Sanskritisation turned turtle
Dalit students at a government-aided school study the language of the vedas at a time when it has been shunned by the Brahmins and upper castes who were supposed to be its sole custodians
Kumbakonam is a historical temple town in Tamil Nadu. Situated on the banks of the Cauvery, this small place had garnered national headlines way back in 2004 when 83 students were burnt alive when a school was ravaged by a massive fire. Today, the town has put the episode of horror behind. And a school, by imparting traditional teaching, has acted as a major vehicle of social change.
The Jayendra Saraswati Oriental Higher Secondary School, a government-aided academy, has turned the prerogative of upper castes to learn Sanskrit on its head. Here, learning of the language of the Vedas is imparted to students from Dalit and backward communities.
The school was started by Swami Chandra Shekarendra Saraswati, the then Sankaracharya of Kanchi Mutt in 1966. By the 1990s, the school was tottering; the building had fallen apart, there was little or no funds. Then stepped in Sri Jayendra Saraswati, the current Sankaracharya of Kanchi Mutt. Normally, the Sankaracharya will come, bless the pupils and leave. But on a visit, he called a student from the seventh standard and asked him to recite some slokas. That boy incidentally turned out to be a Dalit student. He recited the Sanskrit slokas so beautifully that Swamiji was impressed.
He spent an hour in the school and the school survived. The Sankaracharya arranged for funds up to Rs 60 lakh. The building was restored and soon the school was back on its feet. 1966, when it started out, the Jayendra Saraswati Oriental Higher Secondary School had just ten students. Today, that strength has gone up to 450.
When the TSI team entered the Jayendra Saraswati Oriental Higher Secondary School, tucked in one corner of the Karna Kollai Agraharam area on the bustling Big Bazar Street, the school was abuzz with recitation of students.
''When our school was in a very bad shape, Swami Jayendra saved us. He has told us that we should not collect higher fees from the students. Here up to the tenth standard, we teach Sanskrit like Tamil and English. Poor and backward class students study this language with a lot of interest. We don't say no to anyone. We admit all. For further studies in computer and to know Hindi, Sanskrit will come very handy. We devote more time to Sanskrit classes," says J. Baskaran, headmaster of the school. While the teachers' salaries are taken care of by the state government, the Kanchi Mutt looks after the administration.
Mostly, the students come from poor backgrounds. They are mostly children of fruit sellers, railway platform vendors, daily labourers, masons.
Thirumalai, a teacher of Sanskrit in the school, is himself an old student of this school. He has done his Masters and M.Phil in Sanskrit as well. He was teaching students of the sixth standard when TSI caught up with him. ''We teach everything, starting from Akshapyasa up to grammar. From the seventh standard onwards, classics are taught. It includes Raghuvamsa, Rathnavali, Kumarasambhavam, Krajathajunya, Kaumudhi, Dharkkasangakaraga, Dhasakumara Sarita, Prathabha Rudriayam," he said.
“These young students are like clay, they can be moulded with ease. They learn quickly,” Thirumalai shared his experience with us.
Vaishnavi, a seventh standard student, is brilliant enough to manage her class while her teacher is away in Chennai on official work. Vaishnavi is a Dalit student, her father sells fruits. She was reading out a line from Raghuvamsa and explained its significance to her fellow classmates: “This means that the Kings of the Raghu clan earned only to give away to the poor.”
Praveen Kumar from the sixth standard secured 72 marks in Sanskrit out of a possible 100 in the recently held half-yearly examinations. His father is a carpenter. Valarmathi, another Dalit student whose father is a daily labourer, is also fond of Sanskrit. Sandhya's father is a labourer; the tenth standard student has got 82 marks in her last examination.
N. Ramakrishnan, secretary of the school, tells TSI, ''Generally, you would not find students from higher sections of the society studying Sanskrit. Mostly, lower class students study the language. We don't differentiate on the basis of caste or religion. Last year, a Muslim student scored the highest marks in Sanskrit. By the way, we just don't teach Sanskrit. In other subjects also, our school students are doing good. They are passing the board examinations with flying colours."
How ironic, once considered the language of the Gods which the sudras (lower castes) were not even allowed to hear, today Brahmins and other upper castes have completely shunned it, leaving it to the Dalits to keep the mother of most Indian languages alive.
''E. V. R. Periyar, the great social reformer of Tamil Nadu, vehemently opposed the systems of caste hierarchy and Brahmin superiority. In the course, he also opposed Sanskrit. Tamils are known for opposing Hindi language when in 1937, it was made compulsory in the schools. Anyone who knows the social history of the Dravidian movement would really wonder about what is happening in this school. It highlights a social change that perhaps the keepers of this language will not necessarily be Brahmins," says Thenuga, an art and social critic from Kumbakonam.
Sanskrit, almost a dead language in India, is being revived at many levels. Perhaps making it a mass language would help it to live longer. May be this school has a bigger lesson for the people of this country.
