Sanskrit is treated as the only binding emotional thread to maintain the feeling of unity in diversity. The kind of feeling created by the creation of states on linguistic ground is absent when one encounters Sanskrit. There is a general belief that Sanskrit is a dead language and it has ceased to be the medium of cultural communication.
The present volume entitled Sanskrit Writings in Independent India is sufficient to demonstrate that Sanskrit continues to be a very powerful and popular medium of cultural communication through the ages. It is a powerful medium because scholars have kept on writing in this language even after Independence besides creative and critical writings.
It is amazing to see how much literature was written in Sanskrit of all genres and all forms all over the country during the last 55 years. Literally, all aspects of human life have formed the subject matter of these works. More or less in all regions of the country, works have been written in Sanskrit voluminously in prose and poetry. It is not the case that only literary writings have taken place, but writings in all forms have been produced in Sanskrit during the post- Independence period.
The present volume is an outcome of the National Seminar on 'Sanskrit Writings in Independent India' organized by the Sahitya Akademi at Pune in collaboration with the Centre for Advanced Study in Sanskrit, University of Poona.
The editor, Prof. V.N. Jha (b. 1946), is an eminent Sanskrit scholar and renowned linguistic, who did his Ph.D. from University of Poona. He worked as the Sub-Editor of the Encyclopedic Dictionary of Sanskrit, Deccan College, Pune, from 1970-77. Since 1987 he is the Professor and Director of Centre for Advanced Study in Sanskrit, University of Poona. He was associated with the Department of Sanskrit, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi also. He has more than two dozen books to his credit including Studies in Language, Logic and Epistemology, Studies in Padapatha and Vedic Philosophy, A Linguistic Analysis of the RgVeda Patha. He is associated with various institutions in India and abroad and was an active member of the Akademi's Sanskrit Advisory Board also. He has visited several foreign countries.
There is a general belief that Sanskrit is a dead language and it has ceased to be the medium of cultural communication. But I hope the present volume will remove this impression. Even a cursory glance at this volume is sufficient to demonstrate that Sanskrit continues to be a very powerful and popular medium of cultural communication. It is a powerful medium because scholars have kept on writing in this language even after Independence in 1947 on all aspects of human life such as social, political, economical, scientific, and philosophical and continue to write even today. It is a popular medium because Sanskrit writers are spread all over India-from Kashmir to Kanyakumari and East to.West. Perhaps, they chose this medium of expression because this is the only language in India, which transcends all geographic boundaries, and all ethnic, religious and regional limitations. Sanskrit is treated as the only binding emotional thread to maintain the feeling of unity in diversity. The kind of feeling created by the creation of states on linguistic ground is absent when one encounters Sanskrit.
This volume is an outcome of the Naional Seminar on "Sanskrit Writings in Independent India", organized by the Sahitya Akademi, New Delhi at Pune in collaboration with the Centre of Advanced Study in Sanskrit, University of Pune. It is amazing to see the amount of literature written in Sanskrit of all genres, all over the country over last 55 years. Literally all aspects of human life have formed the subject matter of these works. All forms of writings have been handled. More-or-less in all regions of the country, works have been written in Sanskrit. There are huge numbers of writings in prose and poetry. It is not the case that only literary writings have taken place, but writings of all forms have been produced in Sanskrit during the post-Independence period. There are narratives, poems, novels; dramas, theoretical writings, writings of social problems (dharmasastras), philosophical writings, scientific writings and like this or all forms of writing which are seen in any modern Indian language. There are hi number of Sanskrit Journals published from all over the country, which can compete with any journal in any language. The readers of this volume will be happy to verify these statements and to examine the truth-value of the general belief that Sanskrit is a "Dead Language".
I am thankful to the Sahitya Akademi for arranging Seminar and for entrusting the work of editing this Volume to me I am also thankful to all the contributors of this volume.
I thank Dr. Mishra, Dr. Kartar Chand Shanna and Dr. Je for helping me in proof-reading.
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