Stating that Sanskrit is the base of India’s rich cultural repository, Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur on Sunday insisted that steps must be taken to promote and propagate Sanskrit language. 

Thakur, addressing a regional conference of Sanskrit Bharti virtually from Shimla on Sunday, said that Sanskrit was the most ancient language and perfect among the great languages in the world. “It is the greatest treasure given to the world by ancient India and Sanskrit is now universally recognized as the language containing the earliest literature in the world. Sanskrit literature is an ocean that contains many pearls of wisdom and the source for vedas, shastras, kavyas, and the language of Gods,” he added.

Maintaining that Sanskrit was the main base of our culture and tradition, Thakur said that Himachal Pradesh was known as ‘Dev Bhoomi’ and thus the importance of ‘Dev Vani’ Sanskrit was far more important. “Sanskrit language has been made second language of Himachal Pradesh by the State Government in 2019 to ensure due recognition to this language. Younger generation must be taught this language so that they could feel proud of their rich culture and tradition. A road map must be prepared to frame long term strategy to promote Sanskrit language,” he added.

Chief Minister said that the State Government would sympathetically consider the genuine demands of the qualified Shastri teachers. He also appreciated the efforts of Sanskrit Bharati to democratize and popularise Sanskrit by encouraging the use of simple Sanskrit in everyday conversational contexts.

The Chief Minister said that Sanskrit was the best tool to remove five types of social differences — linguistic, class, caste, sect, and regional division. “People of every region in the country can easily relate with Sanskrit and that was the best tool to unite the country. Sanskrit was the source of all languages of the world and not a derivation of any language. Sanskrit is the divine mother language of the world,” he added.

The state’s Education Minister Govind Singh Thakur said that Sanskrit language was a divine language which teaches the world universal brotherhood and coexistence. “The State Government was committed to popularize and promote Sanskrit language in day-to-day life. The State Government has made Sanskrit as state’s second official language with an objective to promote it. Hundreds of posts of Shastris were being filled in the Government schools to ensure that students could learn this ancient language,” he added.