India but from other countries too," said head of Lucknow University's Sanskrit department Om Prakash Pandey, who has been teaching the language for the last 38 years.
"The thing I like most about the project is that it would in a way contribute to strengthening the national ethos," added Pandey, who has been a visiting faculty in universities in France, Holland, Italy and Germany.
Echoing similar views, Vijay Karn, senior Sanskrit teacher in Vidyant College, said: "The project needs to be applauded. It was long overdue. I am sure the tutorial will revive the glorious past of the language to an extent.
"If launched well, I am quite sure Sanskrit will become quite popular among the young generation, who are hooked to the internet."
Those aspiring to learn Sanskrit also appreciated the upcoming project.
"It is great that you get to learn Sanskrit online and that too without spending a penny," said Diwakar Tripathi, a BA Hindi student of Lucknow University.
Emphasising the need to learn Sanskrit, officials said that the language has played a vital role in the development of all Indian languages and in the preservation of the country's cultural heritage.