REPORT OF THE SANSKRIT COMMISSION 1956-1957 Ministry of Education and Culture Government of India-New Delhi GOVERMENT OF INDIA SANSKRIT COMMISSION Poona 4: November 30, 1957 Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, Minister for Education and Scientific Research, Government of India, New Delhi. Dear Maulana Sahib, On behalf of the Sanskrit Commission it is my Privilege to present our Report to Government for its consideration and action. 2. It has taken us one year to complete our work. It was expected that we would be able to do it earlier. But the Unexpectedly large mass of Replies to our Questionnaire and Evidence from Members of the Public in the various parts of the country, which all had to be properly looked into, could not be handled and utilised before this period of time. We are very grateful to the authorities for appreciating this position. 3. I feel very happy and proud to be able to present this Report to you as a unanimous Report. 4. There has been all through perfect cordiality and agreement among Members of the Commission. Each one was actuated by a sense of high responsibility in this work of national significance. Most of the Members of the Commission are Educationists and Sanskritists of experience and eminence, and besides they possess a knowledge of conditins in India and abroad. They have all taken part in the public life of the country within thier sphere of study and work. Some of them also have very wide practicalacquaintance with the administrative side of running Educational and Cultural Institutions of importance. In this work they have not spared themselves, and have taken great pains to understand the situatuin, and,on the basis of the views expressed bythe Members of the Public, to recommend measures which will be for the well-being of the people. The Commission has obtained the benefit of this experience and this wide acquaintance with the academic and administrative sides. The sincere and disinterested labours of each and every one of my colleagues in studying the question and in bringing out the Report cannot be too highly praised. The work entrusted to us by the Government was of high educational, cultutal as well as national importance, and the approach to the problems by the members was as all-sided and comprehensive as one could wish it to be. Thier line of approach in the first instance was that of objective fact-finding, not divorced from high ideals of service to the people through thepreservation of the basic elements of their national culture. 5. There is ine subject to which I would urge upon the Government to give its immediate favourable consideration. Our Questionnaire was prepared in Sanskrit in additon to English, as we wanted it to reach our Sanskrit scholars with whom Sanskrit is more living than any other language but who do not understand English. We were pleased to find that this was a right move, since some40% of the replies sent to us were in Sanskrit, and a large number of Witnesses also gave thier evidence id Sanskrit.l Thisfact lays an obligation upon both the Commission and the Government to bring out a Sanskrit version of the Report, at least in a brief form. In this way alone the Report and What it stands for can reach a large section of the Indian people who are interested in Sanskrit education and Sanskrit studues and who stand to benefit by it. It would be anomalous if the Report of the Sanskrit Commission was not issued in the Sanskrit language also. I would, therefore, as Chairman of the Commission, suggest that immediate steps be taken for the preparation of the Report in Sanskrit, and for its early publication. 6. As Chairman of the Commission, I have nothing specially to bring to the notice of the Government, excepting that Government might give early consideration to our recommendations. As an Educationist, who has been connected with Linguistic and Humanistic Studies and Research for over 40 years, I can only put in a plea before our National Government for the support of Sanskrit which forms one of the bases of the cultural and political Unity of India. In my opinion as a Professor of Linguistics who has not cut himself off from public contacts and Public affairs, the rehabilitation of Sanskrit in Indian education and Indian Public life, apart from the general cultural life of the people, will be a potent factor which the Government may well employ to fight the growing fissiparousness of Linguism and to strengthen the bonds of unity among the Indian people. The implementing of the aims and objects, which the Government had in view with regard to Sanskrit and its place in Indian education and Indian life when this Commission was appointed, will unquestionably win the grateful approbation of the people. About the enthusiasm of the people of India as a whole for Sanakrit, we have received, in the course of our tour and our work, the most covincing evidence. 7. I have to thank you and other Members of the Government for all the courtesies and support which we, as Members of the Commission, have received from you. Yours very sincerely, SUNITI KUMAR CHATTERJI Chairman, Sanskrit Commission. REPORT OF THE SANSKRIT COMMISSION CHAPTER I INTRODUCATION 1. The Snaskrit Commission appoined by the Government of India, in terms of thier Resolution No. F.34-I/56-A-I, dated the Ist October, its deliberations and has now the honour to submit the following Report. In respose to the demand voiced forth by thePublic and the Parliament, the Government appionted this Commission "to consider the question of the present state of Sanskrit Education in all its aspects". That the Government took the most opportune step in appointing this Commission was more than amply borne out when, in the course of its inquiry, the Commission could see for itself the enthusiasm that this act of theirs had produced in the country and the wide appreciation of the concern that the Government had evinced in promoting the study of the language and literature in which the culture of the country was enshrined. 2. The Sanskrit Commission somprised the following Members:-- 1. Dr. Suniti Kumar Chatterji, Chairman, West Bengal Legislative Council, Calcutta. (Chairman). 2. Shri J.H.Dave, Director, Bharitiya Vidya Bhavan, Bombay. 3. Prof. S.K.De, Professor of Sanskrit Language and Literature, Post-Graduate Research Department, Sanskrit College, Calcutta, (now Professor, Jadhavpur University, Calcutta). 4. Prof. T.R.V. Murti, Sayajirao Gaekwad Professor of Indian Civilization and Culture, Banaras Hindu University, Banaras. 5. Prof. V. Raghavan, Professor of Sansjrit, University of Madras, Madras. 6. Asthana-Vidwan Panditaraja V.S. Ramachandra Sastry, Sankara Mutt, Bangalore. 7. Prof. Vishva Bandhu Shastri, Director, Vishveshvarananada Vedi Research Institute, Hoshiarpur. 8. Prof. R.N. Dandekar, Professor of Sanskrit, University of Poona, Poona. (Member-Secretary). Shri K. Sundara Rama Sarma, Assistant Education Officer, Ministry of Education, New Delhi, acted as Assistant Secretary. 3. The terms of reference of the Commission and the procedure to be followed by them were laid down by Government in thier Resolution as under:-- "The terms of reference of the Commission will be-- (i) to undertake a survay of the existing facilities for Sanskrit Education in Universities and non-University institutions and to make proposals for promoting the study of Sanskrit, including research; and (ii) to examine the traditional system of Sanskrit Education in order to find out what features from it could be usefully incorporated into the modern system." In connection with its work, the Commission, in the words of the Government Resolution, was to "obtain such information as they may consider useful for or relevant to any matter under thier consideration Whether by asking for Written memoranda or by examining Witnesses or in such form and in such manner as they may consider appropriate, from the Central Government, the State Governments and such other authorities, organisations or individuals as may, in the opinion of the Commission, be of assistance to them", and "to visit or depute any of thier Sub-Committees to visit such parts of the territory of India as they consider necessary or expedient". 4. From the very beginning, the Commission felt that the terms of reference, which specifically mentioned only two items, namely, (i) Sanskrit Education in Universities and non-University institutions and (ii) traditional system of Sanskrit Education, were somewhat restricted; and unledd these terms of reference were understood in the Widest possible sense and certain other matters connected with the problem of Sanskrit Education and Research were properly examined, the deliberations of the Commission would not be really complet. It was, for instance, necessary to inquire into the question of Sanskrit studies in Secondary Schools, which were primarily the feeders of Universities. The extent and standards of Sanskrit studies in Universities were dependent upon the nature of those studies in Secondary Schools. No subject of study could be pursued in a school or cillege without reference to what the student of that subject would or could do after the completion of his education. The avenues open fora branch of study or the roles persons brought up in a particular discipline can play as educated citizens have a direct relation to the strength and continuance of that branch of study, The policy in respect of Sanskrit as, indeed, in respect of all education must be correlated to the needs and aspirations of the members of the body politic. The Commission, therefore, felt that it was necessary to consider the place of Sanskrit and the Sanskrit in the national life of present-day India. For this purpose, the Commission endeavoured to cover a large field in the course of its inquiry. It directed its attention to all important questions relating, directly or by necessary implications, to Sanskrit studies in India. That the Governmentthemselves contemplated the Commission to make a thorough investigation is borne out by the premble to thier Resolution where they have actually referred to "Sanskrit Education in all its aspects" 5. After the attainment of Independence, the governemtn of India took on hand the re-organisation of eduction, and, for that purpose, appointed two Commissions, one relating to Unversity Education with Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan as Chairman and the other to Secondary School Education with Dr. A. Lakshmanaswami Mudaliar as Chairman. With respect to the Official Language of the Indian Union as adopted in the Constitution (namely, Hindi, side by side with English for the present), the Government also appointed another Commission under the Chairmanship of late Bal Gangadhar kher. In the Reports of these three Commissions, the question of Sanskrit Education and the place of Sanskrit has been disussed. 6. The University Education Commission (December 1948--August 1969)has, in its report, indicated what the place of Sanskrit (or Classical Language in general) should be in the scheme of General Education in Secondary Schools and Colleges. While discussing courses of study in Arts and Science it has regretted the fact that the importance of the study of Classics in our languages has not been suffeciently realised. In that very context, it has made the correct appraisal of the value of Sanskrit language andliterature and has voiced forth the hope that "our students will be encouraged to take up Sanskrit in thier degree course" (P. l3l). Elsewhere it has pointed that Sanskrit language and literature, which constitute our cultural heritage, offer manyopportunities for research. It is interesting that, the Commission should have specially referred to the knowledge of Vedic music to be derved from the study of Samaveda. In its observations on religious education, the Unversity Education Commission has stressed the importance of Sanskrit works, which embody the element of morality in a larger sense and which are thus best suited for a true spiritual training. It would also like our educational institutions being imbued with the atmosphere of simplicity and consecration which Sanskrit ideals of education as embodied in the ancient Gurukulas stood for. The University Education Commission has even discussed the claims of Sanskrit as the medium of education the claims of Sanskrit as the medium of education and has accepted the fact that Sanskrit was the lingua franca for the world of learning in ancient India. The Commission has also briefly indicated the facilities available in various Indian Universities for specialisation in Sanskrit and allied subjects. 7. The Secondary Education Commission (October 1952--June 1953), while disussing at some length the question of the study of languages in Secondary Schools, has favoured the view that the study of Sanskrit should be given every possible encouragement. It has recognised the great appeal which Sanskrit possesses both from the cultural and religios points of view, and has shown an awareness of the present deterioration and the danger of eventual extinction of its study. At another plce, the Secondary Education Commission has teaching the classical language and for modern techques being employed in thier study. 8. The Official Language Commission (June 1955--June 1956) also had included in its Questionnaire a number of questions relating to Sanskrit, and the Report of that Commission (a confidential copy of which was placed at its disposal by the Union Home Minister) that the Official Language Commission also accepted the basic importance of Sanskrit. The Report refers more than once, when speaking of regional languages, terminology and cultural unit of India, to the great role that Sanskrit has played. TheReport says: "It is hardly necessary to add that, besides the current regional languages, there is an immense amount of work which needs to be done in respect of Sanskrit, Pali, Prakrits, Apabhramsa, etc. The Sanskrit languages in differnt degrees havepowerfully influenced current Indian speeches and a study of these has an obvious bearing on the study of contemporary forms of speech" (p. 218). In its concluding remarks (in Ch. XV), the Official Language Commission, while emphasising the role and value of Sanskrit, says: "All our languages, including what are known as the Dravidian languages, have through all the centuries habitually drafted, in a greater or less degree, to meet every new situation and requirement for expression of a new idea or shade of meaning, upon that vast and inexhaustible treasure-house of vocabulary, phrase, idiom and concept comprised by the Sanskrit language and literature. The Ramayana and the Mahabharata, the Puranas and the Sastras, the Classical poems, dramas and literary masterpieces of Sanskrit have served throughout those centuries not only as the reservior of ideas, sentiments and parables to be drawn by all for the embellishment of thier literary excellence, as standards for social conduct, as examplars of morality, and in short, as the repository of Wit and Wisdom of all the Indian peoples throughout the ages......."(p.249). 9. IN recent years various State Governments also had appointed Committees to examine and report on different aspects of Sanskrit Education and Research in their respective States. On the appoinment of the Sanskrit Commission, letter were addressed tothe Education Secretaries of all the States requesting them to supply the Commission with the Report of such Committeess, and the following material was received by the Commission: 1. Report of the Sanskrit College Syllabus Revision Committee, Government of United Provinces, 1938. 2. Report of the Sanskrit Reorganisation Committee, Bihar, 1939. 3. Report of the Sanskrit Pathasala Reorganisation Committee, Government of Uttar Pradesh, November, 1947 (Report Published in March, 1950). 4. Report of the Sanskrit Education Committee,Government of West Bengal, 1948. 5. Report of the Committee on Sanskrit Education, Travancore, October 1948 (Report published in 1949). 6. Sanskrit Entrance Examination Reorganisation Committee, Madras, 1949. 7. Report of the Sanskrit Pathasala Reorganisation Committee, Government of Bombay, 1950. 8. Committee for Educational Reforms, Mysore (Report submitted in Febrauary, 1953). 9. Report of the Punjab State Sanskrit Committee, 1954 (Report submitted in April, 1956). 10. Report of the Committee for Reorganisation of Sanskrit Institutions, Madhya Pradesh, 1955. 11. Report of the Sanskrit Samiti, Government of Rajasthan, 1955-56. 10. Some of the more important recommendations of these Committees have been given among the Appendices of this Report (See Appendix II). 11. Shri Radhanath Rath, Minister, Orissa State, supplied to this Commission a copy of the Recommendations of the Oriental University (Puri) Committee set up by the Government of Orissa in July, 1955. Literature relating to the newly founded Sanskrit University of Varanasi, to the Kurukshetra University (Punjab) and to the Vikrama University (Ujjain) was also made available to the Commission. 12. At its fourth Session held at Tirupati in November 1955, the Sanskrit Vishva Parishad had appointed a Committee (a) to enquire and report on the re-organsation of the traditional courses in Sanskrit so as to fit them into the scheme of modern education and create possibilities of acreer; (b) to enquire and report on the methods of teaching Sanskrit at all stages with special reference to the new method of teaching which is being tried by the Kuppuswami Sastri Research Institute, Pandit Anant SastriPhadke and others; and (c) such other matters as may be germane to the above. A copy of the preliminary Draft Report drawn up by the Secretary of this Committee was made available to the Commission by him. 13. On the 30th September and the Ist October, 1955, the Union Ministry of Education had convened at New Delhi a Conference of Proffessors of Sanskrit in Indian Universities. The Conference was attended by 29 Professors, representing various Universities, and among other invitees were such eminent scholars as Mahamahopadhyaya Dr. P. V. Kane and Professor K.A. Nilakanta Sastri. This Conference was called upon to suggest steps that might be taken to encourage larger number of Indian students to study Sanskrit and to make recommendations in connection with the reconstuction of the syllabus of Sanskrit studies and the co-ordination of standards in Sanskrit teaching. The Confernece discussed at some length the various questions placed comprehensive resolutions on such matters as the place of Sanskrit in General Education, the duration and content of Sanskrit courses in Universities and Pathasalas, the system of examinations, the qualitications of teachers of Sanskrit at different levels, the Promotion of research and publication, and the desirability of establishing an All-India Board of Sanskrit Studies. 14. The Sanskrit Sommission has taken into consideration the recommendations in all these official and non-official Reports and the resolutions passed at the Conference of Profeeors or Sanskrit. Not only have the materials presented in theses Reports been useful to this Commission, but this Commission felt greatly heartened in its efforts by the fact that the States of the Indian Union had found it necessary to enquire into the condition of Sanskrit learning in thier respective regions and had from time to time considered the question of re-organising and revitalising Sanskrit studies. 15. The appointment of the Sanskrit Commission by the Government of India, at this juncture, is particularly significant. It is true that, under the Constitution, education is the responsibility of the State Governments. But, in view of the facts thatSanskrit is of all-India provenance, is the basis of most of the modern Indian languages and is important from the points of view, among others, of the country's cultual hertage and national solidarity, it is but proper that the Union Government shouldfeel concerned about the promotion of its study at all levels. The State Governments are naturally faced with local problems, and some of them have more pressing demands of developing thier regional languages. It is the duty of the Centre to see that all those issues of larger significance, which are for the ultimate good of the nation as a whole, are taken care of by it. It was, therefore, but proper that the Union Government should have, through a Commission, sought ways and means to evolve an all-India policy in this repect. Generally speaking, the Committees appointed by various States, which have been referred to above were charged with an inquiry into some specitic problems, relating to Sanskrit Education, such as the re-organization of Pathasalas, within thier own regions. The present All-India Commission, which has been asked to consider the question of Sanskrit in all its aspects, thus represents the culmination of the various efforts so far made by the different state Governments in the matter of Promoting Sanskrit. 16. The appropriateness of the appointment of this Commission at the present juncture cannot be over-emphasised. Since the attainment of Independence, the country as a whole has been undergoing an all-round regeneration, and the Government have gone all out to explore the channels through which they could help the growth and consolidation of the nation. It cannot be forgotten as Rajyapal Shri Sri Prakasa said that, in the struggle for freedom which this nation waged, it was insprired and sustained bya sense of its great heritage and an ardent desire to come into its own and regain the glory that had been eclipsed by alien domination. The dawn of independence has been looked up on by the nation as the beginning of an age of cultural rehabilitaion of the countr. In the fields of arts and letters, several concrete steps have been taken by the Government. And Sanskrit, being the bedrock of Indian speech and literature and the artistic and cultural heritage of the country, has been naturally looking forward to the Government, all these years, for measures for its rehabilitation. This commission, in the course of its tours, could see a feeling of regret and disapoinment among thepeople that, while no positive steps had been taken for helping Sanskrit, the measures undertaken in respect of other languages have had adverse repercussions on it. The ultimate result of this has been that Sanskrit has not been allowed to enjoy even the status and facilities it had under the British Raj. In this connection, the Sanskrit Commission would like to quote an old verse. Which many Sanskritists referred to and which graphically pictured thier real feeling: "`The night will pass and the bright day will dawn; the sun will rise and the lotus will bloom in all its beauty'--While the bee, imprisoned in a closed bud, was thus pondering over its future, alas, an elephent uprooted the lotus--plant itself.' 17. The grievance of the people was acute, because they had expected that there would be a better and more sypathetic understanding for Sanskrit after Independence. The appointment of the sanskrit Commission may, therefore, be said to reflect the UnionGovernment's keen awareness of this feeling and thier sincer desire to develop Sanskrit Education and Research in the country on proper and fruitful lines. 18. The frist meeting of the Sanskrit Commission was held at New Delhi on the 7th was devoted to a discussion regarding the terms of reference and the plan of work to be adopted by the Commission. At that meeting, the Commission also drafed questions and considered the points to be issued by it. The setting up of a Secretariat for the Commission at Poona. The Secretariat of the Commission started functioning at Poona on the 1st November, 1956. During the month of November, the Questionnaire was finalised and printed. It was then distributed to about 4,000 persons and institutions throughput India, who were interesed in or were concerned with Sanskrit Education and Research. The Questionnaire was published both in Sanskrit and English (See Appendix III). It was only thus that the Commission could reach the large number of Pandits in the various parts of the country, whose views on this subject, which was so vital to them, it was particularly anxious to elicit. The reponse from the public and the Government was indeed, most encouraging, and far exceeded the expectation of the Commission. Nearly 1,200 replies to the Questionnaire were received, including a good many in Sanskrit. These replies were then carefully analysed by the Technical Assistants, under the direction of the Member-Secretary, and the analyses were supplied to each member. These analyses themselves ran into 2,653 typed sheets. Side by side with these analyses, questionwise syntheses-statements were also got prepared for theuse of Members. 19. At the first meeting of the Commission, it was decided that the Commission should visit some important centres--both traditional and modern--of sanskrit learning in India, with a view to examining in situ the conditions prevailing in various States and meeting individuals and represenative of institutions of all types in those regions, interested in the subject of the Commission's inquiry. The tour programme of the Commission (See Appendix VI), which was carried out in five laps, covered all the 14 States of India. The Commission visited 56 centres and interviewed over1,100persons, representing various shades of opinion A part from these interviews, the programme of the Commission at these places included visits to Pathasalas, Universities, Research Institutes, Libraries, Manuscript Collections, etc., besides attending meetings of Pandits, Vedic recitations, Sastrartha and presentation of plays and variety programmes in Sanskrit. Just as many of the replies to the Questionnaire received by theCommission were in Sanskrit, quite a number of interviews also took place in Sanskrit. It was not the Pandits alone who gave their evidence in Sanskrit; many Sanskritists of the modern type also freely discussed with the Commission through the medium of Sanskrit. This once again proved that Sanskrit still continued to be the lingua franca of Sanskrit scholars of this country, irrespective of the different regions to which they belinged. 20. A glance at the tour programme and interviews of the Commission had seen to it that no type of Sanskrit study and no kind of institution had escaped its attention. It visited places like Navadwip, Varanasi, Ayodhya, Mathura, Ujjain, Kanchi, Tanjore, Mysore, Trivandrum and Tripunittura, which had been celebrated centres of Sanskrit learning down the centurues; it visited the birth-places of two of the greatest figures in the histiory of medieval Sanskrit, Sankara and Ramanuja; and it called on the present representatives of the Maths of the three Acharyas--Sankara, Ramanuja, and Madhva. The Programme of work in the different regions was normally in charge of the Members of the Commission, who were in touch with the Institutions, individuals and authorities in those areas. Every care was taken to see that the evidence before the Commission was drawn from all the diverse quarters and through accredited and representative bodies and individuals. 21. Summaries of all the interviews as also of the many memoranda which were submitted to the Commission were duly suplied to Members. The Members thus had at thier disposal quite a large amount of material bearing on the various aspects of Sanskrit Education and Research. 22. The Commission would like to take this opportunity of expressing its thanks to the State Governments, Universities, Public Institutions, Officials and Private Individuals, who were very helpful in its work. The most abidibg impression of the Commission's tour was one of great paradox. On the one hand, the Commission saw a tremendous enthusiasm for Sanskrit both among Sanskritists and non-Sanskrit, and, on the other, a depressing deterioration in the extent and standard of Sanskrit learning in traditional as well as modern institutions. On the one hand, Sanskrit scholars, members of the public, educationists and authorities were keenly alive to the importance of Sanskrit studies; and on the other, there was one kind or another of official and administrative difficulty or lack of practical assistance which produced a sense of frustration. On the one hand, both Pandits and modern Sanskrit scholars were held in esteem as votaries and repositories of culture; and, on the other, the badge of being the poor relations of the house was evident on their persons. Nevertheless, the Commission could see that there was created a general atmosphere of hope and expectation owing to its appointment by the Union Government. And this fact, while it encouraged the Commission on the one hand, always reminded it, on the other, of the great and momentous responsibility which was laid on it. CHAPTER II HISTORICAL RETROSPECT 1. As we are concerned here directly with Sanskrit education at the present time, it is not necessary to go into the detail of its past history. But some of our present-day Problems of Sanskrit education have their roots deep in the Past, and cannot beproperly understood without reference to the historical forces which brought them into existence. As for instance, there is the unique phenomenon of the indigenous system of Sanskrit education existing side by side with Sanskrit teaching in the modernSchools, Colleges and Universities. This has no parallel in Western countries where classical education is an integral part of the University education, and as such, has no separate existence outside the Universities. 2. Even when the modern Indian languages were developing, Sanskrit continued its course of creative activity, particularly in the realm of religious and philosophical literature, and its prestige was not at all on the wane. It continued to be the common all-India medium of communcation among the learned and the means of maintaining an all-India standard in literary attainment and production, even in modern Indian languages. With the ascendancy of Muslim power, a foreign language became, for the firsttime, the language of court-life and wide administrative use in revenue, legal and other departments. However, this dominance of Persian, though it had its repercussions on Sanskrit, could not dislodge the latter from its eestablished position. It wasonly when the British brought in a complex administrative machinery and set in motion a new policy of education that the scales turned completely, leading to the rapid decay of Sanskrit learning. It is, therefore, necessary to indicate here, without attempting a detailed historical here, without attempting a detailed historical survey, the most prominent landmarks in the history of modern education, so that the fortunes of Sanskrit during the last hundred and fifty years may be clearly followed and its present problems appreciated in thier proper perspective 3. So far as the ancient period ofour history is concerned we need say but little. The State in ancient India, it must be specially pointed out, freely patronised educational establishments, but left them to develop on their own lines, without any interfernece or control. Education in ancient India was meant to be a reiligious initation, and its main basis was an intimate personal contact between the teacher and the pupil. Indian d=education continued to be distinguished by this eddentailly religious and personal character for a very long time. As a matter of fact, Indian education has had a continuous tradition from very early times almost right down to the present day. In the course of this long period, from the Vedi times onwards, some development or change was quite ineviable. But the general pattern with its salient features, such as, the Gurukula ideal, oral instruction insistence on moral discipline and character-building, freedom in the matter of the courses of study, absence of extraneous control, consciousness on the part of the State--and, what is perhaps moreimportant, of the general public--that education was one of their basic responsibilities, had remained essentially the same. Buddhism and Jainism might have, in the early stages, brought in some new influences, but they soon adapted themselves to the main orthodox pattern. The advent of the Muslim conquerors also does not seem to have affected this indigenous Hindu system of education to any appreciable extent. Some important centres of Hindu learning no doubt suffered at thier hands and they may have ushered in a new form of education in Arabic and Persian which had no connection with the Hindu system. But the contents and methods of Hindu education remained materially inchaged. 4. It was the contact with the Europeans, particularly the British, which first created a kind of intellectual ferment among the Inidans. This contact became responsible for a re-orientation of their educational ideals and methods. This contact becameresponsible ideals and methods. The English East India Company, being a mere body of merchants, did not undertake any educational ectivity for the first hundred years of its existence. It was only in 1698 that, in terms of the Charter Act of that year, the Company was forced, for the first time, to turn its attention to educational matters. The Charter Act required the Company to maintain priests and schools in its garrisons--a provision, which was, of course, intended solely for the children of the Company's European servants. In 1765, the East India Company was granted the Divani of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa, and thus became, in a sense, a ruling power in India. Notwithstanding this change in status, the Company continued its attitude of indifference in matters concerning education. 5. The available records are very meagre with regard to the character and extent of Sanskrit education existing at the time of the British advent, which brough in the spread of English education. The testimony of the early missionaries, as well as thatof young Indians who were inspried by a somewhat blind zeal for their newly acquired knowledge of Western literature, is generally too sweeping and prejudiced, in view of the fact that they were occupied, more or less, with denouncing everything Hindu. No attemp was made till 1822 to collect authentic information. In that year, Sir Thomas Munro, Governor of Madras, distressed at the rapid decay of ancient literature and arts ordered an investigation into the state of indigenous education in his presidency. The results of his enquiries were not made known until 1826, in which year Sir Thomas reported them to the Board of Directors in a minute dated March 10th. In the meantime, in 1823, Mountstuart Elphinstone set on foot a similar enquiry in Bombay, but it was not completed and communicated till 1832. In January 1835, W.Adam was similarly appointed by Lord Bentinck to make a detailed investigation in Bengal and Bihar. His three valuable reports, published by order of Government, appeared in July 1835, in 1836 and in 1838 respectively. 6. The pattern of indigenous education during the 17th and 18th centuries and the early 19th century was something like this. There were two kinds of schools:(a)elementary schools teaching only the three `R's through the mother tongue, and (b) schools of higher learning. A mong the latter kind of schools, again, there were two types:(i)Sanskrit Pathasalas or Tols, and (ii) Persian and Arabic Madrasahs. It is these Pathasalas or Tols which are important from our point of view. Generally, students who desired to learn Sanskrit did not go to the elementary schools at all, but directly joined the Pathasalas. Some salient features of these Pathasalas depended mainly on financial assistance from the Rajas, landlords, big merchants and the religious-minded-Hindu Public. They were conducted by Brahmans for their pupils, who were also generally Brahmans. The teachers were usually learned Pandits--some of them authors of repute--but they received a meagre remuneration in the form of grants of land from their patrons, voluntary presents from pupils, and some kind of daksina, in cash or in kind, from the public on special occasions. No regular fees were charged from pupils;on the contarry, free boarding and lodging were afforeded to them. Usually the Pathasala was held in the house of the teacher, or in a temple. 7. The number of students that flocked to a particular Pathasala depended primarily upon the scholarship and reputation of the teacher, and as academic degrees were not conferred on the results of any public examination, it was enough of the students could claim that they were apprived pupils of particular teachers whohad acquired celebrity in particular branches of traditional learning. What was taught in these academies was well taught, and the attainments were not inferior to those of any ancient nation, or to those of European scholars prior to the Renaissance. But it the trainning was thorough, it tended to become more or less scholastic. The Pandits were the visible representative of culture, religion and all the higher forces in men; and their pursuits of knowledge partook of the nature of a sanctification. While this fact explains their absolute devotion and their scorn of shallowness, it also explains the general impracticability and unprogressiveness of their instruction. Not only whole texts but commentaries upon commentaries were commited to memory; and the minutest questions often evoked discuddions lasting for days in which the characteristic scholastic methodof argument and counter-argument was employed with all the resources andvigour of an eminently rich language. 8. As already pointed out, in the early stages of the regime of the East India Company, the Company as such made no efforts to establidh any educational system. However, three is, from our point of view, one very significant lanndmark towards the end of the 18th century. In 1781, Warren Hasting started the Calcutta Madrasah mainly in order "to conciliate the Mahomedans of Calcutta'. His example was followed by his successor, Lord Cornwallis, who, at the instance of Jonathan Duncan,started at Banaras, in 1791, the Banaras College or Sanskrit College, Banaras. The two pupose of the Company in starting the Sanskrit College were officially stated to be to endear themselves to the Hidus and to rear a group of scholars who could assist them in administeing the Government and the laws of the people. 