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 through 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 present moment the bond between Latin and the Modern; European Languages has become rather loose. 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, and Europe admits the fact that its mind has been mould- ed by these two languages and their literatures. But it does not go beyond that. Among the Roman Catholics, Latin is. still used as the language of the Church, but that influence is now confined to the do- main 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 Langu- ages, Sanskrit words predominate in the high style of most of them. Through Sanskrit, Indians everywhere, even in the Tamil area, general- ly acquire with the greatest ease quite a large vocabulary, which may be said to belong to a kind of popular pan-Indian Sanskrit. The im- portance 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 be taken 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 come 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 and a half.' Entire conferences are conducted 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 Panjabi, 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 own mother-tongues. And above all, there is a tremendous, love, 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

1*See "Sanskrit Literature" in Contemporary Indian Literature, Sahitya Akademi, New Delhi, 1957, pp. 189-237.

further development-it has still life in it. All these things would go to establish that Sanskrit is still a living force in Indian life. It would be almost 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 Ianguages officially recognised by the Constitution, and a citizen can very well make his representations to Government in Sanskrit. For certain purposes, 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 priority over 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 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 preferred, as it enjoys greater prestige and is better understood in most foreign countries. In fact, though Western savants have done researches in all Indian languages and 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 something said in Sanskrit had a much more respectful acceptance than would be accorded to a speech in any other Indian 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 atmospbere of Sanskrit in his temperament, either directly or indirectly. The case of those Indians who are not within the umbrage of Sanskrit any longer is of course a little different: although they may not have Sanskrit and may cultivate some other classical language like Persian

or Arabic or Latin, they are not outside the 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 person, 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 Indian heritage 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 seen that 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 acquaintance 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 that there should be some knowledge of Sanskrit and the Sanskritic world in an Indian citizen. In the large majority of cases in India, a beginning 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 strongly 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 cur- riculum.

6. Special Treatment Needed for Sanskrit

57. There is at the present moment a very great pressure' on the mind of the childern at school because of the rival claims of a multitude of subjects 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 Administration 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 tools 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 mother-tongue 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 to be on the surface and it is not a breadand- 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 aspect of education. And hence, educa- tionists accept the 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 be given an important place in modem Indian education, a place which appears to be disproportionate parti- cularly 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 discipline and certain formative assets from a language like Sanskrit? We must, in our educational system for childern, 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 latent powers of their mind. From this point of view, it will be universally admitted that Sanskrit has a perennial cultural and intellectual value, and this value is something which cannot be approached by Hindi or any other modern Indian language.

59. Hindi is being now given a very large amount of special con- sideration and treatment by the State. The same preferential treatment should be accorded to Sanskrit. The Constitution has laid down that the Rastrabhasha 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 impressed before, the Sanskrit language with its literature is one of our greatest forces for maintaining Indian cultural, unity, on which political unity also depends. This has to be fostered and strengthened 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 body politic, 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 administrators, 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 be missed. As pointed out already, the importance of Sanskrit is universally recognised, and if this recognition is to materialise in a practical way and is not to evaporate as 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 considera- tion being shown to Sanskrit.