The first course of online spoken Sanskrit classes titled “Subhashitam Samskritam” organised by the Sanskrit Club of IIT Roorkee in association with Samskrita Bharati, concluded on Sunday with the Union minister of Human Resource Development, Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank' as the chief guest.
In his appreciation letter, PM Narendra Modi commended this initiative of IIT Roorkee and Samskrita Bharati.
He said that Sanskrit has been an integral part of our tradition since antiquity and our Sanskrit scriptures have been vehicles of expression of Indian wisdom, philosophy, science, and ethics.
He added that such events play an instrumental role in enabling participants to develop a keen interest in the language.“Sanskrit is one of the oldest languages of the world.
There is a need to sensitise the new age generation towards the uniqueness and significance of Sanskrit language.
Such initiatives go a long way in sensitising the young generation towards preserving the Indian culture and knowledge systems,” said the Union HRD minister Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank' on the occasion.
The institute director Ajit K Chaturvedi thanked the PM for the encouragement and Nishank for attending the online valedictory function.
The 12-day online classes aimed to help participants learn speaking elementary Sanskrit, he added.
The programme was launched on the occasion of Guru Purnima by the Sanskrit Club of IIT Roorkee and was open to all with a workable knowledge of an Indian language anywhere in the world.
It imparted spoken Sanskrit lessons free of cost via the WebEx platform and YouTube live.
About 3,000 people in the 18-40 years age group from 20 countries attended the classes. The next four courses are scheduled to start from the first week of August.