9. A reference may be made here to anther important factor which have helped-though indirectly-the establishment of the Sanskrit College at Banaras. During the last two decades of the 18th century, there was in evidence among some Europeans in India and in Europe a very great enthusiasm for Sanskrit. The Writings and translations for Sir William Jones attracted the attention of European scholars to Sanskrit language and literature, and this prepared the way for a scientific study of Indology in Western Universities. Goethe broke into poetic appreciation of Kalidasa's Sakuntala, as translated by Jones; Sir Charless Wilkins, the first translator of the Bhagavadgita into English (in 1784), who was described as "Sanskrit-mad", established an oriental printing press in Calcutta. Jones and Wilkins were also responsible for the foundation, in 1784, of the Asiatic Society at Calcutta. Papers on Oriental subjects discussed at this Society weere later published in the Asiatick Researches. These events had their own influence. 10. The course of studies originally proposed by Duncan for the Banaras Sanskrit College was based on the all-comprehensive scheme of 18 Vidyas or Sciences mentioned in the Puranas, though in actual practice the College adopted the curriculum which had then been in vogue among the Pandits of that place. To begin with, the College was to have nine Professors, (including the Rector or the Head Pandit) who were to teach Veda, Vyakarana, Vedanta, Nyaya, Mimamsa, Purana (and Kavya), Jyotisa, Ayurveda and Dharma-sastra. In April 1844, J.Muir became the first principa of the College. He introduced graded courses, providing for the compulsory stury, in Junior Classes, of subjects like Ganita and Kavya. During the principalship of J.Ballantyne, the study the English was introduced in the Sanskrit College in 1847-48. This "interesting experiment' Soon became crystallized into an Anglo-Sanskrit Department. A.E.Gough (who was then the Anglo-Sanskrit Professor) reported in 1877 that the Department was the modern and progressive side of the Sanskrit College, and that it had a reasonable success and a liberalising tendency on the rest of Indianscholars at Banaras. How ever, in that very year, the Department was abolished. It was at this stage that a controversy arose between G.Thibaut and Pramada Das Mitra on the question of the ideal Sanskrit scholar. Thibaut wanted to convert the Pandit into an accomplished Sanskrit scholar of the Western type by making his though that English should be studied as a means to understanding Western Sanskrit scholarship. By fusing Western and Eastern thought, Thibaut hoped to produce a scholar capable of using both for the general advancement of Sanskrit learning. As against this, Mitra wanted to superimpose English and Western thought on Sanskrit learning by making an Indian scholar of Sanskrit first become a finished Pandit and then take to English and European studies. It was thus a question of fusion vs. Superimposition. Nothing, however, came out of this controversy. 11. The year 1880 represents an important landmark in the history of the Banaras Sanskrit College. For, it was in that year that the present system of Sanskrit examinations (padavi-pariksa)was first introduced. It is well know that these examinations gained incresing popularity in the course of the next few years. The tenureof Dr. Venis as Principal was marked by great activity. The magnificent Sarasvati-Bhavana was constructed for the housing of large collection of manuscripts; the Vizianagaram Sanskrit Seies was inaugurated: a large number of new scholarships were instituted: and the literary and research work of the staff grew considerably in volume. From 1918 onwards, the courses of studies in the Sanskrit College were changed from time to time. These changes often reflected the changing attitude towards Sanskrit education of the Government and the public. 12. About the time of the establishment of the Banaras Sanskrit College, another,tendency in educational policy was becoming evident in India. Charles Grant, who had been the Secretary of the Board of Trade created by Warren Hastings, wrote in 1792 a tract called Observations on the State of Society among the Asiatic Subjects of Great Britain Particularly with respects to Morals and on the means of improving it. In that work, Grant pronounced his highly damaging judgement on India, and proposed that the Panacea for the moral degradation of the Indians was "the communication of our knowledge......by the medium of our language". Since that time, "Western knowledge through the medium of English" became a popular slogan even among some educated Indians. Apart from the controversy regarding the content and medium of public instruction, which Grant thus initiated, his efforts, coupled with those of Wilberforce, started a movement in England, which eventually reulted in the responsibility for educating the Indians being thrust on the unwilling East India Company. In his minute of 1811, Lord Minto referred to the sad state of learning in India, and attributed it "to the want of that encouragement which was formerly afforded to it by the princes, chieftains and opulent individuals under the native governments". The outcome of all these circumstances was that by the Charter Act of 1813, the East India Company was forced to recognise the education of the Indians as one of its foremost duties. 13. Section 43 of the Charter Act directed the Company to set apart a sum of not less than one lakh of rupees in each year to be "applied to the revival and improvement of the learned natives of India, and for the introduction and promotion of a knowledge of the sciences among the inhabitants of the British territories in India". The Directors of the Company thought that the objects of this Section in the Act could not be achieved "through the medium of public colleges.......Because the natives of caste and of reputation will not submit to the subordination and discipline of a college". Therefore, in their Despatch of 1814, the suggested that it would be advisable to leave the Indians "to the Practice of an usage, long established amongst them, of giving instuctions at their own houses, and by our encouraging them in the exercise and cultivation of their talents, by the stimulus of honorary marks of distinction, and in some instances of pecuniary assistance". The Directors desired--obviously for political reasons--that all the work in this connection should be concentrated at Banaras, "which is regarded as the central point of the religious worship of the Hindoos, and as the great repository of their learning". Information was, accordingly, sought on "what ancient establishments might be improved to most advantage". The Despatch further referred to "many tracts of merit in Sanskrit" on the virtues of plants and drugs and on the application of them in medicine, and to "treatises on astronomy and mathematics", and suggested that "due encouragement should be themselves to the study of the Sanskrit language". 14. Very little was actually done till 1823 in Pursuance of the Charter Act of1813 and the subsequent Despatch. Reference may, however, be made to the establishment of a Sanskrit College at Poona during this intervening period. The Maratha Chronicles tell us that,with a view to patronsing learned Pandits, the great Shivaji started, at the instance of Sanartha Ramadasa Swami, the institution of Daksina. The Daksina served both as charity and as a reward for learning. Persons versed in various Sastras were examined in the palace of the Peshwas at Poona, and on the basis of that examination, the merit of a person and the amount of Daksina to be paid to him were determined. It is interesting to note that, if a Pandit produced a tradition of qualified pupils, he was given special consideration. Some eminent Pandits were granted permenent annuitiesm, which they received even year--unless, of course, they aspired to attain, through their study, a higher rank and a larger amount of Daksina. The annual expenditure involved in the distribution of Daksina amounted to about five lakhs of rupees. The institution of Daksina became very popular under the Peshwas. We are told by a cont=emporary writer that the news of the Daksina had spread far and wide, and learned men used to congregate at Poona from such distant places as Kashi, Rameshwar, Telangana, Dravidadesha, Konkan, Kanyakubja, Kumbhakona, Srirangapattan, Mathura, Gadhwal, Malawa and Gurjar. In order to have a competent panel of examiners, the Peshwas had to maintain at Poona quite a large number of Pandits who had distinguished themselves in fifferent branches of Sanskrit learning. This necessarily resulted in the establishment of a number of Sanskrit Pathasalas in Poona itself and in some adjoining centres like Nasik, Sangli, Miraj, Bhor, Phaltan and Wai. In course of time, the example of the Peshwas was followed by most of their feudatories, and, even till recently, the Sravana-masa-Daksina of Baroda used to do so much to promote traditional Sanskrit learning. 15. After the fall of the Peswas in 1818, the Daksina came to be discontnued by the British but in 1821, Mountstuart Elphinstone set apart adecent sum out ofthe original fund, for the establishment of a Sanskrit College at Poona, that being, according to him, a sure way of fulfilling the original purpose of the Daksina. The College began with 85 pupils, who were each paid a stipend of five rupees per month, and with 18 Sastris and a Principal, and only traditional branches of learning were taught. In1837, classes for the study of English and other modern Subjects came to be opened under the same roof; the Sanskrit side of the College gradually began to dwindle, and in 1856, it was closed down altogether. Incidentally it may be pointed out that theDeccan College was abolished in 1934, but resurrected in 1937, in the form of the present Deccan College Post-Graduate and Research Indtitute. 16. In 1823, a General Committee of Public Instruction was set up at Calcutta to carry out the proposals embodied in the Caharter Act of 1813. In spite of the new ideal of Indian education, which was sponsored by Grant and which was becoming popular day by day, the Committee showed, in its initial stages, its prefernce for Oriental studies. This started the famous controversy between the Orientalists and the Anglicists. Besides the many British people of the early 19th century, who in their self-complacency, believed that their language, literature and culture were distinctly superior to those of the Indians and so must be imposed upon the Indian natives in their own, interst, there was growing in India a section of newly educated persons who also sincerely believed in the necessity for Indians of modern studies through English. The reason for this attitude of theirs is not far to seek. They had seen how the indigenous schools of higher learning, namely, the Pathasalas, were unable to come up tothe requirements of a new age; on the other hand, English as a language of the rulers, attracted great attention and its stury opened up new avenues of gaining positions of respect and more lucrative employment under the Government. The Orientalists, on their part, were not opposed to the knowledge of the English language and the Western Sciences; they only wnated that htis knowledge should proceed from and be based on Oriental learning. The views of the European and Indian Anglicists eventually prevailed and soon took a concrete shape when, in 1817, the Hindu College of Calcutta came into exitence. It was meant to teach Hindu boys primarily English language and some modern subjects, though Sanskrit also was introduced in its curriculum in 1826. 17. But the Committee of Public Instruction did not pay any heed to the agitation of the Anglicists. On the contrary, it went ahead with its plan to found a Sanskrit College at Calcutta. This led Ram Mohan Roy to lodge a strong protest against this move of the Committee. However, despite his protest, the Calcutta Sasnkrit College was duly established in 1824 during the administration of Lord Amherst, as a Tol with 55 stipendiary students and 8 professors who taught Nyaya, Smriti, Darsana, Vyakarana,Jyotisa and Ayurveda. In 1828, classes for teaching English were added to the College, but they were discontinued in 1851, Pandit Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, who was then the Principal, substituted the modern methods of teaching Sanskrit for the traditional methos usually practised in Tols. During his term of office and that of his successor, E.B.Cowell, the Sanskrit College came to be transformed into a modern educational institution with a School and a College Department, both of which were affiliated to the Calcutta University. Attempts were, how ever, made, through its Tol Department, to preserve its character as a centre for intensive study of Sanskrit. To these three departments---Anglo-Sanskrit Collegiate School, Anglo-Sanskrit College and Oriental or Tol Department --a Post-Graduate and REsearch Department was added in 1951. 18. After the Calcutta Sanskrit College, two more Oriental were established --one at Delhi in 1825 and the other at Agra in 1827. The main subjects taught in these Colleges were Sanskrit, Arabic and Persian. English classes also were introduced, in course of time, but only as appendages and not as organic parts of the colleges. 19. The many-sised importance of Sanskrit was also appreciated by anumber of responsible Englishment and other Europeans in India. Already the Despatch of 1814 had emphasised that there were "in the Sanskrit language many excellent systems of ethics, with codes of laws and compendiums of duties", and the Court of Directors had, therefore, decided that due encouragement should be given to the studty of Sanskrit. In his report on the Sanskrit College, Calcutta, A.Frazer Said (31st January, 1835): "The acquisition of Sanskrit is indispensable not only for the study of the classical books composed in that language, but principally as the mother-language of a great number of Indian dialects .....It is true and obvious that a true and radical reform of a nation in learning and morality (which is the object of a good Government) will begin and proceed with the improvement of their own national language. In this respect the study of Sankrit cannot be sufficiently encouraged..." Captain Candy, Superintendent,onserved in his reporton the Poona Sanskrit College (1840): "Sanskrit I conceive to be the grand reservoir from which strength and beauty maybe drawn for the vernacular languages... I look on every native who possesses a good knowledge of his own mother-tongue,of Sanskrit and of English, to possess the power of rendering incalculabe benefit to his countrymen." 20. The first few years of the Committee of Public Instruction Presented an ironical spectacle. While leading Indians were agitating for instuction in European literature and science and were protesting against the continuance of the prevailing Orientalism, a body of English Genetlemen was found to insist upon the retention of Oriental learning to the practical exclusion of European learning. The Committee had, by 1830, fifteen Sanskrit books had been published. In 1830, the Press undertook to publish the Mahabharata,but could not compete that work owing to subsequent chages in the educational policy of the Government. 21. But the influence of the Orientalists soon waned and the popularity of English education grew fast, culminating in the tirade of Trevelyan against Sanskrit literature and Macauly's Minute of 1835, which sought to produce "a class of persons, Indiansin blood and colour, but English in taste, in opinions, in morals and in intellect'. Among Macaulay's recommendations were the immediate stopping of the priting of Arabic and sanskrit books, abolition of the Madrasah and the Sanskrit College at Calsutta and larger encouragement to the Hindu College at Banaras. 22. Lord Bentinck, the Governor-General, endorsed Macaulay's views, and in his Resolution of 1835, decided that "the great object of the British Government pught to be the promotion of European literature and science among the natives of India; and thatall the funds appropriated for the purpose of education would be best employed on English education alone". He however,promised that the existing institutions of Oriental learning would not be abolished as long as pupils studeied there and that the stipends then given to teachers and puipils would not be stopped, though "no new stipends shall be given......hereafter". He further directed that "no portion of the funds shall hereafter be employed on the printing of Oriental works". 23. It should be further noted in this connection that the Government resolution of 1844 declared English education in terms of bread and butter by directing for the first time that for Public employment preference would be given in every case to those who had been educated on English lines. This completed the victory of the new education. 24. It would seem that the political and social vicissitudes and the economic distress which had come upon the Pandits as a class were not the only reasons for the rapid decline of Sanskrit studies. It was primarily the result of a change of outlook and atttude, fostered sedulously by a distinctly alien and somewhat haphazard State policy of over a century, which was right in insisting upon modern learning, but which was certainly wrong in its comparative apathy towards ancient learning,but which was certainly wrong in its comparative apathy towards ancient learnings;and there never was any serious attempt to synthesise or correlate the two. Perhaps the facile victory of the Anglicists and Macaulay's complacent scheme of Westernisation, as well as the tremendous impact of new and alien ideas, did at that stage blind the ardent advocates of the new learning to a just appraisement of the virtue or necessity of all that was distinctive in the culture and tradition of the East. In an excessive zeal for Western education, it was forgotten that the sttitude was severing national education from the roots of national lise. No doubt, such a stimulus as was furnished by Western education was needed at the moment, and it was right that such a stimulus was eagerly sought and obtained. It would not be just to deny that Westerneducation had been productive of immense benefit; without it we would have been out of date in an advancing world. But in the educational policy, which was hastily enunciated in the last century, no attempt was made to adapt the old learning to changing social and political needs, or the new learning to national sentiment and outlook. It was never realised at that period (nor does it seem to have been realised subsequently) that Oriental learning and culture had their roots in the national consciousness and could not be so summarily dismissed; and tha it would not be wise to replace it entirely by Westerneducation, however necessary and useful it might have been. 25. With Wood's Educational Despatch of 1854, and the establishemnt, in 1857, of the three Universities at Calcutta, Bombay and Madras, there was an improvement in the situation, and there grew an appreciation of the advantage of a study of the classical languages of India. The Despatech pointed out the "an acquaintance with the works contained in them is valuable for historical and antiquarian purpose, and a knowledge of the languagrs themselves is required in the study of Hindoo and Mahomedan law, and is also of great importance of the vernacular languages of India". But, at the same time, it emphatically declared that the aim of the new educational policy was the diffusion of European knowledge. Elsewhere, the Despatch suggests the institution in the Universities of Professorshipd for, among other subjects, Sanskrit, Arbic and Persian. It says: "A knowledge of the Sanskrit language, the root of the vernaculars of the great part of India, is more especially necessary to those who are engaged inthe work of composition in those languages". 26. The attitude of the new Universities was generally favourable to Sanskrit. The Universities of Calcutta and Bombay even made a "Second Language"(which for the majority of students was Sanskrit) a compulsory subject at the Entrace and the Intermediate examinations. Thereby, incidentally, these Universities threw the portals of Sanskrit learning wide open to all pupils. In a sense, these Universities were primarily responsible for popularising the study of Sanskrit. 27. At this stage, a reference may be made, in passing to a controversy which had beenengaging the attention of educationists for some time, namely, that between the Classicists and the Vernacularists. The following may be mentioned as a typical example in this connection. According to the original regulations of the Bombay University, a modern Indian language could be taken up as a subject from the Matriculation up to the B.A. examination. In 1862, however, Sir Alexander Grant, the then Directore of Public Instruction for Bombay, moved a resolition in the Senate (which was later passed by that body) that all modern Indian languages should be removed from all University examinations except the Matriculation (where also their study was optional and not compulsory). It was argued that books available in any modern Indian language were of a very inferior standard, that if was hardly worthwhile to study the old poets in those languages, that it was not the duty of the University to deveiop modern Indian languages, and that their omission from University courses would allow greater attention being paid to the study of classical languages. The Madras University, on the other hand, had allowed the option of a modern Indian language to a classical Language from its very inception. A special mention deserves to be made, in this connection, of the Panjab University, which grew in 1882 out of the Oriental College established by the Government in 1869 at Lahore. That University conffered degrees and titles in Oriental Learning on candidates who had successfully completed their courses through the medium, not of English, but of the vernacular. 28. The High School and Colleges which were started all over the country toimpart modern education did provide for the study of Indian languages, and among these Sanskrit was also taught. While in some regions Sanskrit was compulsorily introduced, in alarger number of places Sanskrit Was allowed to be taken as an alternative to the mother-tongue, with the result that this system did give the modern educated Indian some grounding in Sanskrit. This was also the age of the great Orientalists. The vastoutput of research carried out by them in Sanskrit language anf literature created a renaissance of Sanskrit in India itself, where educated Indians came to develop a new awareness and critical appreciation of their literary and cultural heritage. It was not long before the new quickening of the intellectual life of the Indians produced new regenerative movements. A new nationalism was dawing. The limited syllabus of the English school and college had serious gaps, particularly on the aritists. creative and spiritual sides, and to make up for these omissions, national institutions were started by private iniiative, by public workers, arists, poets, religious leaders and thinkers. 29. Some of these new movements had a direct or indirect connction with Sanskrit, to the revival of interest in literature and learning of which thry gave a gresh impetus. Swami Dayananda Sarasvati (1824-1883) and his Arya Sanaj founded in 1875, Mrs. Annie Besant (1847-1933) and her Theosophical Society, Ramakrishna Paramahansa (1836-1886) and his great disciple Swami Vivekananda (1863-1902) and the Vedanta movement, poet Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) and his Visva-Bharati, Aurobindo Ghosh (1872-1950) and his Asrama at Pondicherry--each contributed its share to the cultural revival of the country and the growth of interest in Sanskrit classics with which such reawakening was intimately connected. Buring the second half ofthe 19th century, literarymen, educationists, scholars and students of Indian lore, like Radhakanta Deva, Bankim Chandra Chatterji, Rajendralal Mitra, Romest Chunderdutt, Ramkrishna Gopal Bhandarkar, Kashinath trimbak Telang, Anundoram Borooah, BhauDaji, Bhagvanlal Infraji, V.Venkayya, Haraprasad Sastri, Mahatma Hansraj, Swami Sraddhanand and others, brought into the world of the Indian intellectual an intelligent and critical appreciation of Sanskrit literature and its value for Indian studies. Even the political phase which this national awakening took, namely, the freedom movement, was not divorced from a cultural background; and leaders like Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Madan Mohan Malaviya were zealous Sanskritists and promoters of Sanskrit studies. Perhaps none had contributed more to the popularity and position of pre-eminence enjoyed by the Bhagavad-Gita in modern times than the `Father of the Nation', Mahatma Gandhi, who declared that, if at least to study the Gita, one should learn Sanskrit. 30. Prinely India, during the British period, continued to be like a picturesque replica of traditional Indian life. In the courts of the ruling chiefs, Sanskrit Pandits continued to be honoured in the same old way. Had it not been for the lavish patronage accorded by some of the Maharajas, the traditions of Sanskrit and of Indian music would have met with greater extent of decay. Apart from honouring Sanskrit Pandits and musicians in their Darbars and on occasions of domestic celebration and national festivals, the Maharajas did two important pieces of service to Sanskrit studie--ine, the organisation into libraries of their palace collections ofSanskrit manuscripts, and two, the setting up of Sanskrit colleges. Daebhanga, Vizianagaram, Baroda, Nagpur, Jaipur, Indore, Gwalior, Mysore, Travancore, Kapurthala, Patiala, Jammu and Kashmir-= to mention only the more prominent States--started their Sanskrit Colleges, which were in course of time duly affiliated to the Universities or Government Associations for Sanskrit Examinations in their respective regions. Inspired by the example of the princes, the Zamindars and smaller landlords and merchants also founded Sanskrit Colleges. Maths, temples and other religious institutions established similar Colleges; and affluent individuals and public leaders and associations also followed, founding their own Sanskrit Colleges, or, by administrative direction. helping old religious and cultural endowments to start such collges. IN addition to these two agencies, namely, the Government-organised Sanskrit Colleges, such as the Banaras and Calcutta Colleges, and the different Colleges of the princely States and the private and religious agencies, there was also the third channel through which the Sanskrit tradition continued to flow, namely, the one-Pandit schools. In fact, this tradition of one-Pandit schools was alive in all regions of India in a greater or lesser degree, accoeding to the past history of each place. The tempo of modernisation had not fully swept away the Pandit of the traditional type and his institutions. 31. The nature of modern education was such that the Sanskrit studies which could be provided for in the English School and College wer necessarily limited. On the other hand, the Pathasalas and Tols afforded facilities for a more intensive and concentrated type of Sanskrit education. However, even the limited provision for Sanskrit in the English colleges had some salutaary effect. Agfter a period of pursuit of Sanskrit in these colleges, Indian scholars, who had developed an interest in Sanskrit and had been closely following the work of the Orientalsits of the West, felt the need to take to Sanskrit research. In India itself, there were European Civilians. Professors and Missionaries who took interest in Sanskrit research, in the search for and collection of manuscripts, in editions and translations of Sanskrit texts and in critical and historical surveys of different branches of Sanskrit literature. And invariably they associated Indian scholars and traditional Pandits with their work. 32. Sanskrit does not stand alone; the study of the whole past of the country forms its complete background. During this period, the British Government was pursuaded to take up offically the promotion of Indian Archacology. Through different papers and appeals by Fergusson and Cunningham, the Court of Directors and then the Government were during the years 1843-1870, led, step by step, to survey ancient Indian movements, cave-temples, paintings etc. Soon epigraphical work was also taken up as a result of the personal endeavours of Burgess and Fleet. The Asistic Society in Cakcutta had already published some papers on Indian inscriptions. The Indian Antiquary was founded in 1872 and the Epigraphica Indica of the Government in 1888. Archaeology then developed fast under the Viceroyalty of Lord Curzon (1899-1907), and archaeological collections and Indian Museums to house them were established in differnt parts of the country. 33. Attention came to be paid also to the literary treasures preserved in the form of manuscripts in Sanskrit and allied languages from the early decades of the 19th century. Starting with the cataloguing of collections (Sanskrit College, Banaras; Board of Examiners, Madras; Fort William, Calcutta), surveys of manuscripts in different parts of the country came to be regularly undertaken from 1868 and 1875 when Pandit Radhakrishna, Kielhorn and Rajendrala Mitra began their tours for search of manuscripts in the North-Western, Western and Eastern regions. Within a couple of decadesan enormous amount of manuscript wealth had been brough to light, providing material for researches by scholars in India and abroad. 34. Following the model of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, two other Research Societies were started, namely, the Bombay Literary Society (1804) and the Madras Literary Society (1834), both of which came to be affiliated to the Rayal Asiatic Society, London. 35. With all this growth in research in ancient Indian history and Sanskrit literature, it was no longer possible for the Indian Universities to stand as passive spectators. The Indians Universities, at first functioning primarily as co-ordinating and examinig bodies, had worked successfully in the field of undergraduate education. The next stage of their development lay in the organisation of Post-Graduate studies and encouragement of original research. No words of praise are adequate for the initiative taken by the Calcutta University, which, under the leadership of Asutosh Mookerjee, first introduced the Post-Gradute couresin 1914, and for the zest with which it promoted research work in all branches of ancient Indian culture. Other Universitiesfollowed suit, with separate research departmants, awards of research fellowships and studentships, setting up of manuscript libraries and bringing out editions of Sanskrit works. The last decades of the nineteenth century and the first decades of the present century especially witnessed a remarkable outburst of research in Sanskrit and ancient Indian thought and culture, with the springing up of non-officially organised research Institute, Poona (1917), and the D.A.V. College Research Department, Lahore (1917), the inauguration of new research periodicals like the Indian Historical Quarterly, Calcutta(1924), the Annals of the bhandarkar Oriental Research Institue, Poona (1919), the Journal of Indian History (1921) and the Journal of Oriental Research, Madras (1927) and the Publication of the series of Sanskrit texts, like the Bibliotheca Indica, Calcutta (1849), the Kavyamala, Bombay (1886), the Bombay Government Sanskrit and Prakrit Series (1891), the Bibliotheca Sanskrita, Mysore (1893), the Trivandrum Sanskrit Series, Trivandrum (1995) and the Gaekwad's Oriental Series. Baroda (1916). Private firms of Sanskrit publishers also began to bring out important series of unpublished Sanskrit texts, for instance, the Chowkhamba Sanskrit Series of Banaras, Nirnaya Sagara Press of Bombay, the Anandaashram Press of Poona, Jibananda Vidyasagar of Calcutta, the Vani Vilas Press of Srirangam, Sri Venkateswar Press of Bombay and Meherchand Lachmandas and Motilal Bnarsidas of Lahore. With the special object of fostering Indian cultural studies, there also arose institutions conducted like private Universities, e.g., Tagore's Santiniketan and the Gurukul of the Arya Samaj; and a regular University in the shape of the Banaras Hindu University was founded with the avowed object of developing Hindu Sastras and Sanskrit studies. 36. A significant landmark in this history of the growth of Indian research activities in the fields of Sanskrit and allied disciplines is the Simla Conference of 1911 in which, at the instance of S.H. Butler, Orientalists from India and abroad met to consider the question of establishing a Central Institute for research in Indian history, archaeology, manuscripts stury, etc., in Calcutta, which could attract Indian scholars of both the modern and traditional schools. The Confernece also suggested thestarting ofa school at Poona for training Pandits in methods of research and for helping modern scholars to deepen their learning in the recondite branches. The Simla Conference proved infructuous, but it may be said to have paved the way for the birthin 1919 of the All-India Oriental Conference which has, since its inception, served to bring together the entire world of Oriental scholars in India at a common forum. This has in course of time given birth to the Indian philosophical Caongress. Grierson's inauguration of the Linguistic Society of India in 1928 in a way compete the picture. 37. All this contributed to the growth of serious study and research work by Indian scholars, which, at least in quantity, outstripped what has been done abroad. But there was yet,considering the amount of material available and the lines of work necessary to be undertaken, vast scope for improvement and further encouragement. There were Universities yet lagging behind in the matter of providing for higher studies in Sanskrit. The new awakening resulted in a revival of interest in the regional languages also. With the advance of education and the rapid rate at which modern knowledge was growing, the curriculum of studies in schools and colleges became overcrowded. Sciences and , more recently, technological courses proved a greater attraction to students, and, in the general fall of interest in humanities, the classical languages were the worst sufferers. Even at the hands of the authorities, pure Sanskrit studies appeared to receive less help than allied fields of study. 38. During this period, the Pathasala and Tol system has also gradually deteriorated. The rise of modern schools and colleges and the growth of an ducation more related to the contemporary situation and the current venues of employment have had an unfavourable impact on the traditional Pathasala and Tol. The intellectually brighter as well as the financially better placed boys went to English schools and Colleges. For the last three generations, sons of eminent Pandits all over the country had been drawn into modern education, so that the traditional type of Sanskrit education experienced a steady decay in both quantity and quality of the personnel available for its transmission and perpetuation. We cannot, indeed, close our eyes to this serious and pitiful situation, namely, that in modern school and colleges as well as in traditional Pathasalas and Tols, Sanskrit is actually in the midst of a crisis. 39. This brief resume of Sanskrit studies would lead us to the main problems now facing Sanskrit education in its two parallel systems. A detailed survey of the present situation of Sanskrit in these two venues of its study will show clearly the contributions and shortcomings of each, the difficulties which Sanskrit study of one type or the other is facing, and the condition in which Sanskrit studies and activities in general are now struggling. CHAPTER III THE PRESENT SITUATION 1. In the course of our tours, which had been fairly extensive, we visited a variety of institutions and agencies in the country prompting Sanskrit education and studies at various levels. We had many opportunities to examine, on the background of local conditions, different aspects of Sanskrit Education of the traditional and the modern types, in Tols, Pathasalas, Gurukulas and Mahavidyalayas, as well as in English Schools, Colleges and Universities. We also visited several religious institutions such as Maths, temples, and foundations belonging to the differnt schools of philosophy and religion. There were also, at different centres, movements, associations or institutions organised in a non-offical manner by persons interested in Sanskrit classes to Sanskrit colleges and research institutes run on modern lines. With a view to obtaining an adequate idea of the etent to which the old methods still survived and functioned effectively, we visited several famous centres hallowed in history and saw individual Pandits carrying on the time-honoured practice of teaching some students at their own houses. We made the necessary enquiries with a large number of persons responsible for or actively associated with all these agencies of Sanskrit Education and Research--official and non-official, traditional and modern, big and small, aand working form the preliminary stage to the most advanced stage. In this survey here, which is essentially onjective in character, we have tried to present as full an account as possible of the situation as it obtains in all aspects and at all levels of Sanskrit education and studies in the country. (i) Traditional Sanskrit Learning 2. We shall begian with the institutions occupying themselves with Sanskrit Education of the traditional type. So far as we know, no country-wide survey of these has been attempted so far. The institutions which we visited are mentioned in the log-book appended to this Report. Naturally we could not visit all the institutions of this type. They still exists in very large numbers. In Uttar pradesh alone, there are 1,381 Pathasalas and Mahavidyalayas. Uttar Pradesh leads in this respect, and Ayodhya are practically open University Towns, if we may say so. Besides those which we visited, we could know of several such institutions and their work through the written evvidence submitted by them. The total number of traditional Sanskrit institutions in the differnent States which we have thus taken into consideration is 181. 3. Next to uttar pradesh, Bengal and Bihar, Particularly the Mithila region, still maintain the largestr number of these traditional institutions. Rajasthan and Saurashtra, being the regions of the old Native States and Principalities, have a number ofSanskrit schools and colleges, each Ruler having started and maintained at least one in his State. Next come Bombay, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa and Assam. The regions of South India have served as a vertable haven of indigenous culture during the centurieswhen circumstance had become unfavourable in North India owing to the political convulsions into which that part of the country had been thrown. In the other States--Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Panjab, and Jammu and Kashmir--the traditional institutions are not many, though, in all these regions, there are some famous centres of such learning and there are still a certainnumber of traditional scholars, schools and colleges is, however, no guide to the extent and intensity of the tradition of Pandit learning extant in a particular part of the country. 