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Dalit students at a government-aided school study the language of the vedas at a time when it has been shunned by the Brahmins and upper castes who were supposed to be its sole custodians
Kumbakonam is a historical temple town in Tamil Nadu. Situated on the banks of the Cauvery, this small place had garnered national headlines way back in 2004 when 83 students were burnt alive when a school was ravaged by a massive fire. Today, the town has put the episode of horror behind. And a school, by imparting traditional teaching, has acted as a major vehicle of social change.
The Jayendra Saraswati Oriental Higher Secondary School, a government-aided academy, has turned the prerogative of upper castes to learn Sanskrit on its head. Here, learning of the language of the Vedas is imparted to students from Dalit and backward communities.
The school was started by Swami Chandra Shekarendra Saraswati, the then Sankaracharya of Kanchi Mutt in 1966. By the 1990s, the school was tottering; the building had fallen apart, there was little or no funds. Then stepped in Sri Jayendra Saraswati, the current Sankaracharya of Kanchi Mutt. Normally, the Sankaracharya will come, bless the pupils and leave. But on a visit, he called a student from the seventh standard and asked him to recite some slokas. That boy incidentally turned out to be a Dalit student. He recited the Sanskrit slokas so beautifully that Swamiji was impressed.
He spent an hour in the school and the school survived. The Sankaracharya arranged for funds up to Rs 60 lakh. The building was restored and soon the school was back on its feet. 1966, when it started out, the Jayendra Saraswati Oriental Higher Secondary School had just ten students. Today, that strength has gone up to 450.
When the TSI team entered the Jayendra Saraswati Oriental Higher Secondary School, tucked in one corner of the Karna Kollai Agraharam area on the bustling Big Bazar Street, the school was abuzz with recitation of students.
''When our school was in a very bad shape, Swami Jayendra saved us. He has told us that we should not collect higher fees from the students. Here up to the tenth standard, we teach Sanskrit like Tamil and English. Poor and backward class students study this language with a lot of interest. We don't say no to anyone. We admit all. For further studies in computer and to know Hindi, Sanskrit will come very handy. We devote more time to Sanskrit classes," says J. Baskaran, headmaster of the school. While the teachers' salaries are taken care of by the state government, the Kanchi Mutt looks after the administration.
Mostly, the students come from poor backgrounds. They are mostly children of fruit sellers, railway platform vendors, daily labourers, masons.
Thirumalai, a teacher of Sanskrit in the school, is himself an old student of this school. He has done his Masters and M.Phil in Sanskrit as well. He was teaching students of the sixth standard when TSI caught up with him. ''We teach everything, starting from Akshapyasa up to grammar. From the seventh standard onwards, classics are taught. It includes Raghuvamsa, Rathnavali, Kumarasambhavam, Krajathajunya, Kaumudhi, Dharkkasangakaraga, Dhasakumara Sarita, Prathabha Rudriayam," he said.
“These young students are like clay, they can be moulded with ease. They learn quickly,” Thirumalai shared his experience with us.
Vaishnavi, a seventh standard student, is brilliant enough to manage her class while her teacher is away in Chennai on official work. Vaishnavi is a Dalit student, her father sells fruits. She was reading out a line from Raghuvamsa and explained its significance to her fellow classmates: “This means that the Kings of the Raghu clan earned only to give away to the poor.”
Praveen Kumar from the sixth standard secured 72 marks in Sanskrit out of a possible 100 in the recently held half-yearly examinations. His father is a carpenter. Valarmathi, another Dalit student whose father is a daily labourer, is also fond of Sanskrit. Sandhya's father is a labourer; the tenth standard student has got 82 marks in her last examination.
N. Ramakrishnan, secretary of the school, tells TSI, ''Generally, you would not find students from higher sections of the society studying Sanskrit. Mostly, lower class students study the language. We don't differentiate on the basis of caste or religion. Last year, a Muslim student scored the highest marks in Sanskrit. By the way, we just don't teach Sanskrit. In other subjects also, our school students are doing good. They are passing the board examinations with flying colours."
How ironic, once considered the language of the Gods which the sudras (lower castes) were not even allowed to hear, today Brahmins and other upper castes have completely shunned it, leaving it to the Dalits to keep the mother of most Indian languages alive.
''E. V. R. Periyar, the great social reformer of Tamil Nadu, vehemently opposed the systems of caste hierarchy and Brahmin superiority. In the course, he also opposed Sanskrit. Tamils are known for opposing Hindi language when in 1937, it was made compulsory in the schools. Anyone who knows the social history of the Dravidian movement would really wonder about what is happening in this school. It highlights a social change that perhaps the keepers of this language will not necessarily be Brahmins," says Thenuga, an art and social critic from Kumbakonam.
Sanskrit, almost a dead language in India, is being revived at many levels. Perhaps making it a mass language would help it to live longer. May be this school has a bigger lesson for the people of this country.
For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
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Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri Dean Business School IIPM
IIPM Excom Prof Rajita Chaudhuri
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"Thorns to Competition" amongst the top 10 best sellers of the week.
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'Thorns to Competition' - You can order your copy online from here
IIPM Mumbai Campus