4. In the previous Chapter, Historical Retrospect, we have traced the circumstances under which this strong traditon of Pandit learning became pitted against the new English education and how it began to grow weaker and weaker. As pointed out already, the authorities did not allow the traditional system either to die out or to flourish, but, by a process of nominal assistance, retained it alongside of modern education, in an unhelthy condition, ever subject to difficulty, always open to criticism. Two circumstances averted the rot to some extent: one, the Princely States and the native patterns of life there;and the other, the new awakening in the country of a nationalistic spirit which sought to make up for the drawbacks in the scheme of educationon the cultural side by founding institutions of cultural importance. Thanks to both of these, a net-work of Sanskrit colleges of a quasimodern set-up came into being. And with the new outlook which was steadily gaining ground among the people--and particularly among those who were in charge of modern University education--this conspicuous bulk of indigenous type of education could not be ignored. Therefore, in some of the former provinces, these Sanskrit Pathasalas were brough under the Department of Public Instructions,and Government examinations were organised for them through departmental associations or some other machinery, as in Uttar Pradesh, Bengal, Bihar and Mysore. In other regions, the traditional institutions were classified under twocategories according to the standarof their teaching--schools and colleges. The supervision and examinations of the former were and are still being looked after by the Department of Public Instruction; the latter were affiliated to the local Universitieswhich laid down the syllabus, prescribed the texts, held the examinations, and awarded a Diploma, though not a Degree. This latter pattern has been prevailing almost uniformly all over South India. In a few other regions, the University itself openedan Oriental Department or College, where, side by side with the M.A.classes, classes for advanced instruction in Sanskrit on traditional lines were also organised. This system is found in the Banaras Hindu Universities and in Lucknow, Panjab and Annamalai Universities. Even in the region where Universities were in charge of the examinations, it was the Government which inspected the Pathasalas and gave them some grant-in-aid, however meagre it might have been. 5. The modern Sanskrit school and colleges, if we may so desingate them to distinguish them from the still older Sanskrit institutions of the pre-British times, had to develop on the background of the dual set-up of one hand, and the University on the othe. As these institutions had grown out of the older pattern of Gurukulas, they could not shake off certain features of the latter; and the perpetuation of these features eventually proved a great handicap to them. The new Sanskrit institutions could neither go in for the building and equipment plans nor could afford the full complment of stff and cadres of salaries of the modern schools and colleges. Except in some former princely at the disposal of the managments of these institutions, they were housed in poor habitations. In almost all the place which we visited, these institutions presented a dilapidated look in their premises and surroundings. If modern schools and colleges had such buildings, the Government or the Universities would withdraw their recognition. The same applies to the salaries of the staff, which are invariably low compared to modern standards. The libraries are not well equipped. Some of these institutions, which are the continuations of the older ones, have manuscript collections, but they cannot be said to be properly looked after. 6. There is not much enthusiasm evident on the faces either of teachers or of students; and the managments in many centres do not appear to pay sufficient attention to the proper conduct and improvement of these institutions. Generally speaking, all over the country, in spite of the comparatively better provision available in some centres, there is a steady fall in the strength of the students in all these institutions--in some classes the number being not more than one, sometimes two or at the most three. Even in some well-established institutions, insome of the branches in which they were affilited there, was no student offering the subject. From what we saw and heard, it generally appeared that most of the students came to those institutions because they had nothing else to do, and the free boarding and lodging or the small stipends available were the main inducements. In the course of the discussions which we had with the teachers and the managers at various centres, we heard the same argument over and over again, namely, that the fact that this education was not able to provide to students any useful avocation in life was the main cause of the poor and dwindling strength in these institutions. We watched the teaching in some of these institutions and also put some question to the students. As the Pandit went on lectuing, the students sat mutely--completely irresponsive both tothe exposition of the teacher and the questions put to them by the Members of the Commission. There is no extra-curricular activity of any kind in most of these institution, except probably once a year on the occasion of the anniversary or the visit of some distinguished person. The generally prevailing lack of interest is thus vividly reflected in the actual class itself. 7. The total number of students who take the traditional examination in Sanskrit is highest in Bengal, Bihar and Uttar pradesh; on a rough calculation, about 30,000 students sit for these examinations annually in these three States together. So far as the actual classes are concerned, in a Bihar Sanskrit School and College, the total strength comes to about 800. But sometimes this figure includes casual students and other irregular types who do not continue their studies up to the examination. The casual student up to the examination. The casual student who studies for only a few months in the year is quite common in Uttar Pradesh. In some places where the strengh is small and attendance irregular, the roll call is not possible and even the teacher is left to the mercy of the students. In some centres, the Sanskrit colleges allow students from the English schools and colleges, and even interesed adults from among the public, to attend the classes, though theu are not registered for the examination. In the Deccan and the South, such a practice does not exist; the strength is limited, but all the students attend refularly and go up to the examination. Whether the inflow and continuance of students in the different centres are regular or irregular, one thing is common all over the country, namely, that the quality of the students joining these Sanskrit Institutions is, as many witnesses and Superintendents of Sanskrit studies emphasised, regrettably poor. 8. Where the traditional institutions depend upon private endowments, old or comparatively recent, it is found in several cases that there is not only an inadequacy of resources but the endowmwnts themselves are mismanaged and great diffeculty is experienced in realising their proceeds. Several persons interested in Sanskrit learning, who appeared before us, gave names and numbers of Sanskrit endowments in the neighbourhood which were lying defunct and infructious. The attention of the Commission wasalso drawn to more serious cases of diversion by authorities of such eddowments to non-Sanskrit purposes, such as the establishment of modern English Schools. 9. Taking the whole system of traditional Sanskrit learning as we found it obtaining in different parts of the country, we might observe that there were differnces in the types of texts extent and duration, and in the types of texts or schools of thought studied. There is diverse nomenclature of the diplomas awarded at the end of the examinations, and no attempt is made to define the equivalence of these diplomas. This latter fact, we were told, often hampered the employment of the Pandits from one region in another region. In some regions, the courses are properly graded in three stages--lower, middle and advanced; but in some places there is only one examination. In Bengal and Panjab there is no provision for an examination higher than Tirtha and Sastri respectively. From what we saw of the courses and syllabuses in various centres, it appeared that the Acharya of Uttar Pradesh, the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Bombay, and the Tilak Maharashtra Vidyapitha, Poona, the Siromani of Madras, the Vidvan of Mysore, the Mahopadhyaya of Travancore, and the Vidyapravina of Andhra were of sufficiently high standard. As for the provision for higher post-title study, in Madras both the University and the Sate Government award research studentships to advancedstudents, and the University there has instituted the research title of M.O.L. for Pandits who produce a thesis. Similarly in the Banaras Hindu University, there is provision for two post-Acharya titels, Vachaspati and Chakravarti. 10. In respect of the appointment of teachers, we did not find any minimum qualifications prescribed for the different posts. Few teachers, if at all any, possess pedagogical qualifications. As a matter of fact, except in Panjab and at Rajahmundry andAnnamalainagar, there is no provision for the training of Sanskrit teachers. In several places, qualified Pandits are employed in Degree Colleges, University Departments and Research Institutions, and there they actively participate in the higher studyof Sanskrit and Sanskrit reseach on modern lines. While we did not come across any State which did not have a traditional Pathasala or a distingusihed Pandit teacher, we did notice that, in some States, the number of the Pathasalas and Pandits was not at all commensurate with the extent and importance of those States. Again, in some States, there are no Government examinations in Sanskrit, nor is there any high grade Sanskrit College run or aided by the Government. 11. It is highly regrettable that, on the whole, there are, about many of these institutions, no signs of a living or growing organism but only symptoms of a decaying constitution. This unfortunate state of affairs has not escaped the attention of educationists, persons interested in Sanskrit, and the Governments. Among the public and the Pandits themselves, a new consciousness as to the value of traditional learning has dawned, and it was a great pleasure for us to have met several of them who were doing substantial work for its rejuvenation. It was in such a favourable atmosphere that the Governments of different States recently took up the question of the Tols and the Pathasalas and the lines on which they could be reorganised both from the academic and the financial points of view. It had become a matter of real concern to Sanskritists, educationists and the Governments that, while no one could deny the cultural value of this type of Sanskrit learning and the depth and mastery that ie gave, no one could also shut his eyes to the steady falling off of the soil and background that had sustained this learning, as also to the lack of any relation of such traditional education to the walks of life and avocations of the present day and the gradualdisappearance of Sanskrit tradition in the families of Pandits caused by the younger generations steadily opting for modern education. There was the sorry spectacle of the old Pandits, who were deep in erudition, but who were nevertheless unable to know how to make their learning useful to themselves and others. The problem was realised in all its seriousness by atleast some of the States, and they took up the question of reorganising the Pathasala education. 12. In Bengal, there was a large number of Tols, about 1,320, of which 652 were in a better condition, while among the rest, there were some getting a pittance of a monthly allowance varying between Rs.15 and Rs.25. The Government (of old Bengal and new West Bengal) appointed three Committess to report on Tol education, in 1923-26, in 1936, and in 1948. As a result of the recommendations of the last mentioned Committee, which the Government has accepted, grant-in-aid to Tols is increased, stipends and scholarships for students are introduced, and a few select traditonal institutions are up-graded with higher salaries for staff, additional section, research Chairs, facilities for publications, etc. The examinations for the Tols are conducted by the Vangiya Sanskrit Siksha Parishad and they comprise three grades, Pravesika, Madhya and Tirtha. Veda, Sahitya and Vyakarana, the six Darsanas, Arthasastra, Jaina, Bayddha, Saiva and Vaisnava Darsanas, Itihasa-Purana, Karma-kanda, Jyotisa and Ayurveda areprovided for. We visited to up-graded Sanskrit institutions, the Sanskrit Cokkege at Navadwip, the famous centre of Navya-Nyaya and Dharna-Sastra, and the Government Sanskrit College and Research Department in Calcutta. The Calcutta Sanskrit College is made accessible to the University Sanskrit students also. We were particularly pleased to see the Research Department which the Government of West Bengal has added to the old Sanskrit College at Calcutta. In it there are full-fledged Chairs for research in Veda, Classical Sanskrit, Indian Philosophy, wnd Smriti and Purana. The difficulty of getting the right type of students, the lack of adequate research facilities, and the delay in the publication of the research work already done are, of course,not quite absent there; but this is really the kind of step which will help to revitalise the higher type of traditional Pathasalas. The total amount spent on traditional Sanskrit Education by the West Bengal Government, including the contrinutions of District Boards and Municipalities, is about Rs.4 lakhs. 13. In the administrative unit of Tripura, there are 9 Tols, two of them being State-managed and the remaining State-aided, and together having 80 students and 10 teachers. The annual expenditure incurred by the State in this behalf is about Rs.10,000. These Tols are now affiliated to the West Bengal Sanskrit Association. In the past, the Rulers of Tripura used to hold annual gatherings of Sanskrit Pandits. There is a fairly good Sanskrit tradition here, which the State propeses to strengthen by establishing a regular Sanskrit College, under the Second Five Year Plan. 14. Assam has a Government Sanskrit Examination and an Association to conduct it. The amount spent by the State on Sanskrit Education is about Rs.80,000. There are three examinations, Adya, Madhya, and Sastri, together of six years' duration. Most ofthe Sastras are taught including Jyotisa,Ayurveda and Vaisnava Sastra. There are 104 Tols in Assam, but the general level of Sanskrit study and specialisation in Sastras is not high. There is no Government sanskrit College, but the state gives a special subsidy to the College at Nalbari. In 1948, the State appointed a Committee to reorganise Sanskrit Tols. At present, in four model Tols. English is also taught. The Manipur area has one Tol in which there are 7 teachers and 46 students. 15. In Bihar, the reorganisation of the traditional system of Sanskrit Education has been seriously taken in hand. Like Bengal, Bihar has a Government-sponsored Association for examining the Tol students. This Association, which is constituted on the lines of a University, holds an annual Convocation for the award of the titles. The total number of Tols affiliated to the Government Sanskrit Examinations in 365. Out of these, reorganised courses have been introduced in 50aided institutions. The proposed plan of the Government envisages at least one Government Sanskrit School in every District. Twelve such Schools and four Sanskrit Colleges for the four administrative divisions of the State have already been started. The total number of students studying in all these Sanskrit Schools and Colleges is about 11,000. In the general upgrading which is effected, the Principal of a Sanskrit College will be a class II officer, whose salary will go up to Rs.850. If the management could give only Rs.10 to a Sanskrit teacher, the Government would make a contribution of Rs.50 to bring the salary to the approved scale. Thee Bihar Government spends Rs.3 lakhs a year on the traditional Sanskrit Pathasalas. As modern subjects have been introduced in the reorganised courses, the Government is also encouraging the production of Sanskrit books on modern subjects by awarding decent prizes for such publications. 16. In Uttar Pradesh, reorganised courses have been introduced in 367 Sanskrit institutions. They are called Model Schools or Adarsa Pathasalas. The large number traditional institutions in this State and of students sitting for their examinations hasalready been referred to . The total number of Sanskrit teachers in the Pathasalas of Uttar Pradesh in 4,462. Uttar Pradesh can boast of the largest number of traditional Sanskrit institutions, and the State Government seems to be fully seized of the various aspects of the problem of Sanskrit Education. The Banaras Sanskrit College, the history of which has already been touched upon in the previous Chapter, conducts the examination in four grades, Prathama, Madhyama, Sastri, and Achrya As a Part of its policy to improve and up-grade Sanskrit Education in the State, the Uttar Pradesh Government has recently decided to convert the Banaras Sanskrit College into a University. As it is, the Banaras Sanskrit College has about 460 students reading in the 15 or more sections, and there are 24 teachers. The total expenditure of the UttarPradesh Government on traditional Sanskrit Education at present amounts to Rs.5,16,870 recurring and Rs.7,81,859 nin-recurring. When the proposals for the Sanskrit University and for further improvements in the Pathasalas are given effect to, this expenditure will go up very much. If, for instance, the Government was to introduce the new pay scales for its 4,462 Sanskrit teachers, that alone would cost it Rs.46 lakhs. From our talks with the Chief Minister and his Colleagues, we gathered that they were anxious to do all that was possible to up-grade the traditional system of Sanskrit Education. Some sort of equivalence between the Sanskrit degrees on the one hand andthe modern University degrees on the other has been fixed by the Government for purpose of employment. The State offers prizes of Rs.500 to original works in Sanskrit. The Pandits are given honour in public life, and the Principal of one of the Pathasalas is a nominated member of the Upper Legislature. Such equality is afforded in University bodies also, as can be seen from the Banaras Hindu University where Pandits are, along with Professors, members of the Academic Council, etc. 17. While all these efforts on the part of the State Government were heartening, we found that the students and the schools were not rising to the occasion and where not playing their part in working successfully the various schemes intended for the reorganisation and revitalisation of the traditional system. Many Pathasalas do not have adequate number of teachers for the modern subjects. The limited nature of the Inspectorate makes a stricter vigilance in the matter of the enforcement of the reorganisation provisions almost impossible. 18. In Banaras, besides the Government Sanskrit College, there is the Sanskrit Mahavidyalaya of the Banaras Hindu University, which also includes the Faculty of Theology. In the various Departments of the Sanskrit Mahavidyalaya, there are in all 416 students. Provision is available for post-Acharya Research and for publications. Scholarships are awarded to students for higher research leading to the titles of Vachaspati (Ph.D.) and Chakravarti (D.Litt.). There are about 50 Graduates who are now taking the Acharya course. All Sastras are taught here, including Jyotisa and Jaina and Bauddha Darsanas, Sahitya and Jyotisa are most popular. In the Faculty of Theology, there is a six years' course in Veda, Dharma-Sastra, Purana, Itihasa, and Karmakanda leading up to the Sastri title in Veda, witha further examination with thesis and viva voce for the Acharya title in Veda. In addition to these,there is a diploma course in Pautrohitya. A number of scholarships are available in both these institutions. There are 27 teachers in the Sanskrit Mahavidyalaya including the Principal. The Heads of the Departments receive salaries almost equal to those of the Readers in the University; others are in the lecturer's grade. It is proposed to create five Professorial Chairs in the Sanskrit Mahavidyalaya. The University conducts a separate College of Ayurveda in which the necessary medicine is also imparted. The University has also separate section devoted to the Panchanga. 19. Besides these Banaras has several privately endowed Pathasalas, the more important among which are: the Vakkabharam Salagram Sanga Veda Vidyalaya, Ram Ghat, which has 70 students, which does not prepare students for any Government examinations, and whose speciality is the teaching provided in such generally neglected subjects as Rajaniti and Pratyabhijna-Darsana; the Birla Mahavidyalaya, Lal Ghat; with 40 students, providing instruction in Sahitya, Vyakarana, Nyaya and Advaita; the Goenka Mahavidyala;the Sannyasi Mahavidyalaya; and the Ramanuja Mahavidyalaya. 20. In Allahabad, the Saudamani Vidyalaya and the Sarayuparina Brahmana Adarsa Vidyalaya teach 15 and 80 students respectively in Veda, Vvakarana, Sahitya and Vedanta. Ayodhya had formerly 50 Pathasalas; but now they number only 25, of which the more important ones are: the Gurukula Adarsa Mahavidyalaya where 10 Brahmacarins study; the Rajagopala Pathasala with 7 teachers and 57 students; the Saddharma Vardhani Pathasala with 40 students; the Darsanika Asrama, which teaches independently of the Government examination; the Brahmana Vaidika Vidyalaya (100 students); and the Gayatri Brahmacaryasrama (50 students). There are also similar Vidyalayas in the neighbourhood of Ayodhya. In the Oriental Section of the Sanskrit Department of the Lucknow University, where instruction is imparted on traditional lines, there are two Pandits, and Vyakarna, Sahitya and Darsana are taught together with some modern subjects. There are also two Adarsa Pathasalas in Lucknow; the Sarada Sanskrit Vidyalaya and the Sivaprasad Sanskrit Vidyalaya. Hardwar and its neighbourhood is famed for many Gurukulas and Asramas; the Gurukula, Kangdi, the best known of these; the Rishikulasrama; the Jayabharata Sadhu Mahavidyalaya; the Gurukula Mahavidyalaya, Jwalapur; the Darsan Mahavidyalaya, Rishikesh; the Sindhi Vidyalaya, Kankhal, etc. Mathura has about 25 Sanskrit Vidyalayas, the more prominent among them being the Dvarakesa Sanskrit Vidyalaya,fthe Mathura Chaturveda Vidyalaya, the Govardhna Sanskrit Vidyalaya, the GurukulaVidyalaya, the Ranga-Lakshmi Sanskrit Vidyalaya, the Hitalalbhai Sanskrit Vidyalaya, the Srinivasa Vidyalaya, the Dharma Sangha Vidyalaya, and the Sarvesvar Vidyalaya. In all these institutions of Mathura there are about 500 Pandits in Mathura of whom 50 are fairly highly qualified. In Utta Pradesh, Vyakarana is the principal Sastra which is studied most widely, with Nyaya (Navya), Sahitya and Jyotisa following closely. In some of the important Pathasalas and in the Government Sanskrit College, Banarasm and the Sanskrit Mahavidyalaya of the banaras Hindu University, a few students study the Veda, Vedanta (especially Advaita) and the other Darsanas including Buddhism and Jainism. In the religious centres of Ayodhya and Mathura-Vrindavan, there is the cultivation of Vaisnava religious and philosophical studies by considerable groups. 21. The total number of Tols in Orissa is 146, of which 3 are of the College standard and the rest of Prathama and Madhvama grades. Eleven of the Tols and two of the College are run by the State. The three Sanskrit Colleges are situated at Puri, Bolangir and Paralakimidi. There are 454 teachers in all the Sanskrit institutions and the number of students is about 3,885. Exclusive of the expenses of the two Government Colleges and of the Superintendent and his office, the total amount which Orissa spends on traditional Sanskrit Education is about4 1/4 lakhs. The examinations are in four grades, Prathama, Madhyama, Sastri and Acharya, each after a two years' course, and are conducted by the Orissa Association of Sanskrit Learning and Culture. English and some modern subjects have been introduced in the reorganised courses, but improvements in salaries, accommodation, etc., have still to be effected. There are very few old type Pandits in Orissa, and, on the whole, the level of Pandit learning is disappointing. With a view to promoting Sanskrit and Sastra studies there has been a proposal to found an Oriental University, called Jagannatha Prachya Vishva Vidyalaya, at Puri. 22. As has been already mentioned, for several centuries since the times of the Pallavas, South India had been the refuge and home of Indian culture and Sanskrit learning. The royal dynasties of South India in the Telugu, Kannada, Tamil and Malayam areas extended liberal patronage to Sanskrit scholars. The pallava and the Chola inscriptions are full of refereces to endowments for Sanskrit schools, colleges and scholars. The Brahman villages were really so many open colleges. Even up to this day, South Indian Pandits Proficient in Mimamsa, Advaita, etc., have been in great demand in centres like Bombay, Baroda, Jaipur, Banaras and Calcutta. The bigger Native States as well as the smaller ones and the Zamindaris had each its own well-organised Sanskrit college. Besides these, religiousinstitutions and the Maths of the three main school of Vedanta established their own colleges. And there also arose a few schools and colleges organised by the public. In course of time, these institutions came tobe recongnised by the Government and the University. While the school examination was conducted by the Government,the colleges were affiliated to the University. 23. The story of the decline of strenth and popularity of the Sanskrit schools ans colleges in South India is the same as elsewhere. From time to time, measures were thought of for the re-organsation of the courses and the introduction of modern subjects in them. The Governments of Travancore and Madras appointed Committees to go into the question. And as a result of their recommendations, the old Sanskrit Pathasalas were reorgansied into Sanskrit or Oriental High Schools, in which, while Sanskrit was the main subject of study, the study of ccertain modern subjects was also provided for. The former Travancore-Cochin State took to this scheme of reorhanisation with some enthusisam, though the Maharaja of Cochin, himself a distinguised Sanskrit scholar, tols us that he prefferred to continue the undiluted old system in his own Sanskrit College at Tripunittura. In the Tamil area also, the scheme of reorganisation has not yet been fully accepted by the managements; some out of greater faith in the old system and some out of inability to comply with the new financial and organisational requirements (such as the deposit of an endowment fund, playground and other provisions) have not changed over to it. The products of the reorganised Sanskrit or Oriental High Schools are considered to be on a par with those who have passed the S.S.L.C. examination. Like the latter,they can take an employment or join either an English college or a Sanskrit college. with the introduction of this new course, the former entrance examination conducted by the Madras Government for the Pathasalas will now be discontinued. The title examination is called Siromani in Madras, Vidya-Pravina in Andhra, Vidvan in Mysore, and Mahopadhyaya in Travancore. In all these courses, which have been generally modelled on the syllabus codified by Prof. Kuppuswami Sastri, there is a fair amount of balance between an extensive studyin the general part and an intensive study in the special part, in which a specific Sastra is chosen. There is also provision for the study of History of Literature and Comparative philol;ogy. Another us was the Two-Language Vidvan Course, in which Sanskrit and the Maother-tongue were studied with equal emphasis (Sama-pradhana)or in a complementary manner.24. In Madras, recently, owing to the general decline of the Pathasalas and the attitude of the authorities, there has been a repid landslide in the fortunes of traditional Sanskrit Education. There are today only 5 Sanskrit Colleges in the new Madras State,at Mylapore (Madras), Sriperumbudur, Madhurantakam,Dharmapuram and Triruvayyaru, three of which we visited and two of which sent representatives to meet us. Of these, the Colleges of Tiruvayyaru and Mylapore (Madras) have supplied to Sanskrit Institutions and Departments in Madras and also outside perhaps the largest number ofPandits, in the recent past. At Madhurantakam and Sriperumbudur, the birthplace of Sri Ramanujacharya,are Colleges where special facilities have been available for advanced studies in Ramanuja's philosophy. The Dharmapuram College is a recent institution for Tamil and Sanskrit. In the Rajah's College at Tiruvayyaru, which was originally a pure Sanskrit institution, Tamil was introduced some time back, and Sanskrit has been steadily languishing. Many representations were made to us about the various unfavourable measures which had driven Sanskrit in this old and renowed seat of learning to the present pitiable position. The Sastras taught in these College include Sahitya, Vyakarana, Advaita, Visistadvaia, Mimamsa and Nyaya. Ayurveda is taught in separate college at Madras. 25. Besides the above-mentioned institutions, Madurai has a Pathasala functioning under the Rameswaram Devasthanam. This Pathasala was once a leading Sanskrit College, but has now no student for Siromani and provides only for the Vidvan course in Sahitya and Vyakarana with Tamil. The institution has already become weak, and it was likely to be further disabled if the threatened move to shift it to Ramesvaram was given effect to. Traditional learning of the collegiate standard is provided for also inthe Sanskrit Department of the Annamalai University. As the teaching of Sanskrit is now being discontinued in many Secondary Schools in the Madras State, the Products of these Sanskrit Colleges have no opeinings. Even if they take Sama-pradhana Vidvanin Sanskrit and Tamil, they are, it is strange, refused admission to Oriental Training Courses. The Government here, we were told, had a rule that teaching grant would be available to Sanskrit institutions only if they had a minimum strength of 20 students. This is certainly unfair to a subject which is obviously languishing and which, therefore, expects special treatment from the Government. The number of reorganised Oriental Elementary and Secondary Schools teaching Sanskrit in Madras is now five,two of these Secondary Sechools, the Balagurukulam at Muttarasanallur, Tiruchi. The expnditure on Sanskrit of the Madras State (as it is at present or was before the reorganisation of the States)is proportionately perhaps the lowest. At present, the State has no separate Inspector Sasnskrit Schools and Colleges. 26. There are in the Madras Stateother private Sanskrit Pathasalas and Veda Pathasalas, the latter teaching Kavya and Vyakarana also. In and about Tiruchi and Srirangam, there are twelve, Childambaram and its environs, Kumbhamonam and its neighbourhood,Tanjore and Tiruvayyaru and the villages nearby, and Mannargudi also, have such Pathasalas. The Ahobilam Math, which runs the Madhurantakam Sanskrit college, has a network of 8 Pathasalas in which about 500 students study Sanskrit together with some modern subjects. The case of private Pathasalas, which have adopted the reorganised Oriental High School course but which are not able to send up candidates for public examinations, deserves to be considered favourably by the authorities. An example of aSanskrit school, which is well provided for but which, according to the testator's terms, cannot comply with the regulations of the reorganised Oriental High School scheme, is the KaKumani A.K.Charities School in the City of Madras. 27. The number of Sanskrit High Schools and Middle Schools in the former of Sanskrit Schools now functioning is only about a dozen. The tree big Colleges at Trivandrum, Tripunittura and Pattambi have, in ols days, producted a large number of reputed scholars. At Kaladi, the birth place of Sankara, there is a Sanskrit Pathasala conducted by the Sringeri Math, where Veda and Advaita Vedanta are taught. Swami agamananda of the Ramakrishna Mission, who has an Advaitasrama at Kaladi, conducts a SanskritMiddle School, and has a scheme to develop the present Sankara College here into a University-like institution for the study and research in Advaita and other schools of philosophy. Among the Pathasalas, the one at Chittoor, which has an annual income of Rs.14,000, formerly used to attract a large number of students. The royal houses of Travancore and Cochin had been liberal patrons of Sanskrit, and Trivandrum and Tripunittura attracted distinguished Pandits from all over south India. The Travancore State Sanskrit Title examination, called Mahopadhyaya, always maintained a good standard. The Maharaja's College at Tripunittura has its own sastra course of 8 year's duration for the Bhushana title examination. this institution has recently received afurther endowment for research and Publication, and is now regular Government College. The Pattambi College has 30 students in the College section and 112 in the School section. In the Sahitya Dipika College at Pavaratti, run by Christian, there are more than 300 students. The reorganised courses have now been introduced in the Kerala sanskrit Colleges also, and the facilities afforded by the Devasvam Department by way of stipends have resulted in some increase in the number of students. In the College at Trivandrum, there are now 92 students. The Mahopadhyayas here can now take to the M.A.course, and for a time there is bound to be some confusion caused by these two kinds of Sanskrit M.A.s. In the Sanskrit College itself, as the result of the reorganisation, the Diploma course has now been substituted by the Degree course, and three batches of Sanskrit B.A.s. have come out so far. Sahitya, Advaita, Nyaya and Vyakarana are taught in this College; there are 22 teachers and the Government spendsabout Rs.90,000 on this institution. 28. All this, however, cannot be said to give an adequate idea of the extent of Sanskrit Education in Kerala. Kerala, of all the regions in India, is perhaps most permeated by Sanskrit. Bramans, all classes of non-Brahmans, Izhavas and Thiyas, Christians and Muslims, boys and girls, all of these normally take to sanskrit. The Nambudiri families of Kerala have preserved and still continue to preserve the Veda, the different Sastras and the technical subjects of Ayurveda and Jyotisa, and the esoteric Mantra-Sastra. 29. In Andhra, ther are 32 Pathasalas with about 2,000 students. There are, besides, 26 new Oriental High Schools. The number of recognised Sanskrit Colleges, which are situated in places like Vizianagaram, Rajahmundry, Kovvur, Akripalli, Chittigudur,Nelore, and Tirupati, is 12. There are in these institutions about 45 students studying for the Vidyapravina or the Bhashapravina examination, the latter being a Telugu course with Subsidiary Sanskrit. The Vizianagaram and the Tirupati Colleges had been well known centres of Sanskrit learning, where reputed Pandits taught, and numerous students once studied. At present, however, the strength is very poor in all these Colleges, the Vizianagaram College haivng only 30 students on its rolls with none at all for Vidyapravina. In the newly incorporated Hyderabad-Telangana area, there are 15 Pathsalas, which are being co-ordinated by the Council of Sanskrit Education, Hyderabad. Besides these schools and Colleges, there are many traditional Pandits andprivate instutions for the teaching of Veda and Sastra. But most of the Sanskrit institutions are now faced with a dearth of qualified Sanskrit teachers. The new Andhra Government has started implemting the Oriental High School scheme and has recentlyhelped 11 more general schools to change into Oriental High Schools. Telugu teachers qualifying in Sanskrit have been given special increments. The Devasthanam and Religious Endowment Department is giving some help to Sanskrit Education and is alsp opening Sanskrit Schools in temples, as for instance, at Simhachalam, Annavaram, and Ponnur. At Tirupati, which is oneof the chief centres of Sanskrit learning, and to which the eyes of the Sanskritists all over the country are turned in the hope that some big instituiton for Sanskrit will be established there, the affairs of Sanskrit education seem to be in a continuous flux. The Sanskrit College at Tirupati is now under the New University there. 30. Mysore has had the benefit of royal house which has all extended enlightened and generous patronage to Sanskrit. There are 88 Pathasalas and Colleges in the State. These include forty-four institutions for the study of pure Veda, two Government Sanskrit Colleges, one at Mysore and the other at Bangalore, and three private Colleges at Siddhaganga, Melkote and Udipi. In all about 2,500 students study in these institutions. The total expenditure of the Mysore Government on Sanskrit Education is Rs.2,24,000 a year. The Mysore examinations are in five grades, Prathama, Kavya, Sahity, Vidvat-Madhyama and Vidvat-Uttama, and together extend over 13 years. There are separate examinations for Veda and Agama. As in the other South Indian courses, not only are all the Sastras including Ayurveda and Jyotisa provided for in Mysore examinations, but there are also all branches of Veda and Srauta, Dharma. Virasaiva-Darsana, Jaina Siddhanta, and History of Literature and Comparative Philosogy. In the scheme for the reorganisation of Sanskrit instutions submitted to the Government in 1956 the inclusion of other modern subjects in the curriculum has been proposed. In the Sanskrit College at Mysore, there are 320 Students and 46 teachers of whom 18 are Professors. Free lodging and limited boarding and stipendiary facilities are available. In the Siddhaganga Sanskrit College, which is a Virasaiva institution and which affords free boarding and lodging in its big hostel, there are 20 teachers and 550 students. Teaching is provided for in that College up to the Vidvat examination in Sahitya, Vyakarana and Tarka. Veda is also separately taught. The Vedavedanta Vardhani College at Melkote is attached to the temple there and was founded in 1853. It has at present 10 teachers and 84 students, and provision is available for the teaching of Vyakarana, Sahitya, Visistadvaita and Nyaya, Veda and Agam are also taught. The Dvaita Maths of Udipi conduct a Sanskrit School and College at their headquarters. Asthese institutions formerly functioned under the Madras regulations, they had already adopted the reorganised Oriental High School scneme. In the School and College together there are 300 students. In the Mysore State also, there are several private Pathasalas, conducted by the different religious institutions. Most of them have adopted the syllabus of the State Sanskrit examinations. 31. In Maharashtra, there was once a good number of traditional Pathasalas, for, Sanskrit learning had flourished very well under the Peshwas. In Poona City itself there were once a number of Sanskrit Pathasalas, but today there are only a few studentswho are studying the Sastras in the traditional way. At Poona, Tilak Maharashtra Vidyapith conducts a Sanskrit Mahavidyalaya, which provides for instruction up to the Acharya standard. But on the whole, the condition of traditional Pandit learning in Maharashtra today cannot be said to be at all satisfactory. There are only about a hundred old-type Pandits. In the Bombay State, there is no Government Examination for traditional Pathasalas; but the Government has recognised the examinations which are conducted by certain well-known institutions like the Vedasastrottejaka sabha and the Tilak Maharashtra Vidyapith of Poona and the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan of Bombay. From the very beginnings of modern education, Bombay has concentrated on the study of Sanskrit in modern schools and colleges. The dualism between the traditional and the modern system of Sanskrit Education has not been very prominent in this State. To a certain extent, this fact explains the higher standard of Sanskrit in the schools and colleges and the greater interest in Research, whic characterise Bombay and Maharashtra in particular. The Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan conducts one of the biggest Sanskrit examinations in Bombay. It comprises five grades--Pravesika, Madhyama, Sastri. Acharya and Vachaspati--and the total duration of the entire course is of ten years. Students are admitted to the Pravesika after they pass the ninth class of the Secondary School. The course is taught in the Bhavan's own College, the Mumbadevi Sanskrit Mahavidyalaya, where both Pandits and Professors teach. it provides for the old syllabus, for which 17 institutions are affiliated, as also for the new syllabus in which some modern subjects are also taught and for which 32 Colleges and 12 Pathasalas are affiliated. The Sastras generally taught are Vedanta, Vyakarana, Sahitya and Jyotisa. 32. In other centres in the Bombay State, like Ahmedabad, the Pathasalas coach students for the Banaras examinations or for their own examinations, such as those conducted by the Brihad Gujarat Sanskrit Association. In Saurashtra, the Saurastra Vidvat Parsihad conducts the examinations for the Pathasalas of that area, which prepare about 2,000 students a year. Saurastra has ten Pathasalas, and the former State of Saurastra spent Rs.40,000 a year on traditional Sanskrit Education. The number of the Pathasalas in the old Bombay State was 150, and about forty of these Pathasalas were recognised by the Government. In Bombay State also, a Committee was appointed by the Government in 1950 for considering the question of the reorganisation of the Pathasalas. This Committee has recommended, among other things, the promotion and reorganisation of the traditional system of Sanskrit Education, the up-grading of the scales of pay of the Pandits, the inccreasing of the grantin-aid, the offering of scholarships to thePathasala students, and , above, all, the establisment of at least five well-equipped high=grade Government Sanskrit Mahavidyalayas (Colleges) in the different linguistically and otherwise demarcated areas of the State. 33. One of the special features, which stuck us in the Bombay City and the Gujarat areas, as also in Rajasthan, was the large number of Jaina institutions, which maintained big collections of manuscripts and promoted with great enthusiasm the study of Sanskrit and the Prakrits. These parts of the Bombay State are also known for the Sanskrit institutions conducted by the Vallabha School. 34. One of the important sanskrit Mahavidyalayas in the present State of Bombay is the Baroda Sanskrit College. This Institution was developed in a very sytematic manner by the late Maharaja Sayaji Rao of Baroda. Baroda had given a great fillip to traditional Sanskrit learning through the Sravana Masa Daksina examinations, for which students used to come from distant parts of the country, the Sanskrit College, the Purohita Act, etc. The Baroda Sanskrit College now has 13 teachers and 80 students. The courses include Veda, karma-kanda, Purana, Dharma-Sastra, Sahitya, Vyakarana and Jyotisa; Nyaya and Vedanta are also taught, but not as special branches. There are four stages, preparatory, Visarada, Sastri and Acharya, and equivalence is given to these diplomas with University degrees in the matter of employment and scales of pay. The M.S. University of Baroda conducts this College now. English up to the matriculation standard is compulsory, and there are four M.A.teachers, along with the Pandits. 35. In the territory comprised by the present Madhya Pradesh, the total number of Pathasalas is 112 and of Colleges 12. Each of the old Princely States integrated into the old Madhya Bharat has its Sanskrit College, and the Vindhya Pradesh area alone has 20 Pathasalas. The facilities for free boarding and lodging have been much reduced after the merger of the States. The total expenditure on Sanskrit of the old Madhya Bharat Government was Rs.3 lakhs. The Pathasalas have no common Government examination, and most of them prepare students for the Banarasa or Calcutta examinations. The State of Madhya Pradesh has at present no sprcial Inspectorate for Sanskrit, though one such is going to be instituted very soon. At present ad hoc inspection panels are appointed for the Pathasalas. The State has appointed a special officer called the Director of Languages. The Government of Madhya Pradesh Presided over by Dr.K.N.Katju has several proposals for the up-grading and reorganisation of the Pathasalas and Sanskrit Studies. The old Madhya Pradesh Government had appointed in 1955 a Committee to go into the question of Sanskrit institutions, and hereagain, we would like to emphasise the verdic of the public opinion had been in favour of preserving the traditional style of Sanskrit Education with the introdution of the necessary elements of modern knownledge. this Committee has also the State in four stages--Prathama,Madhyama, Sastri and Acharya,culminating in a post-Acharya research degree to be called Vachaspati. 36. The State of Rajasthan has its own Government Sanskrit examinations infour grades--Pravesika,Upadhyaya (2years), Sastri (2years) and Achrya (2year). Among the subjects taught for these examinations are included Jainism,Buddhism, Paurohitya, Dharma-Sastra and Itihasa-Purana. The total number of the Pathasalas and Sanskrit Colleges in The State is 110. There are in all 522 teachers and 8,308 students. The total expenditure incurred by the Government on traditional Sanskrit Education is about Rs.4 lakhs. There is a separate Sanskrit Inspector. In only about 20 Pathasalas, facilities of free lodging and boarding are available. Here, too, as in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, we found a number of seasonal students who were not serious or didi not stick on up the examination. The former princely patronage has made Jaipur the chief centre of Sanskrit in Rajasthan. The Jaipur Sanskrit College has 9 Pandits on the staff and about 250 students. Modern subjects are here taught by M.A.s. The salaries of the Pandits in the Sanskrit College are on a par with those of the Professors in the modern colleges. The Rajasthan Government had recently appointed a Committee to go into the questionof the reorganisation of the Sanskrit institutions. In its Report, which is now under the consideration pf the Government, this Committee has suggested a revision of the Pathasala courses. Many of the aided and recognised Sanskrit schools and colleges will, however, find it difficult to implement the provisions ofthe reorganisation, because their finances are not adequate. 37. Delhi is hardly the place where one would expect any traditional Pathasalas; but the national capital has about five of them. In Delhi University, there is as yet no provision for the promotion of the traditional type of Sanskrit. 38. In Panjab, traditional Sanskrit Education, like any other branch of education has suffered considerably as a result of the trobles following the Partition. It is, how ever, most remarkable how Panjab has been putting forth valiant efforts to rebuild its educational and academic life. Panjab has numerous Trusts intended for the promotion of Sanskrit, but most of these are either not functioning or are mismanage Amritsar was once a great centre which had four to five thousands Sanskrit students. In 1920, there were 285 Pathasalas in Panjab, but those now functioning number only 35. Two of these are Government recently spent Rs.50,000 on the otherPathasalas. For a region, which is the most ancient home of Sanskrit, neither the present condition of Sanskrit Education nor whct the Government is doing for it can be said to be satisfactory. Among the Sanskrit Colleges in Panjab may be mentioned the Krishna-Kishor Sansthan Dharma Sanskrit College, Ambala; the S.D. Gurukula, Jagadhari;the Sarasvati Vidyalaya, Khanna;the S.D.Sanskrit College, Hoshiarpur; the S.D.Sanskrit Vidyalaya, Jullundur; the Government Sanskrit College, Kapurthala;and the Hindu Sabha Sanskrit Sollege, the Durgiana Temple Sanskrit College, the Dugarmal College, Amritsar. The College here are affiliated to the University, and, in the University Department of Sanskrit itself, there is provision for a traditional course. Several branches of Sanskrit literature are taught, and the highest examination is Sastri; there is, however, no provision for a highercourse after the Sastri examination; all Senior Pandits in Panjab want such a higher course and examination. The Government of Panjab had recently set up a Committee to examine and report on the various aspects of Sanskrit Education in the State. The Committee has recommended certain improvements and provisions of academic as well as administrative character. There seems to be a generalo agreement among the Pandits regarding the desirability of introducing modern subjects in the traditional courses. 39. In the Himachal Pradesh, there are two Sanskrit Colleges, together having about 140 students. The examinations are same as those of the Panjab University. There are also primary sections attached to these Colleges. Twelve Pandits are at present employed in the Colleges;but even outside these institutions, there are some Pandits families, which have maintained Sastraic traditions and which possess manuscript collections. 40. Kashmir has made a most valuable contribution to the growth of Sanskrit in its early and medieval phases; yet today Sanskrit studies are perhaps at thier lowest ebb in this State. Though we could not visit Srinagar and meet representatives from theinterior of Kashmir, we visited the most important centre of Sanskrit studies in this State, during the last hundred years, namely, the Sanskrit College at the Raghunath Temple, Jammu. Jammu has now about 100 Pandits in all, versed in various Sastras.In the Raghunath Temple College, Vedas and Sastras are taught; it has 80 students now, all of whom are given free lodging and boarding. The system of examination here is in four grades as in Panjab. The annual expenditure of this College is Rs.40,000. In Jammu itself, there were formerly more Pathasalas, but they have now ceased to funtion. The Raghunath Temple College alone is running, as it is being maintained by the old royal Trust called Dharmartha Trust. This Trust also conducts a Sanskrit School--Pratapa Pathasala--at Srinagar. Srinagar has one more private Sanskrit School and a Government Oriental Section in a general school. We were told that the Dharmartha Trust had plans to expand the College in Jammu, improve its library and building, and add a research department to the library. For a State, which had played such an outstanding part in the development of Sanskrit literature in the past, the present official policy should be more helpful to the study and development of Sanskrit. Before Independence, there were traditional schools for Sanskrit as well as for Arabic, Persian, etc.; in the new dispensation, the latter have been continued as traditional institutions, but the former have all been changed into general secondary schools. 41. We found that, in the traditional Sanskrit institutions, there was generally provision for the study of several Sastras and other special branches of Sanskrit. However, taken as a whole, the syllabus of studies in the Pathasalas shows some gaps, and we propose to discuss this question at some lenth in the Chapters on Sanskrit Education and Teaching of Sanskrit. Nevertheless, we may touch upon some points here. Even in a reputed centre like Banaras, we were told by some of the older Pandits, there was no adequate provision for the teaching of Veda, Purva-Mimamsa and Advaita. As a matter of fact, the study of Purva-Mimamsa and even Advaita does not seem to be very strong in Eastern India. Similarly, the study of Mimamsa and Nyaya cannot be saidto be strong in Western India. In the South, Navya-Navya is not as well cultivated as Mimamsa or the three sechools of Vedanta, though Navya-Nyaya is a special branch for examination in Mysore and in Cochin. It was gratifying to find that the present Maharaja of Cochin, himself a reputed master of that branch, had fostered a school of Navya-Nyaya. In South India, except in Mysore, there is no examination provision for Dharma Sastra, Sruta and Veda, though in Veda there are, in this part of the country, some private tests. One thing which stuck us generally everywhere was the present tendency of students to crowd into the Sahitya section; this the authorities should check. They should try to bring in a certain number of students for each of the different Sastras. In the course of studies in the Northern and the Eastern regions, we found provision for Dharma Sastra, Itihasa-Purana, Karma-kanda and Paurohitya, and Bauddha, Jaina and saiva Darsanas. In this respect, again South India,except Mysoreto some extent, seems to be laggingbehind. 42. In Chapter X, we are dealing specially with the tradition of Vedic learning. In general, we may point out here that the provision for the study of the Vedas in the recognised Pathasalas is very inadequate. In the South, Mysore alone had Governmentexaminations and organised courses in Veda and Srauta. The study of the veda should not only comprise the reading of the Veda with Bhasya, but it should also include learning it by heart. However, as the latter a linked up with the practice of the avocation of Paurohitya, there may be difficulties in providing for it in the schools and colleges in some places;where conditions are favourable, the Kanthapatha of Veda should should be provided for in the Pathasalas. 43. Wherever we went, we made enquiries about the strength of the old Pandit tradition still alive in that particular part of the country and the number of senior masters of the various Sastras. We specially enquired whether the Pandits still carried on the tradition of writing new commentaries or dialectical works. We were sorry to note that the number of outstnding Pandits of the old type was generally not large; in some States, they could be counted on one's fingers. Some Pandits, however, did continue their literary activity;a few of them have, under the inspiration of modern research, produced critical and expository treatises in Sanskrit or in the regional languages on Sastraic and other generalo philosophical subjects. Similar literary workwas seen in Vyakarana and Sahitya also. We also found that the Sanskrit Muse was still an inspiration and that the Pandits everywhere wrote poems and plays in Sanskrit. Of course, Sanskrit was very freely used as a means of communication and for the expression of all current ideas. We actually met some Pandits who could employ Sanskrit with eloquence and oratorical effect. 44. Among the activities, which keep up the scholarly interest of the Pandits and also afford them some encouragement and help, are the Sabhas or the Sadas (learned gatherings), which are held form time to time by rulers, Zamindars, richmen, Acharyas and pubic associations. The former Prinely States used to hold such gatherings once a year on the occasion of some festival. like the Dasara. The religious Teachers, Acharyas, still hold such gatherings of Pandits; also whenever any Pandit from a different part of the country visits an Acharya, he is engaged in a Sastrartha or is asked to lecture, and is honoured with present and cash-gifts. There are also some private endowments which arrange for such Pandit Sadas,once a year, on Rama-navami, Krishna-jayanti, and similar occasions. In some of the temples, Panditsare similarly invited to give expositions and are honoured. In fact, it was these public debates in Sastras which had been the main inspiration for the growth of the thought and literature in the field of Sanskrit. And it would be by their resuscitation that the old intensity of Sastra-learning could be ratained and promoted. More recently, owing to a new awakening among to the interest of some of the leading citizens in the locality, expositions of the epics, the Gita, the Upanisads, Vedanta, Dharma, etc., have become a regular and organsied activity in some places. These expositions are arranged as public lectures to large audiences or as private classes to select groups. They have,indeed, proved a great source of help to the Pandits. The Pandits are in demand also for individual tuition in the Gita or Vedanta which some well-to -do persons desire to have. This appears to be an expanding activity and augurs well for the revival of interest in Sanskrit. 45. In all regions there are now Sanskrit Academies, Associations, Sabhas, Parishads, etc., which organise the celebration of Sanskrit poet's Days; lectures on Sanskrit subjects; Sanskrit classes; competitions in Sanskrit essay-writing, Sanskrit elocution, and original composition (Short Story, Poem,Play);Sanskrit Recitals and Dramas; and publication of cheap booklets in Sanskrit. All of these keep up popular interest in Sanskrit. The names of many such associations. Whose representatives met us, may be seen in the lists in the Appendices. The Sanskrit Sahitya Parishad, Calcutta, the Sanskrit Academy, Madras, the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Bombay, the Samskrita Visva Parishad which has now over 500 branches all over India, the Brahmana Sabha, Bombay,which has a Sanskrit dramatic troupe, the Akhil Bharatiya Sanskrita Sahitya Sammelan, Delhi, may be specially mentioned among the bodies which have been doing sustained work of more than a local provenance. Recently, in Nagpur and Ujjain, societies have been established for the study and propagation of Kalidasa's works, and we were pleased to note that the respective State Governments were helping these societies. The Kalidasa Society at Ujjain, we were told, had a fund of Rs.1 1/4 lakhs of its own.There are several organsations in the country whose object is to popularise the study of the Gita. Establishment like the Svadhyaya Mandal, Pardi, and the VedaDharma-Paripalana-Sangham, Kumbhakonam, take interest in the popularisation of Vedic thought and literature. Among the modern neo-Hindu movements, the Arya Samaj and the Ramakrishna Mission are doing excellent work for the spread of interest in Sanskrit and its knowledge. Many Sanskrit Colleges and the Sanskrit Department of Colleges have Associations, which organise regular lectures on Sanskrit subjects, and sometimes also produce Sanskrit dramas. (ii) Sanskrit in Secindary Schools 46. We think that the most vital question in respect of Sanskrit Education is its plce in the General Secondary Schools for, it is these schools which serve as the feeders for the hogher study of Sanskrit in Colleges and Universities. They, indeed, forn the very basis of Sanskrit study on modern lines. One cannot say that the dual system of sanskrit Education, namely, in Pathasalas and modern institutions, is an anomaly, and that the two systems must be unified, and, at the same time, not give Sanskrit its due place in the scheme of language study in the Secondary Schools. There was a time when, in several of the former Provinces, Sanskrit was compulsory in all Secondary Schools. In some places, though it alternated with the mother-tongue, the general tendency was to take Sanskrit. In recent years, however, the first place assigned to the mother-tongue, the need for thestudy of English, and the insistence on the learning of Hindi as the Officaial Language--all these have complicated the position, and the eventual sufferer in all schemes of language-adjustment is Sanskrit. we propose to discuss this problem at some length in a separate Chapter, but here we would like to draw attention to the present difficult situation, in which Sanskrit is being virtually elbowed out. The mother-tongue, the Official Language, and the language of modern knowledge--these the parents and pupils naturally prefer, and the strength in the Sanskrit classes is fast going down in all schools. In this connection, the students and their parents take the line of the least difficulty and the utmost tangible utility. The language position hasbeen in a flux since Independence and the frequent revisions of policy have tended to produce a certain panicky situation. chools which had such provision, there was a steady fall in the n} provision for teaching Sanskrit, and, even in thos47. We found that, in some of the States, there was a definite fall in the number of schools having provision for teaching Sanskrit, and, even in those schools which had such provision, there was a steady fall in the number of students taking Sanskrit. To take a few random examples from the different parts of the country. In Mysore, just before the reorganisation of the States, only 40% of the total number of Secondary Schools, mostly in urban areas, had provision for the teaching of Sanskrit. In that State, According to some recent figures, which were made available to us, out of a total of 84,017 students in the High Schools, only 6,230 studied Sanskrit either as second language or as an optional subject; in a recent S.S.L.C. Examination, out of 24,767 candidates, only 2,208 had takenSanskrit. In Andhra, only 91 its about 700 High Schools provide for Sanskrit. Taking an area at the other end of the country, we were told that, in the Panjab University, out of about 1,05,000 candidates who took the Matriculation Examination, only about 10,000 had taken Sanskrit. In Madras, under the excuse of falling numbers, the Sanskrit teachers are being sent out by the managements of schools, and even the few boys who desire to take Sanskrit are forced to go elsewhere, or, as is often the case, to take only the mother-tongue. However, in certain High Schools of Madras, there is a fairly good strength in the Sanskrit classes, but that is mainly because of the peculiar background of those schools. Thus, in the High Schools for Boys and Girls run by the Ramakrishna Mission,50% students take Sanskrit; but in a big School of the metropolis like the Hindu High School, Triplicane, where 70% students used to study Sanskrit the percentage now is 30 in the lower forms, and 20 in the higher. In another High School of Madras, situate in a different kind of residentaial locality, the percentage is about 30. In the interior of Tamilnad, we checked the figures of Sanskrit students in the High Schools in a place like Chidambaram and they varied from 12% to 20%. 48. The situation is, however, different in the North. In Uttar Pradesh, almost all schoold have provision to teach Sanskrit, and in Bihar, Sanskrit is compusory up to the IXth Standard. In 1957, the total number of candidates who had appeared at the School Final Examination in the whole of West Bengal was 73,373;of these 58,738 had offered Sanskrit as one of their subjects. In some States, such as Madhya Pradesh, Sanskrit is taken as an alternative third languages, or is studied compulsorily as part of a composite course in mother-tongue and Sanskrit. In Poona, Bombay and the neighbouring regions, the strength of Sanskrit students in Secondary Schools is not particularly disappointing. But the provision in these schools for the study of Ardhamagadhi or Pali as an alternative for Sanskrit makes many students take the former, as these languages seem to ensure an easy pass. Such Provision, as we have pointed out elsewhere, is undesirable. 49. We interviewed many Directors of Public Instruction and other Educational Officicers in the country; and they placed before us a variety of solutions for the problem of the language-study in the sechools, some of which we have discussed in the Chapter on Sanskrit Education. But the very variety of views offered indicates the undettled nature of this most tangled question. Whatever solution would be ultimately thought of should, we think, pay due consideration to the question: Do we or do we not want the children of this country to know Sanskrit? If we want them to know Sanskrit, is it not necessary that we evolve a suitable formula for the study of languages in Secondary Schools, in which the place of Sanskrit is made secure? if this is not done, the study of Sanskrit in Indian Universities will become something like that of Assyriology in European Universities, an antiquarian study confined to a few experts who are engaged in research work. The cultivation as such of Sanskrit will again be relegated to the religious circles, and the excellent work which our modern schools and colleges have done in the course of the past century and a half in the matter of liberalising and popularising Sanskrit Education will have been undone. (iii) Sanskrit in Colleges and Universities 50. In the Colleges and the Universities Sanskrit is studied both in the general part and as a special subject. Generally speaking, provision is available in most of the colleges in the country for the study of general Sanskrit. There are, no doubt, some exceptions. While the Commission was touring in the country, the collegiate education, in most places, was being reorganised on teh basis of the new three-year degree course, with a one-year Pre-University course. In view of the consequent differnces in the conditions obtaining in different University areas, it is not possible to present a uniform analysis in terms either of the older nomenclature of clsses one. The general trends, the strength of students in Sanskrit classes, the nature of the couses and examinations, and the standard of Sanskrit equipment gained may, however, be briefly reviewed here. 51. In the South Indian Universities, the new Three-year Degree Course has already been introduced. Sanskrit is provided for in the new scheme in the pre-University calss under the general language part as well as among special subjects that may be chosen. Saimilarly, in the Three-year Degree Courses, Sanskrit is provided under the general part as also as an optional subject for special study. In the special part, provision has also been made for a separate course is Sastras as studied in the traditional Pathasalas. At present, among the colleges under the Madras University, 41 have provision for teaching Sanskrit at the Intermediate (or pre-university) and B.A.stages; only two Colleges in the City are affiliated for Sanskrit M.A. In Kerala, only8 out of 38 colleges have provision for teaching Sanskrit and only one, the University College in Trivandrum, provides for B.A. (Honours) and M.A.teaching. As indicated elsewhere in this Chapters,the position in regard to the number of students taking Sanskrit in the Secondary Schools has been deteriorating in recent years as the result of the changing policies in respect of language-study in Schools. Consequently, the number of students available for the Sanskrit sections in colleges has been considerably reduced. Recently, in the South, many new Colleges have been started and several of these offer no provision to teach Sanskrit. In the Calcutta University too, we were told, new Colleges rarely sought affiliation in Sanskrit. That the position is nop better in Panjab can be seen from the fact that only 60 students out of 400 took Sanskrit in the Government College, Ludhiana. In a Lucknow College, there are only 42 Sanskrit students in B.A., Bombay and Poona still maintain a sufficiently high percentage of Sanskrit students. In the Bombay University, for instance, more than 75% of the students appearing for the Inter Arts examination offer Sanskrit. The number of students going in for B.A. special Sanskrit is 220 and for M.A. principal Sanskrit is 20. In West Bengal, out of about 42,000 students in the Arts classes, about 15,000 take Sanskrit. Last year, 5,675 candidates had offered Sanskrit at the Inter Arts examination; 2,821 candidates had offered Sanskrit at the B.A. Examination, outof whom only 57 were for B.A (Honours) with Sanskrit. This year, there are 55 students for Sanskrit in the fifth year M.A. class and 52 in the Sixth year M.A. class. 52. There are several Indian Universities, in which no B.A. Hons. or M.A. courses in Sanskrit are availble. In the Sri Venkateswara University at Tirupati, students desiring to study for M.A. in Sanskrit are sent to Madras or Andhra, Universities with necessary financial aid. In Andhra, they have just started Sanskrit Hon.and M.A.Utkal and Gauhati Universities have still to provide for this. At the latter place, there is a proposal soon to appoint some Sanskrit teachers in the University. In some Universities, the various groups are, unfortunately, so arranged that the students who take science subjects are automatically debarned from reading any Sanskrit. This, we were tols, was the case in the Nagpur, the Gauhati and the Panjab Universities. In respect of higher education at least, one expects a broader conception of knowledge and consequently a necessary provision in all the Colleges of the country for the teaching of such an important subject in Indian Humanities as Sanskrit and Indian Philosophy. We would like to recall here What Shri Justice Mangalamurti, Vice-Chancellor of the Nagpur University, told us. He said that foriegners, who visited his University and were shown round, invariably asked the question: "Where is your Department of Philosophy?" and that he always felt unhappy to saythat there was none in his University. 53. In some Universities there is a Department or a College of Indology was recently appointed. A few years ago, in Mysore a new Indology Department was started; but we were told that the Sanskrit Department there was suffering an eclipse by the side of this new Department. As regards the Sri Venkateswara University, it was reported that the Central Government would help the starting only of an Indology Department in the University and not of a pure Sanskrit Department. Indology, as a subject for the Degree course, is a conglomeration of several subjects, among which Sanskrit occipies but a minor place. An Indology Depatment can, therefore, hardly be a substitute for a Sanskrit Department or full M.A. course in Sanskrit. it would be more desirable if M.A.s in Sanskrit or History were encouraged to take such a composite course as Indology by way of additional equipment. 54. So far as the B.A. (Honours) or M.A. courses in Sanskrit and their teaching were concerned, we found that, in the syllabuses of the South Indian Universities, there was provision for the study of differnt Sastras in groups of two, by rotation. In some other Universities also, such provision was found. But, generally speaking, the provision for Sastraic study in the Universities is not at all adequate. Not only is it necessary to increse the quantum of Sastraic study, but also qualified Pandits need to be appointed for the teaching of M.A. classes. Some teachers of M.A. Sanskrit complained that there were too many texts in the syllabus, and suggested that, if the number of the texts was reduced, the teaching of those few texts could be made more intendive, and a Sanskrit M.A. would thereby obtain a deeper knowledge of the subject. Another point which was frequently pressed before us was that the foundations of or the steps leading to the superstucture at the higher stages were not strong enough. Thus, like the gap between the High School and the Intermedaite standards, ther was also a gap between the Intermediate and the B.A. students was to do justice to the subjects and texts prescribed, a strengthening of the lower stages is definitely called for. No useful purpose would be served by merely including an imposing array of texts in the syllabus, if those texts were either not handled at all or were only inadequately studied and understood. 55. Elsewhere we have referred to the commendable efforts made in some quarters to convert the courses of the tradeitional Pathasalas into Degree courses or to provide for a pure Sastra branch in the M.A. course. This would naturally mean two differenttypes of Sanskrit M.A.s. In Kerala, where they now had these two types of M.A.s, it was represented to us by students and teachers, particularly of the older Arts M.A. course, that these two types constitued an anomaly and should, therfore, be discontinued. We think that, as an interim provision, the two types of M.A.s. will have to continue until such time as a properly integrated M.A. course with adequate Sastraic studies evolves in all the Universities. We must, however, refer to another point in this connection. In some Universities in the North, as for instance in Banaras and Agra, students who have passed the Acharya Examination are allowed to sit for the M.A.Examination in Sanskrit or Hindi,without having to undergo any formal training. In Madras, certain exemptions are granted to Siromanis to enable them to become M.A.s. This has resulted in producing a number of M.A.s. in Sanskrit who have little or no knowledge of English and modern Western thought and methods. They only succeed in adding a high-sounding Degree after their names, and perhaps in getting better jobs which they would not have got with a mere Sastaic Degree. To deserve the M.A. Degree, such persons should be made to undergo the necessary formal training which is normally expected of M.A.s. 56. In some of the Universities a wide variety of allied subjects are offered as special branches under Sanskrit M.A.,as, for instance, Epigraphy in punjab, Calcutta and nagpur, and, sometimes, such brancjes prove a greater attraction to the students. The core of a Sanskrit M.A. course should, however, always be the study of adequate number of Sanskrit texts--both literary and Sastraic. 57. As already mentioned, at the beginning of modern education in this country, Sanskrit was either a compulsory subject of study or was an alternative for the mother-tongue. Such provision for a strong background in Sasnkrit continues today only in few centres. Because of the disproportionately great importance that hs recently come to be attached to the mother-tongue, we found that everywhere, even in the general part, the mothertongue was provided for up to the end of the college course. This is obviously unnecessary. No University in the West teaches students their mother-tongue at the higher stages, unless they desire to specialise in that languages. The gradual displacement of Sanskrit from the Colleges has resulted in a general loosening of the Indian youth's cultural moorings. Attempts to pull up the youth of the countryculturally have been made in different ways by different Universities. One of the declared aims of the foundation of the Banaras Hindu University, for instance, was to give all its students a Sanskrit grounding and consequently Sanskrit was made compulsory for all students of that University. In the Lucknow University, Sanskrit is now compulsory for all students of Humanities and the marks in that paper are taken intoaccount for a pass in B.A. We were told that the M.S. University, Baroda, and the Punjab University had made the passing in Sanskrit at the S.S.L.C.examination a prerequisite for admission to their Arts courses. 58. There is another way in which some North Indian Universities have tried to make a larger number of students study Sanskrit Students who take the Reginal Language as their special subject are required to study Sanskrit also. In Panjab, for M.A. in Panjabi, there is half a paper in Sanskrit or persian. In the Hindi M.A. courses of the Universities in Uttar Pradesh, there is a better provision for Sanskrit, a whole paper being devoted to it. But, in view of the fact that Hindi has to draw upon Sanskrit for its further growth, the provision for the study of Sanskrit in the Hindi courses ought to be still greater. In the M.A. course in Oriya, there is a subsidiary Sanskrit paper. In Gauhati, M.A.course in Assamese includes a paper in Sanskrit, studied in translations. In the Universities in the Bombay State, a paper in Sanskrit is not compulsory in any course of modern Indian languages. It can, however, be taken as an allied language. In the South, there is provision for a full paper in Sanskrit under the Related Language in the B.A. and M.A. courses in Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada. Mysore even provides for two papers in Sanskrit in the Kannada courses. Whether Indo-Aryan or Dravidian, all modern Indian languages have grow in the lap of Sanskrit; and, from a purely scientific point of view, no linguistic or literary study of any Indian language can be deemed complete without a good grounding in Sanskrit. 59. Like the Regional Languages, Philosophy also has a close relation with Sanskrit. We were glad to find that, in most of the Universities, the M.A. course in Philosophy had some provision for Indian Philosophy in the general part, as also as a special branch. In many Universities, Vedanta, Nyaya, Buddhism, etc., can be offered as optional or special subjects in philosophy. Though Sanskrit is helpful to Ancient Indian History, Archaeology and Epigraphy, we did not find any provision of the study ofSanskrit in the History course at any centre. The extent of the provision for the study of the hiostory of the Sanskrit Language and Indo-European Philology as part of the M.A. course in Sanskrit varies from place to place. In all the South Indain Universities, this subject has one and a half papers assigned to it. 60. The over-all picture of the University-Sanskrit is decidedly better than that of the Pathasala-Sanskrit. The only criticism is that the depth of Sanskrit learning in the Universities suffers on account of a more comprehensive and broad-based course. How this deficiency can be remedied, we have discussed below in the Chapters on Sanskrit Education and Teaching of Sanskrit. Though compared to the Pathasalas, the Sanskrit B.A. (Honours) and M.A. classes in the Colleges and the Universities presenta more encouraging spectacle, we must confess that, in the Colleges and the Universities themselves, the Sanskrit Sections, when compared to the Sciences or other branches of Humanities or even Modern Indian Languages, look definitely poor. 61. In many Universities, the Sanskrit Department is mainly a teaching Department, and, only when time permits, the Professor and his staff do some research work. In some Universities like Bombay, there is no University Department of Sanskrit and even the higher teaching work is done on a co-operative basis by teachers of the condtituent Colleges. In Calcutta, there is University Post-Graduate Staff, and, in addition to its members, Sanskrit teachers in local Colleges also take part in M.A. teaching. The following Universities have no Cahirs in Sanskrit: Agra, Bihar, Bombay, Gauhati, Gujarat, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnatak, Nagpur, Rajasthan, Saugar, Sri Venkatesvara, Utkal and Vikram. In places where the University staff has to do full M.A. teachingwork, the volume of research work is naturally not large. However, in old centres of research like Bombay, Poona and Calcutta, the tradition of research is actively maintained by the teachers. 62. The set-up in the Madras University is favourable for continuous output of research. The Sanskrit Department here has its own Sanskrit Series in which 31 works have so far been published. Since its inception, nearly 50 research students have been attached to the Department, and nine Doctorate and M.Litt. theses have been produced. There are three permanent members of the Department-Professor, Reader, and Lecturer. The Department is at present working on a major project, the New Catalogus Catalogorum, for which the Professor has recently been given 5 Research Assistants. There are three post-graduate degrees in Madras--M. Litt., ph.D. and D.Litt. The examinations for these degrees comprise a Theses, two written papers and a viva voce test. 63. More importanta then the actual M.A. teaching is the guidance which University Professors have to give to post-graduate research students working on theses for research degrees. Facilites for training research scholars are, however, not available in all Universities; in some, they are Provided for on a meagre scale. In Travancore (Kerala), no such facilities are avialable, and candidates usually go to Madras or Poona for their doctoral work. In the Annamalai University, the provision is meargra. The case is not very different in Mysore,. In the Andhra University, research studentships (Rs.80 p.m. in the first year and Rs.100 p.m. in the seconmd year) are regularly awarded every year; non-stipendiary students also are selected for research. There are, besides, a few and have not been given for Sanskrit for several years now. In the University of Poona, all students , who have passed their B.A. and M.a. with a certain percentage of marks and who desire to carry on research for Ph.S., are awarded Junior Stipends each of Rs. 100p.m. Similarly, all Ph.Ds., who contine their research in the University Department or in some reognised research institutes, are given Senior Stipends each of Rs.200p.m. This appears to be by far the best provision available in any Indian University, in the matter of encouragement of young research scholars. The Nombay University gives a number of research scholarships; in the course of the last 10 years,it has awarded 53. In Baroda, the M.S. University has 15 research students, Rajasthan has 13, Delhi 26, Panjab 6, Banaras 10, Allahabad 9, Lucknow 5 for a year for all Departments, Calcutta 6, Saugar 8, Nagpur 2, Osmania 2, and Andhra 1. in Allahabad, the stipend is so low as Rs. 50 p.m., and here and at Lucknow, there are very few awards. Most of the scholars have to get some employment to be able to carry on research. In some Universities,such as Delhi and BNanaras, the number of research students is large, and a single Professor is expected to guide all of them. A scrutiny of the subjects taken up for research in Sanskrit at the various Universities discloses some repetitions a good number of subjects, again, do not seem to be suitable for thesis-work. 64. For a centre like Banaras, the output of research in Sanskrit is rather poor. The Banaras Hindu University has separate endowments for the editing and publishing of Sanskrit texts, and some work in this direction has now been taken on hand. Considering the importance of Banaras and the large collections of Manuscripts there, it wouls be proper if the University started its own Sanskrit Series. Allahabad, Andhra, Baroda and Poona Univeristies started its own Sanskrit Series. The Visva bharati University publishes a Series of Sanskrit Buddhist Texts restored from Chinese and Tibetan. In the past, the Department of Letters Series of the Calcutta University and the Studies of the Allahabad University have served as a useful medium for publishingimporatant research work done in these two centres. In the Osmania University, there is a big collection of Sanskrit Manuscripts, and a Sanskrit Academy has been set up by the University to publish Sanskrit texts and works. However, so far not much headway has been made by this Academy. We were told that, while the work in connection with the Arabic and Persian material there received substantail grant from the Central Government, the Sanskrit Academy received no help. Almost all the Universities now have their own Research Journals or Annals, some like Madras having even two. Still the publication facilities in the Universities cannot be said to be adequate, for, numberous theses lie with them unpublihed. Several scholars, junior and senior, atcentres where the publication facilities are meagre, feel highly handicapped and dispirited. The lack of adequate number of research scholarships at the Universities in the country has been remedied to some extent by the Education Ministry and, more recently, by the University Grants Commission both of whom award a certain number of scholarships. Similarly, some grants are being made available from these two sources for the publication of a select number of research theses lying with the Universities.65. From the foreging review of the facilities for Sanskrit research availble at the different Universities, it will be seen that in most Universities, it will be seen that in most Universities the Sanskrit Departments have to do both teaching and research work. While what they have been doing is commendable from the point of view of both quality and quantity, it has to be admitted that heavy teaching work which the staff has often to do adversely affects the research output of the Department. There is, therefore, the need either for strengtherning the Departments or for lightening the teaching work to some extent. Again, too many research theses cannot be properly directed by a single guide. The supervision and guidance in such cases is bound to be nominal and ineffective. It is seen from the details submitted to this Commission by some Universities that many theses undertaken firve, six or more years ago, have not been completed and presented. Some Universities permit students (their own or of other Universities) to register privately and work at their own distant centres. This parctice is to be completed discouraged; for, in such cases, it becomes impossible for the guide to enforce any discipline or progtamme of work on the candidate. Being registered for Ph.D. is in itself being rearded as an additional qualification for employment. Therefore, very often, there are more `nominal' Ph.D. candidates then `serious'ones. We found from the information supplied to us that one research student had registered himself for the same Degree on the same piece of work at two different Universities in areas to which he did not belong. Greater rigour in the selection of research students. liberal provision for research scholarships and other facilities, and adequate guidance by the teachers would considerably improve the situation. We understand that the University Grants Commission is seized of this whole question and proposes to bring into force some uniformity in regulations and practice in respect of post-graduate research work. 66. In some Universities like Madras, teachers are allowed to work privately for higher degrees only if they are working in institutions affiliated for the teaching of B.A. (Honours) and M.A. courses. The idea underlying this is that such institutions normally possess the necessary facilities for a higher type of work, such as a well-equipped library. It is, however, necessary that even other types of Sanskrit teachers take interest in original research work and keep themselves in touch with the research material which ios constantly being published in journals or in book form. We found that a large number of teachers were quite content with the teaching of a few prescribed classics. Particularly in centres where there are University Departments of Sanskrit, all Sanskrit teachers should be encouraged to take up some piece of work for investigation. (iv) Research Institutes, Manuscript Collections, and other Research Activities. 67. Besides the work being done in the University Departments of Sanskrit, there are several other activities in the field of Sanskrit Research, which must be mentioned here. First come the great Series run by the differentPrincely States of the formertimes. The Research Department of Jammu and Kashmir, Srinagar, has issued the magnificient series, the Kashmir Series of Texts and Studies, but for which we would have known precious little of Kashmir Saivism. The former Pandit Series of the Banaras Sanskrit College was among those pioneering efforts which laid the foundation of sanskrit studies in modern times. The work of that Series has been continued by the Princes of Wales Sarasbati Bhavan Texts and Studies, which have unfortunately now become somewhat irregular. The Sarasvati Bhavan, Banaras, has perhaps the biggest Sanskrit Manuscripts Collection in the country; yet it has remained too long in a very unstisfactory condition, many manuscripts not having been even examined and catalogued. Its upgrading, we were told, had been sanctioned, but was not given effect to. The staff and equipment in the Sarasvati Bhavan are hardly adequate for making Possible the full utilisation of the material available there. 68. The Gaekwad's Oriental Series of the Oriental Institute, Baroda, now taken over by the M.S.University, Baroda, has so far iussued 126 Texts and has under preparation several others. The Oriental Institute has now launched on a major prohect of a Critical Edition of Valmiki's Ramayana. The Department of public Instuction, Bombay, formerly issued a Series of Sanskrit and Praktrit Texts, which the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Poona, is now maintaining and continuing. In Poona, the BombayGovernment has revived the old Deccan College in the form of a Post-Graduate Research Institute, which is now affiliated to the University of Poona and takes part in M.A. teaching and guiding Ph.D. candidates. Besides maintaining a Sanskrit Section,mainly Vedic, and a collection of Manuscripts, the Deccan College Research Institute has undertaken the big prohect of a new Sanskrit Dictionary on Historical Principles. It publishes two journals and has brought out a number of Sanskrit lexicographical tects and research monographs. The Institute also has a Department of Proto-Indian and AncientIndian History. Like the Gaekwad's Oriental Series, the Mysore Oriental Series (Bibliotheca Sanskrita) and the Trivandrum Sanskrit Series have brought out equally important and numerous texts relating to several branches of Sanskrit literature. Among Government Collections of Manuscripts, which bring out text-Series, though not of such magnitude, are the madras Government Oriental Manuscripts Library and the Scindia Oriental Indtitute, Ujjain. In Jaipur, the Government has established the Rajasthan Puratattva Mandir, which has a Manuscripts Collection and has published about 30 texts recently. It may be mentioned that the direction, guidance and facilities of proper editorial work at the above-mentioned Manuscript Libraries leave much to be desired. 69. In recent years, among the States, Bihar has made a strong bid to promote research in Sanskrit and allied fields by founding three Institutes--the Mithila Institute of Sanskrit Studies at the renowned centre of sanskrit, Darbhanga; the Institute of Pali and Buddhistic Studies at the famous Buddhist centre, Nalanda; and the Prakrit and Jaina Insitute at the Jaina centre, Vaisali. Of these, the Mithila Institute has made a good start,building up a manuscript collection and starting a Sanskrit Series.70. When the British introduced modern education and founded the Universities in India, they did not provide for any research. The pioneers of research are individual scholars, Western and Indian, and the privately established societies, the growth of some of which has been touched upon in the previous Chapter. The oldest of these is the Asiatic Society, Calcutta. It has a big collection of Manuscripts, and a big Government collection formerly in the Indian Museum has also been now transferred to this Society. The Society works--the Bibliotheca indica--and has done similar pioneering service to the cause on Indological research through its Journal. The various activities of the Society are still continuing, but if more funds were available, it would be enabled to expedite the publication of its Manuscripts Catalogues and also to reeume more vigorously its Texts-Series. Beises the Asiatic Society, Calcutta has the Sanskrit Sahitya Parisad and the Vangiya collection which, for want of adequate accomdation, it is not in position to house properly. An account of the contribution of Calcutta to Sanskrit studies would be incomplete without a mention of the journal, the Indian Historical Quarterly, which has fostered original work to a great extent during the past three decades and more. In Assam, the Kamarupa Anusandhana Samiti (Assam Research Society) of Gauhati has a collection of manuscripts ans inscriptions, and publishes a journal. Outside Gauhati, the Government is helping the Sanskrit College and the Sanskrit Sanjivani Sabha at Nalbari to collect mauscripts. In Gauhati, the Assam Government has a Historical and Antiquarian Department (established in 1928), which has a valuable collection of antiquities and manuscripts. 71. Patna has long been distinguished as a centre of Sanskrit Research. The Bihar and Orissa (now simply Bihar) Research Society and its Journal had done commendable work under late K.P.Jayaswal. It was, therefore, quite appropriate that the Bihar Government should have now added to this Society a Historical Institute named after that scholar. In this Institute is now housed the entire manuscript material pertaining to Buddhist literature collected by Pandit Rahula Sanskrityayana from Tibet and Nepal. Serious efforts are being made to Publish criticaleditions of texts based on these manuscripts, and a few volumes have already been issued. The Bihar Government gives to the Society a grant of Rs.25,000 every year and the Government of India gives Rs. 15,000 for porchase of antiquities. At Darbhanga, besides the Mithila Institute, there is the Raj Libraray which houses a valuable collection of Sanskrit Manuscripts. Sir Chandra Dhar Singh of Madhubani, this Commission understands, has built up during the last quarter of a century and which is worth about a lakh of Rupees, for creating a research centre with that as the nucleaus. 72. In Banaras, besides the Hindu University and the Government Sanskrit College and Sarasvati Bhavan, there are the Sanskrit Publication Series of Chowkhmba and Motilal Banarsidas. These and several other smaller Series have made it possible for Pandits and scholars to bring out hteir Sanskrit and allied works. Among the privately organised research institutions here are to be mentioned the Jaina Foundations, Bharatiya Jnan Pitha and the Parsvanatha Vidyasrama; they publish their own series of textsand studies. The Parsvanatha Vidyasrama has programmed the production of a History of Jaina Literature. 73. The Chief non-officail research institution in Allahabad is the Ganganath Jha Research Institute which possesses a building of its own, has a collection of over 4,500 manuscripts, publishes a Journal, and has some provision for awardeing a research scholarship. The attention bestowed by the Government and the public on this Institute, founded to commemorate the name and work of one of the greatest sanskritists of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar in modern times, cannot be said to be adequate. The only other place in Allahabad to be noted is the Municipal Museum, which has a fairly big collection of Sanskrit Manuscripts. In Mathura, Swami Bon Maharaj has founded an institution for the study of Vaisnavism and other schools of Indian Philosophy. The Swamihas been able to gather a few competent Pandits from the South and also a few research scholars; he awards two research scholarshipd in Sanskrit. His plan is to found here a regular University or a similar high-grade institution for Philisiphical studies. We suggest that it would be better if, instead of conferring its own degrees, this institution developed itself as a Post-Graduate Research Institute and affiliated itself either to the Agra University or to the Banaras Hindu University. In Rajasthan, Jaipur and Bikaner have Palace-collections of Sanskrit Manuscripts, which are, unfortunately, closed to the public. It is hardly proper for the palace authorities to keep these collections inaccessible to scholars in this manner. The Rajasthan Visva Vidya Pith,Udaipur, has a research section which collects folksongs, ballads, manuscripts, etc. The Sadul Rajasthani Research Indtitute of Bikaner is also doing similar work. 74. The Vishveshvaranand Vedic Research Institute, Hoshiarpur (Panjab), incorporating the Lahore D.A.V.College Research Department, is the chief privately organised Research and Cultutal Institution of North-Western India. Its library possess about 22,500 printed volumes and 7,500 manuscripts, including some 1,500 written in South Indian scripts. The Vedic Philological Research Department is the nucleus from and around which the Institute has gradually developed. This Department has been engaged since 1924 on its 36-Voiume Vedic word Concordance-cum-Grammatical Word-Indices and (2) the 15-Volume Vedic Dictionary. The ManuscriptCollection, Preservation and Publication Department has recently undertaken a 20-Volume Project, including the publication of (1) A Tabular Descriptive Catalogue of the manuscript collection at the Institute and (2) Critical Editions of (a)Unpublished Bhasyas on Rigveda, (b) Savanabhasya on Atharva veda, (c) Devaraja-yajvan's Nighantu-nirva-cana and (d) Rajatarangini by Kalbhana, and others. The Cultural Department of the Institute, aiming at popularising the cultural aspects of Sanskritic studies, is conducting its monthly journal Vishva Jyoti and has also published a number of important works includingPanjabi Ramayana,Brahmavidya and A story on Indian Culture. There are also the Department of History and Philosophy and Religion which have been recently started under the guidance in the preparation of Doctoral theses. it will be in the fitness of things for the Institute to start a Department of Post-Graduate and Post-Sastri teaching. The Institute is receiving grants-in-ais from the Panjab and several other State Governments. The total official contribution, however, is not quite commensutate with the huge expenditure being incurred by it. 75. At Ujjain, the new Vikrama University is excpected to lay special emphasis on Indian Humanities and Sanskrit with which Ujjanin is so intimately connected. It is proposed that the University Departments of Sanskrit and Indology, the Scindia Oriental Institute, the Museum, and similar other cultural activities related to Sanskrit should come under the Vikrama Kirti Mandir, Ujjain, which has a fund of Rs. 7 1/2 lakhs. The Gujarat Vidya Sabha and the B.J.Institute at Ahmedabad is the chief Research Institution of the new Gujarat University in the field of Sanskrit and Indology. The Institute is recognised for guiding post-graduate students for research. It has a big collection of Manuscripts and has undertaken the project of a critical edution ofthe Bhagavata-Purana. The accommodation available for the activities of the Sabha and the Institute is, however, quite inadequate. It is to be hoped that this premier venue of Indological Research in Gujarat, possessingc valuable materials, will be afforded greater facilities for further development. It should have a bigger staff if it is to carry out its research plans in aproper manner. Ahmedabad is also full of Jaina Maths or Upasrayas where there are big collections of manuscripts in charge of Jaina monks like the enlightened Sri Muni Punyavijayaji, who is ever ready to help scholars. 76. The Bombay University has no Sanskrit Chair and Department of its own for co-ordinating and centraloising the post-graduate teaching and for fosterning research. The authorities of this University, we were told, had not favoured the proposal sponsored by several eminent persons for starting University Departments of Sanskrit and of Ancient Indian History and Culture on the occasion of the Centenary of the University. They felt that there was no need for such Departments in the University as therewere institutions in Bombay and at other centres where such post-graduate and research work was being efficiently carried on. The University has been helping and still proposes to help those institutions with grants. Thus, in the past, it has given about Rs. 1 lakh to the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Poona, for its Critical Edition of the Mahabharata, and Rs.12,000 to the Deccan College Research Institute, Poona, for its colleges to do post-graduate teaching and to guide research. The University offers scholarships and fellowships to graduates who want to carry on research for Ph.D. and D.Litt.Degrees. 77. The important centres in Bombay which are at present actively engaged in researcgh in the field of Sanskrit and Indology, are the Asiatic Society, the Historical Research, Society at the St.Xavier's College, and the Bharatiya Vudya Bhavan. The Asiatic Society has a valuble library and a collection of Sanskrit Manuscripts. It arranges learned lectures, bestows honours on scholars for distinguished research work and publishes a Journal, which has played an important part in the growth of research in this part of the country. 78. Though comparatively recent, the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, founded by Sri K.M. Munshi in 1938, has been very active during the two decades of its existence. its institute of Post-Graduate and Research Studies, the Mungala Goenka Samsodhan Mandir, is recognised by the Bombay University for Post-Gradute Teaching in Sanskrit,Prakrits, comparative Philology and Ancient Indian Culture. There is also provision for guiding Post-graduate students for the Doctorate Degree of the University. The Bhavan gives scholarships of the valuse of Rs.75 or Rs.100 to about 10 students and has at present the largest number of M.A. and Ph.D. students. it has a valuable library of printed books and manuscripts. The publication of the Bhavan include the reputed Singhi Jain Series, edited by Muni Jinavijayaji, which has already issued 30 substantial volumes of texts and studies in Sanskrit and Prakrits. There is also the Bharatiya Vidya Series and the search Journal Bharatiya Vidya. One of the most outstanding undertakings of the Bhavan, which is being expeditiously and successfully accomplished, is the project of a 10-volume History and Culture of the Indian People. Five volumes of this work, produced with the co-operation of about 70 scholars, have already been published. The Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan has now branches in Delhi, Kanpur and Allahabad. 79. it must, however, be remembered that, apart from such Institutions, the importance of Bombay in the field of research rests on the volume and value of the work which individual scholars like Mahamahopadhyaya Dr.P.V.Kane and Professor H.D. Velankar have been doing for the last few decades. Bombay also continues to be an important centre for the Publication of Sanskrit texts,and the Nirnaya Sagar Press, the Gujarati Printing Press and the Venkatesvara Press are diong commendable work in this line. In the city of Bombay, ther eare a number of collections of Sanskrit Manuscripts, which need to be properly examined and catalogued. 80. Poona has more than one instution devoted to Sanskrit and Indological research. The Premier body, which functions also as the pivotal institution for some all-India activities like the All-India Oriental Conference, is the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, which was founded in 1917 to commemorate the name of that idstinguished, versatile and prolific scholar of Western India, Ramakrishna Gopal Bhandarkar. The institute got an excellent start. The Government of Bombay transferred to the Institute, at its very inception, its valuable collection of Sanskrit and Praktrit Manuscripts as also its Series of Sanskrit and Prakrit Texts. For a ling time, besides the Asistic Society, Bombay, it was the only private Research Institute in the Bombay State. Consequently it received continous help from the State. The Institute houses a manuscript collection, has a large library and brings out a Research Journal and four Series of Texts ans Studies. Its major project is the Critical Edition of the Mahabharata, a project which has received support in India and abroad. The Post-Graduate Research Department of the Institute is affiliated to the University of Poona for Post-graduate teaching and guidance in Sanskrit and Ancient Indian Culture. The Curator of the Bhanadarkar Institute, Prof.P.K.Gode, has become a necessary link in research activities carried on in different parts of the country. While we would stress that the present resources of the Institute were not at all adwquate for its activities and even for the employment of the requisite staff, we would also state with regret the fact that a centre like this, where so much research material was stored and almost all the Indological Research periodicals of the world were received, was, unfortunately, being little used by local scholars. Poona has a number of Colleges and quite a large number of Sanskritists. Institutes of this type should, therefore, devise ways and periodic activity programmes which would bring local workers more regularly to them. 81. Next in importance to the Bhandarkar Institute is the Bharata Itihasa Sansodhaka Mandala, of which the moving spirits is Mahamahopadhyaya D.V.Potdar. This Mandala is poorly housed, but has a rich collection of historical and literary material. Itsrecord of work through its Journal and otherr Publications is substantial. We were told that, recetly the Central Government had given to the Mandala financial aid for the preparation of a catalogue of its manuscripts. The Vaidika Samsodhana Mandala of Poona is devoted to Vedic Research and Publication. It has already brought out an edition of the Rigveda with the commentary of Sayana, and has now undertaken the editing of some other Vedic texts, as also the compilation of Srauta-Kosa (Encyclopediaof Vedia Ritual). One of the interedting undertaking of the Mandala is a Devanagari edition of the Avesta which is hound to prove useful to Vedic scholars. Work on an Ayurvedakosa is also going on here. One of the Text-Series, which has helped Sanskrit studies on a Scale comparable to the Gaekwad's Oriental Series, the Trivandrum Sanskrit Series, etc., is that of the Anandasrama, Poona. Nearly 140 texts have been issued in this Series, and after a lull, it has just started functioning again. Thereis also a big manuscript collection at the Anandasrama. 82. In other centres of Maharashtra also, the work in the field of Sanskrit is being assiduously done. Mention must be made of the Dharma-Kosa and the Mimamsa-Kosa which are being published by the Prajna Pathasala of Wai. The Kaivalya-Dhama of Lonavala, with a branch in Bombay, is devoted to research in Yoga. It is at present doing important work in Yoga from the point of view of the modern sciences of Physiology, Psychology and medicine. It has set up a laboraory for this purpose. Among other activities of the Kaivalya-Dhama may be mentioned the publication of literature relating to yoga and of a Journal called Yoga-Mimamsa. 83. Research activity in Orissa is sporadic and lacks proper coordination; it also needs to be made known outside the State. The Journal of the Kalinga Historical Research Society is no longer published; there is only one periodical in the fiels of Indology, namely, the one issued by the Historical Research Society, Bhuvaneswar. At Puri, there is an excellent collection of manuscripts and other similar material at the Jagannatha Aitihasika Gaveshana Samiti and the Raghunandan Pustakalaya (run by Pandit Sadasiva Ratha). But all this is not known to outside scholars, nor is it being fully utilised even by local scholars. 84. In Andhra, there is the Telugu-Academy at Kakinada, with a collection of manuscripts and some publications to its credit. Better known, however, is the Andhra Historical Research Society, Rajahmundry, which has been issuing a Journal for some yearspast. Unfortunately, this only private Research Society of Andhra is languishing for want of proper assistance. A Research Institution, which started on a big scale but which has had a rather unsettled career so far, is the Sri Venkateswara Oriential Institute, Tirupati. The Institute was organised out of the funds of the Sri Tirupati-Tirumalai Devasthanam, but , after several infructious attempts to reorganise or upgrade it, it has now been finally handed over to the newly started Sri Venkateswara University. It is expected that it will now be in a position to embark on a definite programme of work. The Institute possesses a valuable collection of manuscripts and publishes some texts and a Journal. The Vaikhanasa Agama textsissued by the Institute will be of special interest to scholars. 85. In Madras, there is considerable activity in the fiels of Sanskritic research going on outside the Madras University. The Adyar Library and Research Centre has a valuable collection of manuscripts ans printed books . Descriptive Catalogues of someof these manuscripts have already been published, while the rest await examination and description. The Adyar Library has so far published nearly 100 volumes of Texts, Studies and Reprints in its Series. it also Publishes a Journal,Brahma-Vidya or Adyar Library Bulletin. The Adyar Library and Research Centre is at present financed and conducted by the Theosophical Society, but its further enlargement or the continuance of its research programme depend on the help that would be received from outside of the Society and its members. 86. The Kuppuswami Sastri Research Institute, Madras, founded in thename of the foremost Sanskrit Professor of the South who hadbuilt up a veritable South Indian School in the field of Sanskrit Studies and Research, is a continuation of the Journal of Oriental Research (started in 1927) and the Series of Texts and Studies which Mahamahopadhyaya Prof.S.Kuppuswami Sastri conducted during his life-time. The Institute now carries on the work of the Journal and the Series, maintainsa growing Library and Reading Room, and arranges learned lectures by visiting scholars. It has on its programme of work the completion of the edition of the Dhvanyaloka as revised by Kuppuswami Sastri, the Publication of the Lectures and writings of Kuppuswami Sastri, a Gita-biblography, and a Sanskrit and Prakrit Men of Letters Series. The Kuppuswami Sastri Research Institute is the onlylearned society in the South organised privately on the model of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research, Institute, Poona, but it has not so far reveived any aid at all from the local or the Central Government. It subsists solely and friends of culture. 87. Some other activities in the fiels of Sanskrit research in Madras and its environs may be mentioned here. The Balamanorama Press, Mylapore, has published some standard Sanskrit texts; Ganesh& Co., Madras 17, has brought out the Series of Tantrik Texts and Studies of Arthur Avalon (Sir John Wood-roffe). A few texts, prominent among which is the Ramayana, have been issued by the Madras Law Journal Press. The Ubhaya Vedanta Granthamala Society brings out editions of Srivaisnava works. Vavilla Rama Swami Sastrulu and Sons have Printers and publishers of standard Sanskrit texts for long. In Kanchipuram the Granthmala Office is bringing out works of Srivaisnava authors like Vedanta Desika. The Advaita Sabha of Kumbhakonam, functioning under the aegis of the Kanchi Kamakoti Sankaracharya Pitha, has been issuing some Advaita classics. 88. The Maharaja Sarfoji Sarasvati Mahal Library, Tanjore, is the best known centre of Sanskrit and allied research in the interior of the Madras State. This Library grew out of the Nayak and Maratha Rulers and to which substantial additions had been made by Raja Sarfoji II in the beginning of the 19th century. A Descriptive Catalogue of these manuscripts has already been published. After Independence, this Library has received grants from the Madras Government for the publication of some of its manuscripts in Sanskrit and other languages. The materials availble in the Library warrant its upgrading into a Research Institute. There should also be appointed a larger staff trained in research methods. The present publications of the Library, barring a few exceptions, show a poor standard and lack of method. The Honorary Secretary of the Library tols this Commisson that the sale proceeda of its publications (which amounted to about Rs.50,000 per year) had to be credited to the Government which gave it the publication grant. He suggested that, if the Library was permitted to utilise these sale proceeds, it would be able to do more solid work. 89. At Tiruvayyaru, the Srinivasa Press publishes some sanskrit texts. But the best know printer-publisher of Sanskrit classics in South Madras is the Vani Vilas Press, Srirangam, which has brought out the Memorial Edition of the complete works of Sanskara and many other volumes in attractive style. It was reported to us that the Press was not now doing well, and that even the sanskara Gurukula Patrika, which it used to bring out mainly for the serial publication of sanskrit texts, had been discontinued. 90. In the Mysore State, Bangalore has one of the oldest private Research Societies, the Mythis Society. The Society has a good library and publishes a Quarterly Journal, which has had a noteworthy carre for nearly half a century now. 91. There are several smaller and more recently started research institutions at different other centres, which are working in the field of pure Sanskrit or of sanskrit along with the local language, history, archaeology, etc. They collect manuscripts and publish bulletins and texts. Some of these institutions may be found mentioned in the lists in the Appendices. 92. Advanced study of Sanskrit and original investigations in it are being pursued by many private individuals and officials employed otherwise than as teachers or tesearch scholars. Such persons have generally to work in mofussil centres. During our tours, many witnesses in the mofussil centres of the different States, both Professors and other persons interested in higher study, told us that the libraries even in important towns were very poor. Shri Achyutha Menon, the former Chief Secretary of the Cochin State, who was engaged in some research work, told us that in the whole of Kerala there was not one well-equipped library which could be useful for research purposes. And this appeared to us to be true of many parts of the country. This stateof things needs to be looked into by the relevant authorities. While Sanskrit books are not available in many libraries, either on loan or for consultation, they cannot also be easily purchased. Several witnesses stressed before us the fact that there were not enough firms publishing Sanskrit works. There was also the paucity of sanskrit booksellersw, and the few who operated in the Sanskrit field did not publicise their lists widely so that if was often difficult for the public to know what latestbooks had appeared on the subjects of their interest. 93. When we review the various activities in the field of Sanskrit and Indological Research, we find that there is much enthusiasm in the matter of the collection of research material, the starting and conducting of Research Journals and Series, and theplanning of research projects, big and small. But more of ten than not, this enthusiasm either slackens or is frustrated on account of the poor response from the public and the authorities. All the private Institutes and Research Centres badly need financial assistance. In most centres, scholars have to run these institutions in an honorary capacity, with small or no staff at all, and they have largely to depends on such members of the public as have some interest in this kind of work. In some places, the institutions, which had started with scholarly objectives, tended to become, for various reasons, rather too popular in character. In the publication activities of several newly started institutions, proper direction and scholarly standard in work are wanting. The libraries and manuscript collections are generally not well equipped or adequately looked after. Some manuscript libraries have kept themselves closed to the pubic or scholars. This situation of drift should not be allowed to continue. it is, therefore, most essential that all Research Institutes, Manuscript Libraries, publication activites, etc., are brought under a co-ordinating system in respect of guidance and financial aid. (v) Attitude of the Public towaeds Sanskrit 94. By and large the attitude towards Sanskrit in the country is favourable. By this, we do not only mean that the votaries of Sanskrit studies are enthusiastic about Sanskrit; but we want more particularly to emphasise that the general public, even persons whose main interest lied in other aspects of national life or in other branchers of education or in other languages and leteratures, feel that sanskrit must be properly cultivated and promoted. Generally speaking, the people of India love and venerate Sanskrit with a feeling which is next only to that of patriotism towards Mother India. This feeling permeates the common man, the litterateur and the eduationist, the business man, the administrator and the politician. Everybody realises its cultural importance and known that whatever one cherishes as the best and the noblest in things Indian is embbedded in Sanskrit. In the case of some people, however, this veneration does not go beyond a lip homage; these people are afraid that this ancient language will come in the way of the growth of their own beloved regional languages. There are others who do not want Sanskrit top come down from her high pedestal and walk the streets and market-places. A more pronounced attitude of indifference, neglect or even among some Zealots of the local languages--among a type of advocates of Hindi in the North and a section of the Tamils in the South. Nevertheless, the majority of the votaries of the regional languages are of the view that Sanskrit is essentail for the growth of the regional languages, and that its cultivation reienforces and helps creative activity in the latter. 95. There are also people who identify Sanskrit with a mental makeup which opposes everything modern and hinders progress. This view, as we have shown elsewhere, is wholly untenable. Equally untenable is the attitude which becomes evident in the unfortunate propaganda that Sanskrit is the language of a paricular community. This kind of attitude has created conditions of a regular cold war against Sanskrit in a part of SouthIndia. That Sanskrit does not belong to any particular community. This kind of attitude has created conditions of a regular cold war against Sanskrit does not belong to any particular counnunity is proved by andhra and Kerala where the entire non-Brahman classes are imbued with Sanskrit and speak a language highly saturated withSanskrit. In Kerala, even Izhavas, Thiyaas, Moplas and Christians read Sanskrit. In Madhya Pradesh, we were told, a paper in Sanskrit was compulsory at the School Final Examination and even Muslims took it. In a Luckmow Intermediate College, there are Muslim girls studying sanskrit;in Gujarat, Paris study it; in Panjab, there are several Sikhs among Sanskrit students and teachers, and Sastris and research scholars in Sanskrit. The Director of Public Instruction of Instruction of Madhya Pradesh, who is a Christian, told us that he advised the Anglo-Indian students also to read Sanskrit. it was necessary that, as future citizens of India, they gained an insight into the mind and the culture of the bulk of the Indian people. And this, he added, was possible only through the study of sanskrit. 96. In the course of our tours in South India, we interviewed several non-Brahmans in high position and active in public life, business, etc., and we found them all favourable to Sanskrit. In Madras City itself, we found that, both in the recognised schools and private classes, non-Brahmans, and even a few Muslims and Christians, studied Sanskrit. In one of the High Schools of Chidambaram, a Muslim student was reported to have stood first in Sanskrit;and in another school, there were Harijans among the Sanskrit stunents. In Childambaram we were glad to find a group of leading non-Brahman merchants of the town who appeared before us for inter view as staunch supporters of sanskrit education and culture. In Tanjore also, we were told by tthe Headmasters and Sanskrit teachers of local schools that non-Brahmans, Muslims and Christians freely took Sanskrit. It was again the Non-Brahmans, particularly the great benefactors belonging to the Chettiar community, who had, in the recent past, endowed many Pathasalas for Veda and Sanskrit. As we moved among the people, in the temples and the streets, in publicand private meetings, we found that, in Tamilnad, the antipathy towards Sanskrit was confined to a section trying to make political capital out of it, and that it was strongly organised and effectively ecpressed. Several Sanskrit lecturers and teachers represented to us that, when Sanskrit verses were sung in prayer or any Sanskrit frature was presented in public functions in the Colleges and the Schools a section of the student population started jeering and booing. Such things, along with certain administrative measures coming one after another, have been slowly pushing Sanskrit to the wall in this part of the country. It is, indeed, an irony of fate that this should be the situation in a region to which the rest of Indian used to look up as a veritable asylum of Indian culture and traditional learning. The anxiety which the people here felt about the future of Sanskrit was clearly horne outby the fact that Madras sent the largest number of replies to our Questionnaire. 97. As regards those who were keen on preserving the tradional Sanskrit learning and those who desired to promote it, namely, the Pandits, the managements of traditional institutions and other scholars and workers, we generally found that they had a deep faith in this system; only some were rather overzealous. A sense of proportion is always good. We were also sorry to note that there was, among these people, a general lack of parctical approach to the problems which faced them. Instead of devising any conctrete ways and means they frequently felt despondent and blamed the authorities for anything and everything. The decline in Sankrit learning is, in no small measure, due to the failing faith of those who should devote themselves to this learning. And we found that, in most places, even the available facilities were not being properly expliited. While we would plead with the authorities for a policy of active encouragement of Sanskrit, we would also plead with the public that it was for them totake to Sanskrit in large numbers and to see that their children were not turned away from it at the slightest excuse. 98. In the course of our tours, we noticed everywhere an unmistakeble awakening of the cultural consciousness of the people. There was a keen awareness of the importance of Sanskrit among people at large; and we soon realised that a complete picture ofthe situation regarding Sanskrit could not be had only by visiting Schools, Colleges, Universities and Pathasalas. For outside these educational institutions, there is in thecountry a network of voluntary organisations. The number and the extent of planned activities of these private bodies only underline the need for supplementing what is being done for Sanskrit through the official set-up. 99. In almost all cities and important towns there are privately organised associations for the promotion of sanskrit. Most of these are registered bodies andmany leading citizens of the locality, scholars and other influential persons, are connected with them. To a certain ectent, these associations fundtion as so many vigilance societies, taking note of any adverse move which would affect the position of Sanskrit. They carry out well-organised plans of sustained work, such as private Sanskrit classes and private Sanskrit examinations. Some are devoting their attention to the question of the simplification of the methods of teaching Sanskrit. The activities of these associations on the purely literary side comprehend meetings and lectures, Sanskrit publications, presentation of Sanskrit dramas, etc. They alsoorganise Vedic recitations wtill attract big audiences composed of the lay as well as the educated public. More significant perhaps than these is the interest which adults and reading with the Pandits, either individually or in small study-groups, Sanskrit philosophical texts. 100. These voluntary public activities in the field of sanskrit are all-comprehensive--general and special, popular and learned, scholastic as well as artistic literary as well as organisational. In fact, it was these activities among the general public which stuck us as the most encouraging circumstance. They definitely pointed to the recapture of that spirit and atmosphere, which would help Sanskrit again to emerge with a fresh vitality and force. CHAPTER IV SANSKRIT AND THE ASPIRATIONS OF INDEPENDENT INDIA I. A New Awakening of National Self-consciousness, and Sanskrit 1. Ever since the beginning of the 19th century, when, as a result of the contact with the mind of Europe, a new renaissance of the Indian spirit has started, the place of Sanskrit came to be re-established in a new way in the intellectual and spirituallife of the Indian people. At first in the case of the few of the protagonists of the new learning through English, Sanskrit appeared to have lost its significance and importance. But its presence in the background of the intellectual and cultural life of India was never lost sight of, because Sanskrit studies were till then quite flourishing in the traditional way. There was a tendency among a certain class of over-enthusiastic students of English to be carried away from their national moorings by the flood-tide of European modernism, but very quickly a proper balance was restoration of the balance. The discovery and study of Sanskrit by Europe opened up a hitherto-unknown chapter in the history of the peoples of Europe and Inda, and established a common Indo-European heritage for them. This fact gave to Sanskrit a new importance and prestige in the world-context. There was also appreciation of the philosophical, aesthetic and spiritual value of Sanskrit literature by European scholars. ThisGave a legitimate sense of pride and brough in a renewed interest in Sanskrit, particularly among our new intelligentsia. 2. The national aspirations of the Indian people became quickened during the second half of the last century when British colonialism and imperialism were for the first time realised as evil, and people began to dream of independence. With this desire for independence, the renascent Indian mind started to build up a new Weltanschauung which gave a new tone to Indian civilisation. It was a desire to synthesise the permanent and universal elements of Indian civilisation with the best that Europe could give us, both in thought and science. Sanskrit at that time permeated all aspects of Indian life, and so there could be no question of reviving it--only there was an attempt to modernise its study. The place of Sanskrit in Indian life and in the Indianset-up was taken for granted by the nationalist workers before Independence. When Bankim Chandra Chatterji composed his National Song Vande Mataram about the year 1880, he could bot have foreseen what an importance this movement, of which the two words, Vande Mataram, Practically became the basic mentra, the Rastra-Gayatri, if we may say so. He composed this song in Sanskrit (with a few Bengali sentences within) as the most natural thing. The place of Sanskrit was so obvious that no one gave any special thought to it. 3. Long before our Independence, some of our leaders were thinking of how best the unity of India as a single political and cultural unit could be strengthened. The English education had made us politically conscious. It was generally realised that English, though a foreign language, had helped to build up a sense of unity. But national aspirations were in favour of haivng an Indian language as a visible symbol of a single united Indian nation. Sanskrit was looked upon with respect, and its importance as a greatunifying force was also generally recognised. But there was also the view that Sanskrit was no longer a living language; and so serious efforts were not made to revive it as a great unifying force was also generally recognised. But therewas also the view that Sanskrit was no longer a living language; and so serious efforts were not made to revive it as a sort of common Indian speech. The wide prevalence of Hindi, in its various forms, gave to this language a postion of importance among its sister speeches. Therefore, in 1921, Gandhiji, and following him the congress also, accepted Hindi, in the last phase of our political struggle for freedom, as the prospective national language of India. After Independence, the Comstituent Assembly decided that the official language of India was to be Hindi written in Devanagari script, and this was put in the Constitution. But the proceedings of the constituent Assembly on this question were anything but smooth, and though there was a tacit agreement in this matter, Sanskrit never ceased to loom in the background. Ageneral feeling was there that if the binding force of Sanskrit was taken away, the people of India would cease to feel that they were parts of a single culture and a single nation. 4. The readiness with which Hindi received the support of a large section of the Indian people was because Hindi appeared to make a stand for Sanskrit. Its script was the same as that of Sanskrit--the Devanagari, as adopted now as the pan-Indianscriptfor the Sanskrit language. Besides, Hindi wanted to draw its words of higher culture from foreign languages, and for this purpose, it naturally went back to Sanskrit. This was for Hindi its main recommendation, that it was, in a way, seeking to followSanskrit more than ever. In the meanwhile, through nearly 2,000 years of close connection with Sanskrit, most of the mediaeval and modernlanguages of India have become thoroughly impregnated with the spirit of Sanskrit both in their words and in their ideas. So Sanskritised Hindi seemed to be the fitting representative for all the modern languages of India, and was looked upon as the most suitable national speech for a resurgent India;and in spite of the strong plea put forward by certain groups of people in favour of a cosmopolitan and not too much Sanskritised Hindi, by far the majority opinion about Hindi as the pan-Indian language, would certainly underline the expression Sansskritised. For, Sanskritised Hindi alone can be easily understood in all non-Hindi-speaking areas. 5. The support of Hindi in a way meant laying stress on the unity of India through Sanskrit, even if it were through the intermeduacy people, it was thought could be best expressed through Sanskrit functioning through the Modern Indian Languages. 6. In the national self-consciousness of India at the present day, Sanskrit name for India--Bharata--has been officially recognised. The national motto of India is a Sanskrit quotation from the Upanisads--Satyam eva jayate ("Truth alone triumphs"). The national Anthem of India, Jana-Gana Mana, composed by Rabindranath Tagore, is 90% Sanskrit and 10% Sanskritic, and hence is understood all over India. The Government of India have officially adopted Sri and Srimati as offical forms of address. The motto of the Loka-Sabha is Dharma-cakra-pravartanaya ("for the promulgation of the Wheel of Law"). The All India Radio has adopted as its guiding principle and motto the Sanskrit expression Bahujana-hitaya bahujana-sukhaya ("For the good of the many andfor the happiness of the many"). The Life Insurance Corporation's motto is Yogaksemam Vahamy aham, which is a quotation from the Bhagavad-Gita, meaning "I take responsibility for access and security". The great principle of India's foreign policy is expressed by the Sanskrit term Panca-Sila. In several other departments occasions like the laying of a foundation stone or the holding of a university Convocation--Sanskrit is slowly coming up, as a fiting expression of our national aspirations. In order to maintain our position in the comity of nations, the use of sanskrit is supported as being conducive to the restoration of our sense of self-respect. 2. The Importance of Sanskrit in Indian History and Culture 7. Sanskrit is one of the great languages of the world, and it is the classical language par excellence not only of India but of a good part of Asia as well. There is, of course, the time-honoured attitude towards Sanskrit, which holds it in a spirit of veneration,as the most ancient language of the world and as the repository of all spiritual knowledge and science. This veneration is reinforced in modern times by historical and critical study and appreciation. There is no question that Sanskrit is one of the greatest languages of civilisation; and comparable to it are a few other great languages of the world, equally languages of civilisation which are still effective, like Greek, Chinese, Latin and Arabic. Its value for humanity in general and for India in paricular is that of a great feeder language of the world--a language which not only gives the pabulum of a whole host of words and phrases which are necessary for the self-expression of the speeches of many a modern people who have not as yet come up to the mark, but supplies through its literature the mental and spiritual pabulum as well to the peoples of the present age. Sanskrit is the speech through which the civilisation of India, ever since its formation in the Vedic Period,has foundits expression for over four thousand years. (a)Sanskrit as the Greatest Cultural Heritage of India 8. When Jawaharlal Nehru made following observations about the importance of Sanskrit in India, he only reiterated the general belief of the Indian people, and the considered views which have been expressed not only by the greatest thinkers and leaders of India, but also by foreign scholars and specialists in Indian history and civilisation who are in a position to appraise objectively the value of Sanskrit: "If I was asked what is the greatest treasure which India possesses and what is her finest heritage, I would answer unhesitatingly--it is the Sanskrit language and literature, and all that is tains. This is a magnificent inheritance, and so long as this endues and influences the life of our people. so long the basic genius of India will continue". As a matter of fact, a long series of quotations can easily be made in this connection from the most eminent savants and thinkers of both India and outside India, beginning with the illustrious Sir William Jones, who in 1786 announced to the western worls the great fact of Sanskrit being a language "more perfect than Greek, more copious than Latin, and more exquisitely refined than either", and indicated the place of sanskrit and its importance, not only for India but also for the whole world. 9. The long and unbroken continuity of Sanskrit in the life and tradition of India is something unique, and excepting China, with her system of writing keeping up this historical continuity, no other country in the world can show this unbroken line of development. The Greek and the Roman worls suffered from a violent break when Christainity came and snapped the chain. Similarly Egypt and Babylon also sustained the double break of both language and religion. In India, religion and language have bothmaintained this unbroken continuity through the ages. 10. In this context, Sanskrit has shown a dynamic force, the force of a language that is perennially living --it has never been static. During its long course of development and expansion, it absorbed numerous elements from the speeches current in allparts of the country. It thus ultimately atained a truly all-India character, in the building of which all the people of India had a share. 11. "Sanskrit", in the broad sense of the term, can very well be taken to include the entire linguistic development of the Aryan speech in India, from the Vedic period right down to the establishment of the Turks as the dominant power in North India at the beginning of the 13th century A.D. This view of Sanskrit has been the traditional view, which was accepted by the early students of Sanskrit and Prakrit in India, and also by the early foreigners like Albiruni who took to Sanskrit and Indian studies. From this traditional point of view, the spoken forms of the Aryan speech in India--the Prakrits and the Apabhramsas--were never looked upon as separate languages: they were considered to be merely different styles of the same Sanskrit speech, thoughtin pronunciation and in grammer there was a considerable amount of modification. The intelligibility of Sanskrit to the masses, who used Prakrit in their ordinary life, was the criterion which they applied. A foreign observer like Albiruni also noted that the current language of India had two forms--the Sanskrit, as the learned and literary speech forming its outward, formal and literary facade, so to say, and the Prakrits, which were not regarded as distinct from Sanskrit for most practical purpose. This is necessary to be pointed out, for, somethimes people cite, without much thought, the evidence of Sanskrit dramas to show that the women and common characters understood only Prakrit, forgetting the fact that the Prakrit speakers made their Prakrit speeches in reply to Sanskrit speeches which they followed in all the subtlety of the latter. 12. In any case, as century by century there was development of civilisation in India, we have the Sanskrit speech in its various stagee and forms--the Sanskrit as in the Samhitas; the Sanskrit of the Brahmanas and the Upanisads; the more popular Sanskrit of the Mahabharata and the Ramayana as well as of the Puranas; the Sanskrit of the learned Schools as envisaged by Panini, Katyayana and Patanjali as the language of a specially educated class, the Sistas; the mixed sanskrit of the Buddhists; the Sanskrit of the Practicval and scientific Writing, such as those on Arthsastra, Kama-sastra, Natya-sastra, Ayurveda and Jyotisa; the simple sanskrit of a newly developed type of belles-lettres as in the Dramas and the simple Kavyas; the ornate Sanskrit as inthe more elaborate Kavyas and prose Romances; the simple unsophisticated folk style of sanskrit, running close to the spirit and vocabulary of the vernaculars, such as we find in the fable-books like the Pancatantra and the Hitopadesa, and in later narrative poems, and in thousands of Subhasitas or reflectve and didactic stanzas and distichs, which have always been in the mouths of the people; and besides, those forms of speech which frankly belong to the Sanskrit orbit, e.g., the important literature inPali and the various Prakrits and Apabhramsas, which it is not possible to understand fully without reference to their Sanskrit bases. All these form the repository of a mass of literature which gives expression to the intellectual and spiritual advancement of Indian in her great creative ages. The total output of this literature (even if we were to exclude that of Pali and the Prakrits) easily transcends in extent everything which any other ancient or medieval literature can show. Not only has theextraordinarily high quality of a very large percentage of it too. 13. The Indian people and the Indian civilisation were born, so to say, in the lap of Sanskrit. It went hand in hand with the historical development of the Indian people, and gave the noblest expression to their mind and culture which has come down to our day as an inheritance of priceless order for India, may, for the entire world. 14. Sanskrit is, therefore, not merely a classical language which enshrines the ancient literature of India, but it is something of much greater significance. It was through Sanskrit literature, e.g., in the Vedas on the one hand and the Epics and the Puranas on the other, that the Indian body politic created for itself a consistent and a comprehensive interpretation of its past and a raison d'etre and a hope for its present and its future. In the great cultural integration that was evolved, a commonideal was built up with the conception of a Moral or Divine Order called Rta and Dharma as its basis. In this ideology, everything could have its place, and place of harmony; and herein lay the wonderful power of elasticity shown by the literature of Sanskrit. it became a great force for bringing about within the evergrowing orbit of Sanskrit culture, in which all facets of thought, including certain heterodox attitudes of life and being, could also have their honoured and legitimate places. Sanskrit was the linguistic and literary expression of that great Cultural Synthesis which is identical with Bharata-Dharma, the Spirit of India, or Indianism, as it has been sometimes described. 15. The whole of India thus gradually came under the aegis of sanskrit, Sanskrit did not suppress other languages which had merits model were prepared for the various Indian languages including those of the South. This policy of `live and let live', and even of active support, led to spontaneous acceptance of Sanskrit. 16. Sanskrit is our great mental and spiritual link with the Indo-European and Aryan-speaking world to the West of India--with Iran, with Armenia, with Europe, Sanskrit is the elder sister of Greek and Latin, of Gothic and Old Irish, and of Old Slav. The Modern North Indian Aryan Languages and the Indo-European languages outside Inida-- Hindi, Bengali, Marathi and the rest on one hand, and English, French, Russian and the rest on the other-are cousins, belonging to the same family. The very large andindispensable Sanskrit element in the cultivated Dravidian languages of South India, Telugu, Kannada, Tamil and Malayalam, is a cultural link of great value between these and the Indo-European Languages of Europe. 17. Sanskrit, as the oldest Indo-European language with a great literature, has a unique importance even for the people of Indo-European speechoutside India. it was the inspiration from Sanskrit which had led to the esablishment of the Indo-European world, and had brought in a new conception of history. On a study of Sanskrit and its sister languages, the basic unity of the Indo-European people has been, to some extent, established . 18. Sanskrit by its origin and its baisc character links us to the West. But it has been no less a potent bond of union for India with the lands of Asia-with Serindia or Central Asia of ancient and mediaeval times where the cultures of China and Indiahad a common meeting place; with Tibet; with China and the lands within the orbit of Chinese civilisation--Korea and Japan and Vietnam; and above all , with the lands of Farther Inda-Burma and Siam, Pathet Lao and Cambodia, and Cochin China or Champa, and the area of Malaya and Indonesia. Ceylon is of course a historical and cultural projection of India. In all these lands, Sanskrit found a home for itself as the vehicle of Indian thought and civilisation which flowed out into them as a peaceful cultural extension, from the closing centuries of the first thousand years before Christ. it found for itself new homes in the other countries of Asia as noted above. it found also a place of honour in the culture of a great and civilised people like the Chinese, and following the Chinese the Koreans, the Japanese and the Turks of Central Asia, and the Mongols and the Manchus. 19. The possession of Sanskrit by India thus makes India's position unique, as a sort of a link and synthesis of the various remifications of the human race and society. It is thus easy to see that Sanskrit preserves the entire culture of India in the past-a culture which went on developing for at least 4,000 years--with all its pre-historic and historic associations and connections as with the worlds of Europe and Asia. The Sanskrit tradition is still a living one, and the line of development has come down unbroken to our day. (b) The Humanities in Sanskrit, and the Intellectual Value of Sanskrit Studies 20. Sanskrit as a language is an instrument of the greatest value in the delineation of all though-process and the most profound ratiocination, of all ideas which are deep and subtle, of all forms of aesthetic and emotional perception, and , above all, of the most profound and intimate forms of spiritual intuition and understanding. All the subjects which form the proper scope of the Humanities have their fullest play in Sanskrit. 21. To begin with, the study of the Sanskrit language itself is an intellectual discipline of a very high type. The compsition of the Sanskrit language, with its roots and terminations, and laws of sound change and employment of forms for subtle distinctions of meaning, is comparable to that of its sister speech, Greek, and of Arabic. The treatment of the Sanskrit language by the ancient grammarians of India is a wonderful feast for the intellect, and the very effort in mastering Sanskrit grammaticalrules, in order to be able to use the language intelligently and to purpose, becomes a pleasure by itself, which is bracing for both the mind and the spirit. Barend Faddegon, a Dutch Indologist, has said in a spirit of lyric ecstacy: "I adore Panini, because he reveals to us the spirit of India; I adore India because it reveals to us the Spirit, the Spirit". 22. Science at the present day concerns itself with both the physical World round us, as well as with the World of Man in all aspects of life. Sanskrit literature deals with both, but more particularly with the "Higher Science", with the knowledge about Man and his Inner Being--his Mind, his feelings, his Spirit. As the language of an ancient people, which had its greatest literary development during the ages when the physical sciences were not very much advanced, it cannot be said that the strength of Sanskrit Primarily lies in its works on the physical sciences. Nevertheless, some of the basic principles of the most important sciences have been enshrined in Sanskrit. The amount of material in Sanskrit for the study of the physical sciences, particularly in connection with their early history, is not negligible. But is is in the Humanities that we note the preeminence of Sanskrit. And specially in modern times when a sort of dangerous over-weightage is being given to sciences and Technology, the Humanities in Sanskrit will prove greatly helpful in restoring the proper balance. It is, indeed, highly significant that, as Prime Minister Shri Nehru told this Commission, Professor Oppenheimer, the great American atomic Scientist, spends considerable time in reading Sanskrit and Pali. 23. If we were to study the contents of Sanskrit literature, we would realise the wonderful variety in which the ramifications of the human spirit have been treated in that literature. We have, after the preliminary discipline of acquiring the Sanskritlanguage, the various branches of Sanskrit learning with which a serious student can occupy himself for years, even for life, and bring the benefits of his studies and enquiry for the betterment of Manikind. A conspectus of the verious branches of Sanskrit studies would indicate this extent and varety. 24. we have, in the first instance, the Vedic literature, which forms one of the oldest literatures of the world, still studied in an unbroken tradition. In the Vedas are embodied not only religion, philosophy and mysticism, but also peotry of high literary quality, and the cultural history of the earliest phase of Indian civilization. There is found there even political history which has to be extracted from scattered reference. The study of the Vedas, linguistically, forms the basis of the study of the sciences of Comparative Philology, Comparative Religion, and Comparative Literature. 25. Intimately connected with Vedic literature is the study of the Sanskrit Language itself. The lingistic literature, which began with the Vdic Siksa or Phonetics, Vyakarana or formal Grammer, and Nirukta or Etymology, has a unique place in the intellectual history of India and of the world. Yaska in enunciating the rules of etymology has formulated for the first time some aspects of the growth of language through phonetic and semantic changes. The Sanskrit Grammar of Panini is one of the greatest achievements of the human intellect, and it had been admitted to be so by all who ever had any occasion to study it. Subsequent developments of Sanskrit Grammar indicate a line of investigation and exposition which is unique in the study of the stuctural and formal aspect of language. At the Grammarians 9not only with regard to the functions of the various composite elements of speech but also with regard to the semantic and philosophical aspects of language, the study of which has taken a new turn inEurope) are giving new points to the modern Science of Language. 26. Wth regard to the philosophical literature of India, it is not necessary to say much India has been described as the home of Philosophy. Beginning with theVedas right down to our times--with personalities like Sri Aurobindo and Radhakrishnam--the intellect of India in this great branch of humanistic studies has been most fruitful. Not only have all the possible lines of approach to understand the Ultimate Reality and the Nature of Things been explored in Inidan philosophy, but it has also led to some great practical results in life. The study of philosophy has given to Indians a certain amount of urbanity of approach--a civilised mentality, which,while holding to the views arrived at by it through reasoning and through intution, admits the validity for other persons with regard to their own conclusion. The Indian mind has been made "hospitable" towards all types of ideas and notions in philosophy: and that has given to India her pre-eminent characteristic of being a people at once human and humane in their approach to things. Ideological exclusiveness and persecution of men, just because of the particular ideas held by them, are totally foreign to the spirit of India as it has been moulded by her philosophy. And this philosophy of India isenshrined in Sanskrit. 27. The ancient Indian attitude to life and to the Ultimate Reality has found an expression in its Epics and Puranas. The Mahabharata and the Ramayana are in a way the greatest Books of India, and they are among the foremost literary composition in theentire world of literature. They form the veritable literature for the masses of India; and just as they give expression to the mind and spirit as well as the life of India in the past, they are even now potent forces in preserving and moulding for thepresent age the mind and the life of modern Indians. Shri Jawaharlal Nehru says: "I do not think any person can understand India or her people fully without possessing a knowledge of the two magnificant epics which are India's pride and treasure". 28. In the domain of pure literature also, Sanskrit presents a unique variety. There are long poems, epic and narrative; there is a huge mass of lyric peotry, didactic, descriptive, reflective and erotic; there are verses and distichs which touch upon the entire gamut of human experience, and by their elaboration in some places and terseness in others, present a world of literrary beauty which is unique;there are dramas, some of which have become already a possession for humanity everywhere. Then there are prose romances in a most elaborate and learned style; there are short stories and fables whioch are written in simple and picturesque style, easy even for children t understand; and the various other branches of pure literature are adequately represented in Sanskrit. If literature is for the humanising of the spirit of man, Sanskrit literature has done immense service in this direction, both in India and outside. 29. Sanskrit has also made noteworthy contributions to the study of literature, leading to the Philosophy of Aesthetics and of Expression. In Poetics and in Dramaturgy, Sanskrit has a distinct tradition of study and exposition, beginning with Bharata'sNatyasastra and culminating in the theories of Rasa and Dhvani as propounded by Anandavardhana and Abhinavagupta. 30. In the field of Ethics and Law, the Dharmasastras in Sanskrit present another great achievement of India, as has been shown by the exhaustive studies of Mm.Dr. P.V. Kane. In later commentaries and digests, we find the Indian views about the different aspects of law and justice fully formulated. The legal discussions in the Mitaksara, the Viramitrodaya and similar other works are quite unmatched so far as their terseness, precision, dignity and facility of expression are concerned. In Politics and Economics, the contribution brought by Sanskrit for the service of man is certainly of a very high order. Beginning with the Arthasastra or Economics and Politics, and on Niti or Political, Social and Moral Conduct. A work like the Arthasastra stands comparison with the State-craft which have been made anywhere in the word; and this was an achievenment of Sanskrit literature of over 2,000 years ago. 31. There are other branches of sanskrit literature which deal with the Exact Sciences. Thus we have a very valuable literature on Medical Science and Medicine, beginning with the systematic treatises of Kasyapa, Susruta and Charaka. In this line, theachievements of the Indian Doctors were received warmly by the Chinese and the Arabic worlds, and it is not unlikely that Greek and Chinese medicine in Pre-Christian times was also influenced by Indian medicine. In Mathematics and Astronomy, certain advances were made which we find enshrined in Sanskrit literature of pre-Christian times. 32. To make the acquisition of Sanskrit easy, side by side with Grammar, there developed a literature on Lexicography which included arrangements of words according to their categories. Efforts in this direction were initiated in the synonymic and other lists of words as found in the Vedic Nighantus. The Amarakosa ofAmara Sinha has been mentioned by Roget in his Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases as being an important land-mark in the arrangement of words according to categories. 33. So much for literature which may be said to have been written mainly under the orthodox Indian inspiration. But there are other branches of Sanskrit literature outside the palw of orthodoxy, namely, the Buddhist and the Jaina literatures in Sanskrit. Buddhist Sanskrit literature is almost as vast as Pali literature, and it embodies Philosophy, Religion, Poetry and Story-telling. The speculations of Jaina Philosophy are elaborated in a rich mass of Sanskrit literature. Besides this, a very extensive literature or narrative poems and epics, dramas and prose tales, as well as hymns and works on technical subjects like grammar, lexicography, astronomy, etc., is found in the Jaina contribution to Sanskrit. This, of course, is in addition to the Pali literature of the Hinayana Buddhists and the Prakrit and Apabhramsa literature of the Jainas,which cannot be dissociated from Sanskrit for their proper or complete understanding. Thus, we can see that, for intellectual and cultural purposes, the quantity as well as quality of Sanskrit literature is quite enormous and exhaustive. (c) Sanskrit Literature and the Full Development of the Mind 34. It has been wrongly averred that the study of Sanskrit is only sacerdital, and is mainly confined to the various ideologies, institutions, cults and practices of orthodoxHindu religion. According to this view, Sanskrit can only help to make people reactionary in their attitude to life--make them shut their eyes to the actual condtions of life and merely hark back to an ideal past age. it must, however, be pointed out in this connection that all literature in Sanskrit can by no means be said to be purely religious or sectarian in character. As indicated elsewhere in this Chapter, there is in Sanskrit a considerable amount of technical, scientific and secular literature. works on polity like the Arthasastra of Kautilya or on architecture like the Manasara, the Samaranganasutradhara and the Aparajitaprccha, as also many other treatises relating to the Kalas, can certainly not be characterised as religious. We must also not forget, in this context the pure literature embodied in the various types of Sanskrit drama and poetry. It must be furtherpointed out that the large mass of literature in sanskrit was not produced by any particular community. Several instances can be quoted of non-Brahman and non-Hindu authors who have made signigicant contributions to Sanskrit literature. It is definitely wrong to assume that Sanskrit represents only the religious literature of the Hindus. 35. This aspect of Sanskrit, that it was bot exclusively religious, was appreciated even by some of the Muslim rulers of India, who patronised Sanskrit literature, and, in some cases (as in Bengal and Gujarat), had their epigraphic records inscribed in Sanskrit. It was the scientific and secular aspects of Sanskirit literature that made the Arabs welcome Indian scholars to Baghdad to discourse on sciences like Medicine and Astronomy, and to translate books in these subjects into Arabic. The Ayurveda system of medicine, until recently, was the truly National Indian System,. which was practised everywhere, and access to this was through Sanskrit books, which even Muslim practitioners of the Ayurveda in Bengal studied. The study of Sanskrit is not productive of a reactionary spirit, any more than the study or continuance of English in India is a part of a plan to bring back the Englishmen as our rulers. What better instances can we have of a refreshingly liberal and rational outlook in our greatest Sanskrit writers from early times than the sentiments expressed by Kalidasa, Varahamihira and Sankara:Puranam ity eva na sadhu sarvam ("All that is old is not gold"--Kalidasa);mleccha hi yavanas tesu samyak sastram idam sthitam rsivat te' pi pujyah syuh ("The Yavanas are Mlecchas, but htis science is wellestablished among them;and they too deserve our respect even as our own sages"--Varahamihira);na hi purvajo mudha asid ity avarajena'pi mudhena bhavitavyam ("Because one's forbears were ignorant, it does not follow that we also should remain ignorant"-Sankara)? One of the basic things in the Indian mind is its approach to all matters through the intellect. The highest Vedic prayer, the Gayatri, is a prayer to God for stimulating man's thoughts (dhiyoyo nah pra codavat). Even an atheistic and materialistic philosophical system like that of Carvaka or Lokayata found its expreswsion in Sanskrit. In the Nirukta, Argument or Discussion (Tarka) has been described as a Rishi or Sage, to be followed by men in their intellectual pursuits. Even in the present age, among Sanskrit Pandits, we have instances of a conspicuous clarity of mind and urbanity of behaviour which cannot be the result of a reactionary or a blindly orthodox mentality, which Sanskrit is alleged to engender. 36. In this connection, one would do well to understand clearly the two main characterisitcs of Sanskrit culture. In the first instance, the Sanskrit world present, so to say, a remarkable Unity in the midst of a bewildering Diversity. As F.W.Thomas, in his Presidential Address before the Ninth All India Oriental Conference held at Trivandrum in 1937, put it: "Every State, City or Shrine manifested some individuality in rite, usage or mentality. Nevertheless, they were all linked by a common originand tradition, and thus the Aryan world was, as it were, a firmament studded with innumerable luminaries of the same order, but each insisting upon shining to some extent with an individually tinted light". Pointing out the second characteristic, Thomas continued : "The Indian Man, partly by reason of the antiquity, and partly in consonance with the complexity of his social conditions, as well as through deliberate cultivation of reflexion, has been more of a thinker than are other men. Even for the head succh terms as dharmacintaka, etc". (d) Sanskrit and National Solidarity 37. We have indicated previously the position of Sanskrit as the expression as well as the embodiment of Indian culture and civilisation. The sense of the Indian people, which is instinctively realised though not intellectually appraised, looks upon Sanskrit as the binding forse for the different people of this great country of India in its various areas, each with its own language andwith its own local way of life. This was the greatest discovery of India that the Commission made as it travelled from Kerala to Kashmir and from Kamarupa to Saurastra: that while the way of life and the social habits and customs which we found among the peoples differed in a number of ways, they all felt as one people and were proud to regard themselves as participants in a common heritage and a common nationality. That heritage emphatically is the heritage of Sanskrit. In the olden days, Sanskrit was the most natural common language for the educated people of the whole of India. It is a matter of common knowledge that even at the present day, Sanskrit scholars from different parts of India discourse and argue among themselves in Sanskrit. Just like English or Hindi, Sanskrit still has its own important place in presentday India as one of the common languages of the country. This aspect of the Sanskrit language, namely, that it is possible for an Indian or a foreigner knowing no other language than Sanskrit to be able to find through out the whole of India some persons everywhere who can communicate with himin Sanskrit, has given strong support to the contention of a distinguished group of India's thought-leaders that Sanskrit can very well be rehabilitated as a pan-Inidan speech, to strengthen the solidarity of Modern India. Indeed, to emphasise this point, a witness, appearing before the Commission, suggested that if the Sanskrit Commission had come before the States Reorganisation Commission many of the recent bickerings in our national life could have been avoided. Dr.Katju tols this Commission of a distinguished French Indologist who had said that he was surprised at the controversy which had been going on in India about the National Language, for, according to him, Indians already had a National Language in Sanskrit. There is no doubt that Sanskrit is in our blood, that we have grown in Sanskrit and cannot get out of it. And, while this Commission does not want to insist, at this stage, on Sanskrit being made the National Language of India (though some eminent witnesses like Dr. C.V.Raman suggested that Sanskrit should be declared as the National Language, and some other equally eminent witnesses said that the view of an impartial foreign scholar like F.W. Thomas who said : "I, therefore, do not feel that the idea of Sanskrit resuming its place as a common literary medium for India is a hopelessly lost cause, since the alternatives are either that there should be no such medium (other than English, which, it should be remembered, is, in regard to many necessary Indian notions, itself without resourcea), or the dominance, despite unavoidable reluctances, of some particular vernacular". 38. There is, how, another great aspect of Sanskrit, and this aspect should be specially sonsidered. We can never insist too strongly on this signal fact that Sanskrit has been the Great Unifying Force of India, and that India with its nearly 400 millions of people is One Country, and not half a dozen or more countries, only because of sanskrit. it is because some leaders among the Muslims of India, not attuned to the spirit of Sanskrit, or deliberately ignoring it,tried (partly through the inspiration of the British imperialism)to channel the masses of Indian citizens professing Islam along a differnt line, seeking to throw off the inheritance of Sanskri, that India had to suffer the pangs of a living amputation, bringing untold misery on millions of people; and herein comes the paramount importance of Sanskrit at the present day. 39. Refernce may be made to parallel situations in three foreign countries. The place of Sanskrit in maintainig both the cultural and political ynity of India is like that of the Chinese system of writing in preserving the cultural and political unityof China. In China, virtually there is not one language but a number of lanuages, all coming from a single ancient Chinese speech, but they are generally described as "dialects". The fact of their really being languages, and not mere dialects (in Han or Chinese-speaking China) is obscured by the great factor of the Chinese languages may doffer from one another profoundly in pronunciation as well as tecent grammatical developments, but the fact that the written language consisting of characters (giving pictorial representation of ideas, as well as combined characters standing for sounds-cum-ideas,-pictograms, ideograms and phonograms), is studied and understood everywhere, is a great link which binds up most remote corners of China into a single cultural unit. Any attempt to replace the Chinese system of writing by a strictly phonetic system whether of Chinese or of foreign origin, is likely to lead to a cultural and political disintegration of China. Therefore, in China they have accepted the position that a few years of hard labour must be put forth by Chinese boys and girls in acquiring some thousands of characters of their language which constitute the most obvious, most potent and virtually indispensable expression or symbol of Chinese unity. In Israel, the Jews have accepted as their religion and culture, with a view to strengthening the religious, cultural and political bases of their very existence as a nation. The attempt at reviving the Irish language in Eire is another remarkable istance of seeking the help of the speech that has been linked up with the past independent history of the people to strengthen the national culture and national solidarity at the present day. There is no reason why similarly Sanskrit should not come into its own in India, especially when it is conceded that the position of Sanskrit is still far stronger in India as a language with a living tradition and culture. 40. In india today, we are feeling the growth of fissiparous tendencies, and the need for strengthening Indian Unity is now greater than ever. This great inheritance of Sanskrit is the golden link joining up all the various provincial languages and literatures and cultures, and it should not be allowed to be neglected and to go waste, if we did not want to imperil the concept of a United Indian Nation. herein Sanskrit has its own place in Indian education. (e) Sanskrit and the Formation of Character 41. Any intellectual discipline has two aspects: informative, which gives access to an amount of exact knowledge; and formative, which helps to build up character and the faculties of the mind and spirit in general , to make them more receptive and moredonative. We have this in a general way in our ordinary literature, of Information and Literatureof Power, Sanskrit literature helps us to a verygreat extent in both the informative and the formative sides. As we are thinking of the place of Sanskrit in Inidan education as a part of Indian life, we have got to pay proper attention to the formative or character-building aspect of Sanskrit literature. 42. Every nation has some contribution to make to the sum-total of human civilasation. It specialises in certain domains of man's self-expression. The experience of that nation, along a particular line of thinking and behaving. sums up its View of Life. The Indian View of Life--or the National Genius of India has been sought to be defined in various ways. Generally, it is admitted that it stands for an acceptance of a Baisc Unseen Reality which is realised by man by means of Intuition reinforced byReason, and of Sadhana. It further believes in the Oneness of Life and Being, in one Single Principle permeating through the entire Universe. This Principle manifests itself in various ways, and the sum-mum bonum in the life of man is the realisation of this Principke in his inner being as well as in his puter practice. The Indian View of Life (or what may be called Indianism) also takes note of this tragic fact that there is Sorrow and Suffering by the path of Knowledge and Self-culture, or Good Action, or Faith. There is in this view also a Sense of the Sacredness of All Life, and its attitude to life in general is marked by a great Compassion and Sympathy and Active Service and Good-doing. The Indian Way of Life further teaches the necessity to make Dharma (which really means "that which holds together the Universe") the guiding principle in all the activeties of man. 43. Abeunt studia in mores--our studies come into our lives. One who studies Greek literature cannot but feel his mind elevated by the ideals of Hellenism which are found t permeate this literature. Similarly through the reading of ancient Hebrew literature as in the Old Testament, a certain moral earnest desire for social Order and Justice, sometimes combined with a Mystic Feeling of the Unity of the Universe, is the direct result of Chinese studies, especially Confucianism and Taoism. Similarly, again, from the study of the Sanskrit Humanities, a particular set of ideas and a particular mode of life are seen to result. An ideal Sanskrit scholar may not be quite an alert or an acute person in the world's affairs. But he has a very lively sense of the Ultimate Reality; and, above all, he is actuated by the Principles of Dharma, an his actions towards allmen, towards all living beings as a matter of fact, take a colouring from the principles of Ahimsa or Non-injury, of Karuna or Compassion, and of Maitri or Friendly Service. A certain amount of Gentelness of Spirit of Humility, particularly in the matter of the Undeen Forces of Life, of a desire to give to the others their proper due, and an attitude of Tolerance with regard to other peoples' faith and belief, and, above all, a certain moral approach and earnestness, are always noticeable in an ideal Sanskrit scholar. The importance of Sanskrit as a great stabilising force in life--as a moral anchor--cannot be emphasied too stongly. As Pandits Govind Ballabh Pant, the Union Home Minsiter, put it so graphically before the Commission, Sanskrit gives a kind of symphony to our life. 44. There is an infinite number of Sanskrit verses and tags which breathe a high moral tone and display a precious note of what might be called High and Serious Englightment. Persons who are attuned to this spirit through an acquaintance from early childhood with verses of this type, these Subhasitas (which it has been the custom to teach to children), and who have been nurtured in the atmosphere of the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, including the Gita, and also of the Upanisads, have a balance and a cultured outlook upon life both of their own country and of other countries which would be rare to find in those who have been denied all this. Of course, the great ideals of Indianism can be brought to the minds of tender youth through compositions and narrations in their own mother-tongues. But in the enunciations and exhortations in original Sanskrit, there is alwaysthe tone of authority, and in the sounds of the language an aesthetic appeal, which go a long way in making them stamped on their habits of thinking and their behaviour. Sanskrit is a language which through its sonority and mellifluousness, has the power to lift us up your hearts" --and this forms one of its most subtle aesthetic and dynamic values. It is, therefore, necessary, as thousands of people would say from their own experience, that for a potent aid to the formation of character and sense of exaltation, in addition to ensuring a sense of pan-Indiancultural as well as political unity, a knowledge of the Sanskrit langauge should be made an essential thing in the education of Indian youth. (f) Sanskrit and the Intectual Renaissance of Free India 45. In addition to the preservation of Indian cultural as well as political unity and the maintenance of the intellectual pre-eminence of India, by making this great cultural heritage a discipline of the greatest value in the study of the Humanities anda means of the students, Sanskrit has at the present moment, in Free India, a parennial academic value. Sanskrit will be of use for us in various ways at the present day. 46. Sanskrit will be necessary for us as the one main source for our words and ideas,ideas relating primarily to the permanent things of Indianism. In the development of our modern languages, Sanskrit will be a sine qua non to enable us to achieve the completeness of our knowledge in the study of the various sciences. And finally, Sanskrit will be necessary for the retention of those traditions in our life which are still living and which can bear fruit by virtue of their excellnce and usefulness. 47. Our Modern Indian languages, both Aryan and Dravidian, are in the same boat. They have been, all of them, under the aegis of Sanskrit. The Modern Aryan languages were all born in the lap of Sanskrit; and as for the Dravidian languages, ever since their earliest literary use, they have been nurtured by Sanskrit. Even in the case of Tamil. although early Tamil literature, as in the Sangam texts, shows certain special Tamil will not be clear to those who have not learnt Sanskrit" (vadanul unarnadarkkanrit-Tamil iyalpu vilangadu: I Eluttatikaram, sutra I), Tamil of the oldest Sangam words, and the number goes on incresing with the centuries. The ideas in early Tamil literature as well as in that of later Tamil, and in all literatures in the other Dravidian languages, are the reflexes of what we have in the Sanskrit world. Words of Sanskrit also have been taken over along with these ideas. The best intellects among the peoples speaking South Indian languages have by and large adopted Sanskrit for the expression of their ideas in the domains of serious thinking, as, for example, in philosophy. As a matter of fact, neither the languages of the South nor of the North were used for the expression of higher thought by eminent authors of the land. It was to Sanskrit that they first turned, and only after that, to the mother-tongue. 48. After the Indian Renaissance brought about by our contact with European thought and literature, serious attetion began to be paid to our modern Indian languages. Indian writers, who were intellectually keen and eager, now wanted to express themselves through the mother-tongue, because they began to feel that the best medium of expression was the mother-tongue rather then a classical language.The National Movement, which had to reach the masses, also promoted the growth of literature in modern Indian languages. Side by side with the pan-Indian sense of nationhood, there began to develop gradually a kind of provincial or linguistic patriotism. After Independence, it came to be accepted as a general proposition, that the recongnised Modern Languages of the Indian Union should have a full development without let or hindrance. But it is now being realised that our modern languages are not developed enough for adequate presentation of serious philosophical and complicated scientific ideas. The absence of suitable words, it has now been realised, can only be fully met, and met on a pan-Indian basis for all the Indian languages, either by borowing them directly from Sanskrit or by building up new words on the basis of Sanskrit roots and terminations. It is accepted as a principle that, since we are a polyglot people, there cannot be at all stages of education and administration--much less for intimate literary expression--one single languages for the entire Indian Union. We must have a close approach to a pan-Indian unity by having a uniform system of technical terms, and it is admitted that such a uniform system of technical terms can come only from Sanskrit. As Shri C.D.Deshmukh said in his evidence, the potency of Sanskrit for coining new words is, indeed, marvellous. 49. Herein there is a very prominent necessit y for the retention, cultivation and development of Sanskrit, for the sake of all Modern Indian Languages. Already a beginning has been made from the time of the introduction of English education in our schools, to have Sanskrit technical terms as far as possible wherver a Modern Indian Languages is used for a newly introduced modern subject. The inescapable result is to have Sanskrit, and still more Sanskrit, in our Modern Indian Languages, as their vocabulary goes on incresing. All these Sanskrit word become a part and parcel of the Modern Indian Languages, and any Sanskrit word in a book or in the dictionary was looked upon as a prospective Bengali or Marathi, Oriya or Telugu word. With our incresing acqaintance with European thought and science and European ways of life, including politics, Sanskritisation of our languages is gaining in tempp. In order to be able to eschew solecisms in the use of Sanskrit words, to employ Modern Indian Languages with their Sanskrit vocabulary effectively and to good purpose to avoid falling into the trap of grammatical and semantic inaccuracies from the point of view of the Pan-Indian use of Sanskrit, to steer clear of the obscurantism caused by the bringing in of new meanings and new coinings which do violence to the accepted genius of Sanskrit, and finally, to exploit fully the word-building capacity of Sanskrit, a knowledge of Sanskrit will be helpful, and even necessary, for those who would write in a Modern Indian Language. It has, therefore, been suggested by a large number opf educationists as well as writers in the different Modern Indian languages that a knowledge of Sanskrit at some stage other in the teaching of Modern Indian Languages will be exceedingsly desirable, in the interest of these languages themselves. 50. In the study of the histories of the various modern sciences, as well as of Philosophy, we find that the contribution of India in those fields is generally neglected. Not only are the peoples of the West not familiar with what Inida contributed in the development of philosophical thought and physical sciences, but also scholars and students in India are not cognisant of the achievement of their own country. It is highly necessary that there should be a full and free study of Sanskrit in Independent India, to enable us to understand the net contribution of India in these directions ofgeneral philosophical thought and science. The history of Chemistry or of Mathematics can be fully appreciated only by making a thorough study of the Indian contribution to these subjects as embodied in the relevant texts in Sanskrit. And so too as regards other fields like Logic, Literary Criticism and Polity. The results of the researches in the Indian contribution to all such subjects should be made a part of the general history of the different sciences and systems of thought as studied in our modern curriculum. This need has attracted the attention of no less a body than the National Institute of Science, which, for example, has started to make an enquiry into the history of Medicine on the basis of the study and interpretation of the original Sanskrit texts. In this way, our knowledge of the genesis and early hostory of modern science can be fully extended by a fresh attention being given to Sanskrit studies in these directions. The UNESCO also has interested itself in this line of work of making known to the students of the different subjects in the Western Universities the contributions to the respective disciplines from the Oriental civilisation. 51. Finally, the study of Sanskrit will be very helpful in reviving some of our national traditions and ways of the life which have in the recent past, owing to the exigencies of circumstances, been tending to be lost. Formerly Sanskrit was very much alive because it was in the atmosphere of our life, in our celebrations, festivals, ceremonies and avocations, all of which lent a colour and flavour--the proper, Rasa, so to say--to Indian life. In our daily ritual of worship, whether in private chapelsin the home, or in temples big and small or in great centre of pilgrimage where hundreds of thousands of people accumulate, the atmosphere is ringing with Sanskrit. So Sanskrit is in a way the breath of our nostrils and the light of our eyes, so far asour corporate as well as personal socio-religious existence is concerned. 52. If these conditions had sontinued, there would not have been any fear for Sanskrit. But times are changing and the way of life is also altering. The younger people are being brought up in a new tradition, where economic considerations are becomingmore and more prominent; and that is squeezing out the idealstic and the emotional and the aesthetic sides of life. Sanskrit at one time sufficed for all the needs of life for the people of India. But now it is not so. Life is becoming Philistinical in outlook. Gradual loss of contact with Sanskrit is both a cause and an effect of this state of things. The school must, therefore, supply what the home is now finding it rather difficult to supply. The school would, indeed, be the best place for bringing in Sanskrit once again to the life of the people, for today it is the school, much more than the home, which fills the life of our boys and girls and moulds their attitudes and character. 3. Sanskrit--More than a Mere Classical Language in India 53. It is customary to compare Sanskrit with Greek and Latin merely as a classical language, for which there might be some place--even some honoured place--in education, and people would be inclined to leave it at that. But we must remember that the place of Greek and Latin is not the same everywhere all over Europe. For an Italian or a French speaking person, Latin is much closer than for an English or German speaking person, or for a Magyar speaking person. Although all the advanced nations of Western Europe accepted Latin, and, through Latin, Greek, as cultural languages of high import, and though the course of history and education in Europe, they found it easy to adopt Latin as the inter-state language for a number of centuries, at the presentmoment the bond between Latin and the Modern European Languages has become rather losse. Ancient Greek, of course, is still farther in the background in Europe. Greek and Latin, no doubt, are the rallying points for a common European civilisation, andEurope admits the fact that its mind has been moulded by these two languages and their literatures. But it does not go beyond that. Among the Roman Cathalics, Latin is still used as the language of the Churuch, but that influence is now confined to the domain of emotionalism. Greek and Latin did not and do not have that same sort of deep and all-inclusive influence (except in the case of some monastic scholars) which Sanskrit has still in Indian life. They are at the best academic, the concern of scholars. But Sanskrit is something more profound and more vital than that. Not only is it academic in the true sense of the term, but it is popular also. 54. As the great feeder language for the Modern Indian Languages, Sanskrit words predominate in the high style of most of them. Through Sanskrit, Indian everywhere, even in the Tamil area, generally acquire with the greatest ease quit a large vocabulary, which may be said to belong to a kind of popular pan-Indian Sanskrit. The importance of Sanskrit in our religious and social life, even at the present day when the attitude of society is changing and religion is going to the background has also to betaken note of Sanskrit today is not a dead language in India, any more than Latin was a dead language in mediaeval times in Europe, Even at the present day Sanskrit is very very living, because a large number of people use Sanskrit in their conversation, when they coem from different parts of the country, and composition in Sanskrit, in both prose and verse, goes on almost unabated. It has been possible to write a history of recent Sanskrit literature as it has developed, say, during the last century wholly or at least to a very large extent through the medium of Sanskrit. In the popular Purana recitations, the reciters who have all the art of telling a story dramatically use by preference a highly Sanskritised Bengali, Telugu, Oriya, Kannada or Punjabi, which is largely understood even by the unlettered masses. It is not uncommon to find religious lecturers giving discourses in simple Sanskrit, and they are generally understood by people possessing a slight education in their is a tremendous live, which is something very close to veneration, for Sanskrit. And when Sanskrit is now being used even to express modern scientific or political ideas in essays or discourses on various modern subjects, it cannot be said to have closed the door to further development--it has still life in it. All these things would go to establish that Sanskrit is still a living forse in Indian life. It would be amost suicidal to neglect and gradually to relegate into oblivion as something dead and useless this very vital source of national culture and solidarity. 4. The Role of Sanskrit in the National Life of India at the Present Day 55. Sanskrit can be made to be the symbol of the national life of India, and indications in this regard are not wanting. Although sanskrit could not become a language of common use in the public administrative set-up and in our education, various departments of our public life might yet have room for it and allow it to play its role. In all ceremonial and formal occasions where a sort of dignity is required Sanskrit could very easily be employed. Sanskrit is one of the languages officially recognised by the Constitution, and a citizen can very well make his representations to Government in Sanskrit. For certain purpose, such as, for example, taking and administering of oaths, granting of honours and titles, addressing formal letters to foreign governments and to foreign personalities, and conferring degrees at the University Convocations, Sanskrit, according to the view expressed by a large number of people, should be employed as a matter of policy. In such cases, Sanskrit should have a priorityover any Modern Indian Language when we are thinking in terms of pan-India. Addressing a foreign State or Institution or individual through an Indian language which he does not ordinarily understand would mean that the Indian landian language will have, in that context, a decorative value only, and a translation in a modern international language like English or French will be necessary. But Sanskrit should be preffed, as it enjoys greater prestige and is better understood in most foreign countries.In fact, though Western savants have subjects, by and large, the West knows India as "Sanskrit India", and whenever an Indian University celebrates its jubilee, a Western University normally sends its felicitations in a Sanskrit address. Similarly in international gatherings, where, even before our Independence, Indian representatives were encouraged to speak in their own languages, it has been the experience of many of us that sopmething said in Sanskrit had a much more respectful acceptance then would be accorded to a speech in any other language. 5. The Place of Sanskrit in a General Scheme of Education in India 56. From what has been said in the previous sections, it would be quite evident that Sanskrit should have a place of its own in the educational system of modern India. As has been said with regard to Indian Art by a French critic of Art: "The Art of India will no longer live as Art if it ceases to be Indian", We may say that, in the case of an Indian youth, he virtually ceases to be an Indian if he does not have the atmosphere of sanskrit in his temperament, either directly or indirectly. The case ofthose Indians who are not within the umbrage of Sanskrit any longer is of course a little differnt :although they may not have Sanskrit and may cultivate some other classical language like Persian or atmosphere of Indian culture which is grounded on Sanskrit and which is also part of their national inheritance. It is exceedingly important, in order to preserve the sense of self-respect of an Indian educated persons,that he should have some acquaintance with Sanskrit and its literature. Young men and women passing out of the High Schools and the Universities without any knowledge of their national heritage as preserved in Sanskrit lack the very essential means to approach the outside world confidently and with a sense of self-respect. The main reason for this is that this Indianheritage has got the power to make those who possess it feel a spiritual and intellectual assurance and self-confidence. They do not bring in any vacillation or debility or absence of nerve. Time and often it has been seenthat Indian youth abroad seem to be carried away by the rushing stream of modern life, whether in England or France or Germany or America, and they seem to accept everything on its face-value, if they do not have the sense of balance and the ballast which are furnished by an acqaintance with their own cultural moorings which can be supplied only by Sanskrit and its literature. The formative or character-building power of Sanskrit has been discussed before, and for this it is exceedingly desirable thatthere should be some knowledge of Sanskrit and the Sanskritic world in an Indian citizen. In the large majority of cases in India, a begianing can be best made during the tender years that our boys and girls spend in the school. This matter was urged with very great earnestness by the larger percentage of witnesses, and in the written replies also this point has been very stongly reiterated, namely, the necessity of making the Indian National Heritage easily accessible to our young men and women through Sanskrit as a part of their curriculum. 6. Special Treatment Needed for Sankrit There is at the present moment a very great pressure on the mind of the children at School because of the rival claims of a multitude ofsubjects which are regarded as indispensable in a comprehensive scheme of school education. The place of languages within this scheme is gradually becoming more and more restricted. A good factual knowledge of the world they live in is being recognised to be the sine qua non of an exact education; so that, some Mathematics, Geography, History, Elements of Sociology, Elements of Adimnistration and Politics, and of course, a good modicum of the Physical Sciences,--these are the subjects regarded as absolutely necessary. Languages are looked upon as fools for acquiring education or instruction, and only with this end in view can the present attitude tolerate the intensive study of any particular language, whether the mothertongue or english or some other language. Sanskrit or a classical language naturally is liable to go to the wall, as its value does not appear tobe on the surface and it is not a bread-and butter subject. But utilitarian considerations should not have the last word in this matter. Due weight should be given to the formative as much as to the informative aspectthe importance of literature, and, in the higher stages, of philosophy. But it is found that in literature, either of information or of power, one language does not suffice. Particularly is this the case in a country like India, where the present-day languages cannot be said to have come up to the mark as a means of expression, and where a language like Sanskrit or English still appears to be in a much more advanced position as regards the content value of its literature. 58. Because of what may be described as non-academic reasons, Hindi has now been sought to given an important place in modern Indian education, a place which appears to be disproportionate particulary when we consider the case of the non-Hindi students. Here we should ask ourselves: would it be proper to impose a language with comparatively little informative or cultural value upon boys and Girls of a tender age at school, curtailing their opportunities for acquiring a certain intellectual disciplineand certain formative assests from a language like Sanskrit? Wemust, in our educational system for children, for adolescents and for grown-up young men and women, give the first consideration to such subjects as will be helpful in drawing out the latentpowers of their mind. From this point of view, it will be universally admitted that Sanskrit has a parennial cultural and intellectual value, and this value is something which cannot be approached by Hindi or any other modern Inidan language. 59. Hindi is being now given a very large amount of special consideration and treatment by the tate. The same preferential treatment should be accorded to sanskrit. The Constitution has laid down that the Rashtrabhasha should derive primarily from Sanskrit; and this places a special responsibility on the State to take the same steps and to devise the same means to encourage and promote the study of Sanskrit. As has been sought to be inpressed before, the Sanskrit languages with its literature is oneof our greatest forces for maintaining Indian cultural unity, on which political unity also depends. This has to be fostered and strenthened by any means; and Sanskrit, therefore, deserves to be given proper treatment, which must be preferential treatment. As, through the operation of a number of causes, the Sanskrit tradition and the place of Sanskrit in the educational Set-up are being adversely affected, the State should come to the rescue of Sanskrit by making that tradition available to the bodypolitic, as best as can be done in the modern context, and by making secure the place of Sanskrit in the curricula of studies in schools and colleges. Sanskrit not being a bread-and-butter subject, the average individual is prone to become less and less alive to its intellectual and spiritual values. But it is for those thinkers, and administratiors, who want to build up a balanced scheme of education and foster national solidarity, to provide for such encouragement as would necessarily give the young students what is essential and might otherwise bemissed. As pointed out already, the importance of Sanskrit is universally recognised, and if this recognition is to materialise in a mere pious sentiment, the authorities must do something,even if it requires a little going out of the way. The Commission feels that it can legitimately put forth a very strong plea for such special consideration being shown to Sanskrit. CHAPTER V SANSKRIT EDUCATION 1. The Question of Sanskrit Education can be conveniently considered under the following three heads: (1) Study of Sanskrit as a part of General Education. This Primarily involves the question of the place of Sanskrit in the curriculum of Secondary Schools. (2) Special study of Sanskrit--As carried on (a) in the traditional manner in Pathasalas, and (b) on modern lines in Colleges and Universities. (3) Study of Sanskrit as an essential complement to the higher studies of certain other subjects, such as Modern Indian Languages, Ancient History, Indian Philosophy, etc. I. Sanskrit in Secondary Schools 2. As has been pointed out already, it was only after the modern Universities under English auspicecame in and schools of the modern type began to be established tha the doors of Sanskrit were opened wide for all. Following the curriculum of the University of London, the Universities of Calcutta and Bombay made a classical language compulsory for those who would sit for the "Entrance Examination". Which enabled students to join a College for University courses. Naturally enough, this classical language, in the case of the majority of students used to be Sanskrit. The University of Calcutta for a good number of years had a very wide jurisdiction. It included not only Bengal but also Assam, Bihar, Orissa, the United Provinces (the "North-Western Province", as they were known during the second half oof the last century, now Uttar Pradesh), Panjab and Ahmer, as well as Burma and Ceylon. Throughout this wide area, Sanskrit studies necessarily found a place in the school, and students began to read Sanskrit as a compulsory subject. In Bombay University, whose jurisdiction was much smaller, Sanskrit was equally compulsory. In Madras, Sanskrit was not made a compulsory language, but it was one of the optional languages, and boys and girls in Madras University could take up either Sanskrit, or Telugu, Kannada, Tamil or Malayalam. This introduction of Sanskrit to a very large number of people in the country has produced most excellent results. For, we have had, due to this a large number of eminet Sanskrit scholars from all classes of society, all over the country, who have helped largely to popularise the knowledge of Sanskrit and the content of its literature. 3. The fact remains that Sanskrit was a compulsory language for the Entrace Examination in two of the biggest Universities in India. But from about a couple of decades back, the regional languages began to acquire some prominence, firstly, because of political movements spreading to the masses; and secondly, because the masses, who were gradually becoming literate, used their mothertongues. In the mean-while, modern physical Sciences were coming to the Forefront; and as their inportance began to be recongnised in education, Sanskrit slowly came to be looked upon with disfavour, particularly by those who whould go in for pure scientific studies. Sanskrit thus fell between teo mill-stones-the rising regional languages on the one hand, and scientific and other modern subjects on the other. The result has been that there has developed a general tendency towards making Sanskrit just an optional subject. 4. More recently, another great rival of Sanskrit has appeared in the form Hindi. Hindi has been given a constitutional status as an Official Language of the Indian Union, and the State Governments are required to implement this language Policy. Thereis, therefore, an insistence upon a general knowledge of Hindi for all our school students throughout the whole of India. A certain number of periods in the school time-table must be given to Hindi; and since these periods would not be squeezed out from the mothertongue, or from Mathematics and the Sciences, or from subjects like History and Civics, Sanskrit had to yield place for Hindi. 5. It is, indeed, a sad irony that a case should have to be made out for a compulsory study of Sanskrit in Secondary Schools in India. Of late, a tendency to challenge the place of the Classics in modern educational system is becoming increasingly apparent everywhere. The usual contention of the critics is that "it is unforrunate that in these times, when so many new paths are becoming opened up before mankind, when scientific developments hitherto beyond the reach of man's imagination have been madepossible, when opportunities for powere over the material world as yet undreamt of have been set within man's grasp, there should still be found men of intelligence and learning whose eyes are turned backward rather then forward". The importance of Sanskrit and the aspirations of Independent India in respect of it have been fully set forth in the previous chapter. Very little, therefore, need be said here again to emphaisise the value of Sanskrit Education to Indians. It is true that new paths are being opened upbefore mankind, but it is qually true that even a modern scientist cannot completely cut himself off from the past. Very often he has to follow in the trail blazed by his fore-fathers. The present is after all the continuation of the past. It has been well said that our ancient texts supply us with a record of completed experiments--experiments with the material world as also with humanity. It is on the basis of the result of these experiments are to be undertaken. All these records, therefor, are of basic importance, and their antiquity does not adversely affect theivalidity, particularly when they have their lessons for the present. After all, human nature as such has not changed. By disregarding Sanskrit (or the Classics in general), we shall be only disregarding all the valuable experience accumulated through centuries. And, does not Sanskrit, as much as Western civilisation, offer a necessary norm with which to compare our own achievements? it is only against the background supplied by Sanskrit that we are enabled properly to understand and appreciate our national culture. 6. It is said that one of the fundamental aims of ducation should be "to give a knowledge of the best and the noblest things that were said or done in the past". If that be so no system of education in India can afford to deny Sanskrit its ightful place, without being untrue to itself. As a matter of fact, so far as Indian education is concerned, Sanskrit may not be counted merely as one of the numerous subjects of study; it must rather be regarded as constituting the foundation of all humanistic subjects. Of course, for Indians, there is something more in the study of Sanskrit than its antiquarian or historical interest. 7. Some have, however, argued as follows. It may be conceded, they say, that the study of Sanskrit must form an integral part of liberal education in India. But what should be the content of that study? Would it not suffice if pupils became acquaintedwith Sanskrit thought and culture, without being taught the Sanskrit language itself? A graded course in the history of Sanskrit literature and culture may be made compulsory for every Indian students. A modern Indian language can very well act as a bridge between Sanskrit thought and the modern students. Is it not possible to appreciate the philosophy of the Gita or the beauty of Kalidasa, wiothout being able to conjugate verbs and decline nouns in Sanskrit? This contention is valid--but only up toa point. No seious students would subscribe to the view that a piece of literature could be understood correctly or appreciated fully merely through a translation. If, on the other hand, one could read the Upanisads or Valmiki in the original, his understanding of them would be deeper and keener, and, consequently, his appreciation truer, more intelligent and more sustained. Particularly is this so in the case of Sanskrit literature. It will be agreed that the real appreciation of literature depends on the knowledge of the language of the original, for, "translations are rearely anything but a shadow of the original". They may perhaps give us the content or even some general impression of a work. But the excellence of classical literature, particularly of poetry, lies not only in the content byt also in the form. The sublimity, sweetness, precision and conciseness of the Sanskrit language are really inimitable. While emphasising the desirability of every boy and girl in India possessing at least an elementary knowledge of Sanskrit, Gandhiji also had discountenanced the suggestion that a translation could serve the purpose of the original. By way of an example he had pointed out that is was impossible to translate the Gayatri adequately. In his view, the Gayatri possessed a sense which would defy translation. "And", he asked, "how can the rhythm of the original mantra be transmitted to the translation?". 8.It would certainly be a good ideal to include, in the subject of Social Studies in Secondary Schools, some account of the Thought and Culture embedded in Sanskrit, to enable the student to have some notion of what India has stood for from very ancienttimes. But that will not be a proper and adequate substitute for the teaching of the Sanskrit language, because Sanskrit, even some elementary knowledge of it, will, as wide-spread experience all over the country has shown, prove to be the gate-way fora little more intimate acquaintance of the national spirit through the literature enshrined in it. 9. The study of Sanskrit in modern schools is often objected to on the score of that study not being useful. It is true that the pressure of time and money on the one hand, and the claims of a large number of subjects as constituting the necessary minimum of General Education on the other, are likely to compel us to Prune and select and give priority to such subjects as yield quick return and material gains. But educationists must take a longer and wider view. Sanskrit may not yield tangible material results. but is does influence, in an intangible mannere, the moulding of the character and the personality of a pupil. For Sanskrit does not possess merely an academic or even a purely intellectual interest: it is a Way of Life. As more than one witness emphasised. Sanskrit Education ensured a correct evaluation of life. While all plans for improving the economic welfare of the people and for stepping up producation must be promoted, it should also be borne in mind that the people, who are calledupon to play their part in these plans, should have something more than material considerations to sustain their spirit and activity, a soul-force and certain ideals in individual and corporate life which they as members of a civilized nation should cherish. It is incumbent on the State to strenthen the nation on the spiritual side also, and give a fillip to those artistic and cultural developments which enrich the life of the people and add a zest and relish to it. All this can be best achieved, in an indirect way, by promoting the study of Sanskrit. It is not at all a sound educational policy, which demands that every subject of study should be "paying"in a materialistic sense. 10. Apart from this intrinsic value of Sanskrit, its study is bound to have a salutary effect on the study and development of most of the Modern Indian Languages. The importance of Sanskrit from this point of view had been recognised even as early as the thirties and foties of the last century, as is clearly evinced by the views of foreign observers like Frazer and Wood, quoted in a preceding chapter. Care must, however, be taken to see that the study of Sanskrit is not conducted in isolation. Pupils must be taught to correlate Sanskrit with the regional languages which they are required to study, in such a way that they can pass from the ancient world to the modern and back again with an unconscious ease. It has been the experience of teachers ofEnglish and French in England that even a one-years's training in Latin constitutes a very valuable preparation for a fruitful study of these two languages. The same can be said--with much greater relevance--regarding Sanskrit and Modern Indian Languages. 11. There are also some considerations of a more practical nature. It is the experience of many teachers that the training acquired by apupil in the course of the study of Sanskrit stands him in good stead even in the study of other subjects. it may not be impossuble to demonstrate statistically that men trained in the Classics have achieved remarkable success in conspicuously diverse fields. Most of the great statesmen of English and other European countries during the past few centuries were Classical Scholars. The basis of the very efficient Chinese Civil Service for over a millennium was an education in the Chinese Classics. A proper study of Sanskrit (or the Classics) involves the exercise of various mental faculties and helps the simultaneous development of memory, imagination, aesthetic appreciation and precise method. The study of Sanskrit also engenders in pupils a serious, scholarly and purposeful attitude towards the study of other subjects as well. Several teachers, whom this Commission had interviewed, testified to the fact that non-Sanskrit students often benefited through contact with Sanskrit students. 12. It is sometimes argued that, though it is certainly desirable to introduce Sanskrit as a compulsory subject in Secondary Schools, it would not be quite practicable to do so. For one thing, it is averred that Sanskrit is a difficult language. And particularly when, with the spread of literacy, different types of pupils are going to Secondary Schools. Sanskrit is likely to prove a serious handlcap to at least some. Let it , however, be pointed out at the outset that no subject is easy or difficcult in itself, but teaching makes it so. Secondly, to speak of "types " of pupils where General Education is concerned, is educationally not sound. And are we not really overdoing this Commission feels inclined to agree with many educationists who, in their interviews, expressed the view that the tendency of simplifying the courses of studies, on every possible excuse, which was becoming increasingly apparent now-a-days, would prove academically most harmful in the long run. As a matter of fact, modern educational psychology admits that "it is as evil not to stretch the wits enough as to strech them too far" and that "the plastic mind of youth is better filled than left empty". It has become almost a common place to speak of the dreariness and drudgery of Sanskrit grammar, but the experience of a large number of teachers of the Classics, both in India and Europe, is that young children positively like their Grammar work and stand in no need of the unnecessarily elaborate artifices devised by some "sourse to sugar apillo that is really not unpalatable. it is, of course, possible to avoid the routine drill in formal grammar, which is a part of the basic technique of Sanskrit or any Classical language, being made unnecessarily laborious and distasteful. Moreover, it is now generally agreed by educationists that learning by rote in no way hampers the intellectual growth of a child. 13. There is another argument, which is often advanced against the study of Sanskrit being made compulsory in our Secondary Schools. How much Sanskrit, it is asked, can a boy study in the course of three or four years? Is the smattering which he thus acquires likely to serve any purpose--except, perhaps, giving a kind of Santimental satisfaction to some enthusiasts for Sanskrit? Is it not more advisable to have a few students specialising in Sanskrit than to have many becoming acqyanted with it in a superficial manner? The fallacy of this argument is quite apparent. The aim of education--particularly of General Education--can never be "thorough knowledge or nothing at all". Provision must certainly be made even in Secondary Schools for a specialised study of Sanskrit. But the Compulsory General Course in Sanskrit would be intended mainly to give a pupil the necessary inkling into his cultural past, to arouse in him an interest in the language and literature of his ancestors, to afford him a wholesome trainning of mind and character, and to inculcate in him real respect for pure learning. Nobody ever thought of making every school-boy a miniature Pandits. At the same time, it should be realised that, only when the number of persons possessinga general acquaintance with Sanskrit incresed,a few specialists in Sanskrit could arise from among them. The base of the pyramid must always be sufficiently broad. 14. In this connection, some educationists have recommended what is populary known as the Downward Filtration Theory. They suggest that if only a few persons studied Sanskrit--and studied it well--their knowledge could trickle down to people at large through the channels of the regional languages. As, however, eperience has shown, such exclusiveness, which aims at keeping the masses away from a direct contact with a specific kind of knowledge, oftern creates among them an attitude of distrust, and the ultimate result of it all is bound to be unwelcome to liberal-minded social thinkers. The indentification of Sanskrit with either a particular social class or a particular kind ofknowledge cannot but harm the growth and expansion of its study. The sooner the minds of people are purged of any vestiges of such notions, the better will it be for the future of Sanskrit studies. Thanks to modern Schools and Colleges, Sanskrit is now accessible to all, and should for no reason whatsoever be confined to any select group or class. 15. From what has been said above, it would be seen that there is a very strong case for Sanskrit being made a part of the compulsory core curriculum in Secondary Schools. It must, however be made clear at this stage that, on academic grounds, Sanskrit may not be made compulsory for certain classes of students. There should be a certain latitude given to some students in exceptional cases, and those students, who are not within the atmosphere of Sanskrit, should be permitted, if they so choose, to take up some other classical languages. For instance, students whose mother-tongue is Tamil may take up Sanskrit or Old Tamil; those whose mothertongue is English may take up Latin or Greek; and Urdu students may take up Persian or Arabic. It should be borne in mind that whenever there is a reference in this Report to Sanskrit being made compulsory, such exceptions have always to be presumed. Barring exceptions like the above, Sanskrit should be made compulsory for all students in Secondary Schools. 16. One need not fight shy of the element of compusion involved here. It is, indeed, wrong to suppose that compulsion invariably breeds distaste and unpopularity. Somethin has to be made compulsory, because no one would ever think of leaving the choice of subjects to the immature judgment of a child. As Dr.Radhakrishnan once said, the aim of education should be not only to teach a boy what he wants but also to make him want what we teach him. If it be agreed that Sanskrit must form a part of the necessary minimum of General Education, as much as General Science or Social Studies, educationists must give a bold and definite lead in this respect without yielding to popular prejudices. Shri Jawaharlal Nehru said recently: "........I would personallylike as many Indians as possible to know Sanskrit which is the very basis of our culture. I see no diffculty about all this. The more languages one knows, the more one knows one's own language. Where is the element of force about this? If we ask a child to learn arithmetic or geometry, is it force?". 17. While the Commission was still examining the question of the place of Sanskrit in the scheme of Indian education, the Goernment of India announced a formula relating to language study in Secondary Schools, and called upon the States to implement it. According to this formula, which is popularly known as the Three-Language Formula, everypupil in a Secondary School will be required to study--as a part of the core curriculum--three languages, namely, (a) (i) Mother-tongue. (ii) or regional language, (iii) or a composite course of mother-tongue and a regional language, (iv) or a composite course of mother-tongue and a classical language, (v) or a composite course of a regional language and a classical la- nguage; (b) English or a modern European language; (c) Hindi (for non-Hindi-speaking areas), or another modern Indian langu age (for Hindi-speaking areas) It will be seen that no provision is made in this formulas for a compulsory study of Sanskrit(or a classical language). 18. The Three-language Formula, which has been recommended to the State Governments, is generally accepted by the, either in toto or with some modifications. Under these circumstances, if it were to be bow suggested that Sanskrit also should be made a part of the compulsory core curriculum in Secondary Schools, the burden of languages to be studied, it is feared, would be definitely heavy and irksome. This Commission, however, feels--and this feeling is confirmed by the views expressed by an overwhelming majority of correspondents and witness--that too great an ado is made about this `burden' of language. It may be pointed out that in some European countries also, students are required to study four languages at the Secondary Stage. Only recetly, Shri Nehru mentioned, in another context, the case of Finland, where, besides Finnish and Swedish which are recognised as national languages, students in Secondary Schools have to take up two other languages out of English, German, Russian and French. India is a land of many languages, and the Indians are by nature good linguists. There are many bilingual, even multilingual, tracts in the country. Moreover, there have always been continous and large streams of internal migration due to various reasons, such as administration, education, trade and industry, and pilgrimage, which have promoted a good deal of multilinguism among the people. The learning of four languages should, therefore, not prove a difficult proposition at all for Indian children. 19. Moreover, we unnecessarily underrate the capacity of children to learn languages. In this connection, the Prime Minister drew the attention of this Commission to the view of Dr.Penfield. According to this well-known brain specialist from Canada, a child up to the age of ten had a special corner in its brain for learning languages. These special cells in its brain helped a child to learn several languages. A grown-up person could learn a foreign language, but not with the ease a facility of a child. A child was in a position to register pictures in its mind of pronunciation and special features of a language more accurately and naturally than anadult. In the opioion of Dr.Penfield, it was absolutely wrong to say that children chould not be burdened with the task of learning more languages. He emphasisted the factthat, even if a child mastered three or four hundred words of a number of landuages,it could later on develop this knowledge on a stronger foundation. It has been further proved that the learning of many languages does not adversely affects a child so far as its progress in other subjects is concerned. 20. Besides, the so called "burden" of the four languages, namely, mother-tongue, Sanskrit, English and Hindi, can be lightened by defining the quantu, and the nature of their study, and by phasing them rationally in the curriculum. One often wonders whether too much time is not being spent on the study of mother-tongue now-a-days. As matters stand at present, our children begin to study the mother-tongue at the primary stage and continue that study almost right upto to their graduation. Is this long course in the mother-tongue really necessary for such students as do not wish to specialise in that language? Actually, it will be seen that most of the eminent authors who have produced literature in the various regional languages have been persons who had not received a regular schooling in these languages of r more than five or six years, if at all. Moreover, in view of the facts that a boy normally grows up in an atmosphere which is infused withthe mother-tongue, and that in his case the medium of instruction and examination in respect of other subjects is also the mother-tongue, the time now spent on its study is far in excess of what is really due. As a matter of fact, quite a number of witness, educationists most of them, actually made a categorical suggestion that the teaching of the mother-tongue should be severely restricted in such circumstances. 21. Some witness strongly expresses the view that English need be introduced only at the University stage, and that Hindi could be provided for by some post-employment examination. One may not go so far, but it has to be clearly realised that, except in the case of those who want to specialise in these languages, English and Hindi have to be treated as skill subjects and not as vontent subjects. The courses in these languages should, in condonance with the above view, be so framed as to suit this specific functional purpose. It might then be qute feasible to adjust the study of these four lanfuages without there being any trace of a burden. The situation can be further eased, if necessary,by avoiding the simultaneous commencement of the learning of two languages, and by phasing theirintroducation. 22. Again, taking into account the linguistic affinities between Sanskrit on the one hand and most of the regional languages on the other, it may be argued that though, arithmetically, Sanskrit, Hindi and a regional language make three, from the point of view of their study-content, they make only two. Particularly, now that Hindi in the Devanagari script has been suggested as a compulsory subject in Schools, the initial difficulty of script in connection with the study of Sanskrit which used to be felt by those whose mother-tongue were not written in Devanagari would be very much reduced. Moreover, as indicated elsewhere, the study of Sanskrit, Hindi and the regional language together should, with proper co-ordination,prove mutually helpful. 23. Looking at the matter from a purely academic and educational point of view, this Commission has noted with concern, that, in the present syllabus of Secondary Schools, through the subjects which are compulsory for all, provision is made for the necessary grounding in most of the important branches of knowledge except the Classics. The Commission is of the view that this state of things should not be allowed to continue any longer. If it continued, the very scource of Classical Studies would be dried up. The Commission had ample evidence present before it to show that the nature and extent of Sanskrit taught in Secondary Schools today had already adversely affected its proper cultivation at the higher level. Many educationists have suggested--and this Commission feels incluned to agree with the suggestion--that there is much scope for pruning the present syllabuses in Secondary Schools by dropping some subjects now included in the core curriculum in order to make room for an essential subject like Sanskrit. In this connection, the comparative value in life of the different subjects has to be carefully considered. The relative importance of English and Hindi, which have been proposed to be taught as skii subjects, should also be properly taken note of. We have further to take into account the Indian tradition and the temperament of an average Indian. It is not unsusal to fine that educated Indians, whatever their chief vocation in life,are invariably drawn to the study of the Gita and the Upanisads and of the Mahabhrata and the Ramayana at a later stage in life, pressing into service the knowledge of Sanskrit in all seriousness, both for pleasure and for profit. Sanskrit helps scientists to acquire the proper balance towards the Humanities, which is so very necessary for the mental well-being of an educated man. Indeed, the knowledge of Sanskrit is often the main thread which runs through the entire fabric of the cultural life of an Indian. We can, therefore, claim, on quite rational grounds, that whatever be the other subjects included in the curriculum, Sanskrit must form a necessary constituent of any system of liberal education in India. As Shri Kakasaheb Kalekar put it: Any number of guests may be invited to the house, but care has to be taken to see that the guests do not crowd out the host. 24. If the Commission's view that Sanskrit should be introduced as a compulsory subject in Secondary Schoold was accepted, three question would naturally arise: (I) In what way could Sanskrit be made compulsory?(2) At what stage should the study of compulsory Sanskrit begin? (#) What should be the nature, extent and standard of this compulsory Sanskrit course to be introduced in schools? We belive that the educationists in different States, who are conversant with local conditions,will be able to workout the details in this connection. However, certain broad principles may be stated here. 25. The study of Sanskrit can be made compulsory in Secondary Schools in one of the following four ways: (I) There was a srong body of opinion placed before the Commission, namely, that the Three-Language Formula, recommended by the Government of India, should be modified so as to consist of only (i)the mother-tongue (or the regional language); (ii) Englishl; and (iii) Sanskrit (or any other classical language). In the view of the supporters of this alternative, Hindi was to be taught at the Collegestage to such students as desired to enter all-India service. It was argued that a knowledge of Sanskrit acquired at the school stage would make the learning of Hindi much easier and its knowledge more perfect. In the opinion of the Commission, this scheme has much to commend itself. The Commission. therefore, urges it upon the Government for serious consideration. It would only like to suggest that, in view of the growing i,portance of Hindi, in the above formula, Hindi may be allowed as an alternative to English. So far as Hindi-speaking students are concerned, they, may, if they choose, take in lieu of English any other modern Indian landuge, preferably South Indian. Thus our first prefernce would be for the compulsory study of the following three languages in Secondary Schools: (i) The mother-tongue (or the regional language); (ii)English (or Hindi or, for Hindi-speaking students, any other modern Indian landuage, preferably South Indian); and (iii) Sanskrit (or any other classical language). (2) Our second preference would be this: If the present Three-Language Formula, as recommended by the Government, namely, (i)the mother-tongue (or the regional language),(ii)Englsih, and (iii)Hindi(or any other modern Indian Language for Hindi-speaking-students) was retained, Sanskrit should be introduced, in addition to the above three languages, as a full and independent examination-subject. The reasons and arguments adduced above (para 18 to 22) would, in the opinion of the Commission, go to show that the study of four languages neednot be considered to be a burden, particularly in a polglot country like India. (3) Sanskrit should be taught compulsorily, but there should be no examination in that subject; or, if there is to be an examination, the marks should not be counted towards passings, but only for rank and scholarship. So long as the passing of an examination is regarded as the necessary culmination of a course of study, the complete absence of an examination in asubject, or the examination in it being only optioanal, is bound to affect the seriousness of the study of that subject. Unless a subject has to be pursued as a compulsory examination-students, there is a natural tendency among students to neglect that subject altogether. The Commission does not, therefore, recommend this alternative. (4) Sanskrit should form part of a composite course with the regional language (which, for all practical purposes, is assumed to be identical with the mother-tongue), or with Hindi, or with both. This has been very largely supported by many practical educationists as the best way to bring in Sanskrit, by-passing the objection to an additional language over and above the regional language, Hindi and English. The main purpose of suggesting such a composite course, it should be clearly understood, is to ensure for Sanskrit a place in the compulsory core curriculum in Secondary Schools. In this connection, it may be pointed out that such a composite course is contemplated by the Three-Language Formula also, but there it is recommended only as one of the options for the regional language. If a composite course of Sanskrit and the regional language (or Hindi) is to serve the desired purpose, (a) at some stage, that course must be made compulsory in lieu of the regional language; (b) the duration of that course must not less than five years; (c)the proportion of the two languages in the composite course must be such that, begining with an equal emphaisis on both the constituent languages, in higher classes, the emphasis on Sanskrit should increse and that on the other constituent language should correspondingly decrease; and (d) separate passing in each constituent language of the composite course must be made obligatory. If these four conditions are fulfilled, this course may be recommended, but only as the third best. 26. Some other alternatives were suggested to the Commission in this connection, such as(i)that option should be allowed between Sanskrit and a intensive course in the regional language, or (ii)that a student should be permitted to choose any three of the four languages, namely, the regional language, English Sanskrit and Hindi or (iii)that only the regional language and Hindi should be made compulsory and Sanskrit and English should be introduced in the 8th class,leading to Honours in S.S.C.,or (iv) that Sanskrit should be introduced as an extracurricular subject. The Commission cannot however, recommend for, noe of them envisages a compulsory teaching of Sanskrit to all pupils in Secondary Schools. 27. Having regard to all that has been said above and considering the views of various educationists, the Commission thinks that the pattern of language-study at the integrated Elementary (Basic) stage (class 1 to 8) and the Secondary stage (class 9 to 11) of education (preceding the three years of University education ) should be, in broad outlines as follows: If, in accordance with our first preference, the languages to be compulsorily taught in Secondary Schools are to be only three, namely, the mother-tongue (or the regional languages), Englsih (or Hindi) and Sanskrit. only the mother-tongue (orthe regional language) should be taught for the first five years (corresponding to the age-group 6 + to II +); English should be taught as a compulsory foreign lanugage from the sixth year onwards; and Sanskrit should be taught from the seventh year onwards. The Commission is definitely of the opinion that a course of Sanskrit in Secondary Schools of less than five years' duration will not be at all adequate as the necessary foundation for a further study of the subject at the College stage. It is further desirable to familiarise children, even at the primary stage, with the Sanskrit language and thought, by making them learn by heart simple Subhasitas and Stotras, and through versions in the regional language, of stories from representative Sanskrit classics.A beginning in this direction can very well be made in class 3 or 4. The advantages of introducing Sanskrit at such an early age are obvious. For one thing, if Sanskrit is then introduced through right methods, there will be no ground for any apprehension arising in the child's mind in future regarding Sanskrit being a totally new and difficult language. A child normally possesses a remarkable capacity for learning by heart, and, what is more, for retaining for a long time what he has so learnt. Recitation in Sanskrit will also produce in a child a sense of clarity and correctness of pronounciation, which will be helpful in learning other languages as well. Care must, however, be taken to see that this training in Sanskrit at the primary stage, is not formalised but is carried on only as an extracurricular voluntary activity, not more then two or three times a week. It can easily be made to serve as a part of a course in general moral instruction. This arrangement might continue--to a greater or a smaller extent--up to the time when Sanskrit would be introduced as a reggular compulsory subject. 28. If, however, Sanskrit is to be introduced as the fourth compulsory language, the following scheme is recommended by the Commission. During the first five years, the only language to be studied compulsorily should be the mother-tongue (of the regional language). The teaching of the Subhasitas, etc., as suggested above, is also recommended to form a part of this scheme at the primary stage. In class 6, English should be introduced as a compulsory subject so that, in that class, a boy would have study two languages, namely, the mother-tongue (or the regional language) and English, with voluntary extra-curricular lessons in Sanskrit Subhasitas, etc. Out of the total number of periods available for language-study in class 6 two-thirds, should be given to the regional language and one-third to English. Sanskrit should be introduced as a regular compulsory subject in class 7, the available language periods being divided equally among the three languages, namely, the mother-tongue (or the regional language), English and Sanskrit. Hindi should be introduced in Class 8, so that, dduring the next four languages, namely, English, Sanskrit, the mother-tongue (or the regianl lanuage) and Hidni, the proportaion of periods assigned to these four languages, throughout the four years, being one-third, one third, onesixth and one-sixth respectively . Hindi could be started even a little later, for, with the background of the regional language and Sanskrit, which a boy might have already acquired, he would be better equipped to pick up his Hindia. So also, as a student will have already gone through a course of seven years in the regional language, and as Hindi is to be studies as a skill language and not as a literary language, the fewer periods assignedto these languages in the above scheme will be quite sufficient.