German Chancellor Angela Merkel took up the issue of German language with Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the G20 summit in Brisbane. It proves that German, in Kendriya Vidyalayas, was not just a language, but it was also an arm of diplomacy
Is German the new English that we are trying to replace by antiquated Sanskrit in Kendriya VidyalayasIJ Such a view might appear ‘blasphemous’ to the nationalists who cluster around the present ruling establishment. But adverse reactions from the parents and students are on historically predictable lines. During the pre-Macaulay period, (before 1835) as a part of Warren Hastings orientalism project, the British commissioned two Sanskrit colleges funded by the state.
These were the Government Sanskrit College (established in 1791) in Varanasi and the Sanskrit College (established in 1823) in Kolkata that function till date. By contrast, the conservative Hindus built the Hindu College (later called Presidency College) in Kolkata in 1817 with private money to avail English education for their children. Radhakanta Deb, the leader of conservative Hindus, and author of eight volume Sanskrit dictionary, Shabda Kalpadruma (The tree of Words) was on the governing board of the Hindu College life-long.
In 1821, Mountstuart Elphinstone (1779-1859), the Governor of erstwhile Bombay Presidency, took the initiative to build the Hindu College in Pune for Sanskrit studies. He wanted to placate the Marathi society after the British annexed the realm of Peshwas in Third Anglo-Maratha War (1817-18). But when he was retiring to England in 1827, the Maratha sardars and ‘Mumbaikars’ pitched the idea of Elphinstone Institute for English education.
They mobilised half the money needed for the Elphinstone Institute (later Elphinstone College) shaming the Government into contributing the other half. The Hindu College in Kolkata and the Elphistone College in Mumbai produced an illustrious line of public personae that shaped the political destiny of India. Elphinstone’s project of Hindu College, Pune for Sanskrit Studies later metamorphosed into western type Deccan College on ‘public demand’.
The same grounds for English led Bal Gangadhar Tilak, VK Chiplunkar and MB Namjoshi — all Chitpavan Brahmins — to start the New English School (1880) and the Fergusson College (1885) in Pune under the banner of Deccan Education Society. Paradoxically, Tilak and Chiplunkar were great scholars of Sanskrit. Today, Deccan Education Society has a network of schools, colleges and technical institutions in Maharashtra. The tragedy with today’s ‘nationalists’ is that they have not heard about Radhakanta Deb, Ramkamal Sen, Vishnushastri Chiplunkar, Suniti Namjoshi, etc ! But they are prompt in claiming that English was ‘imposed’ upon India by lord Macaulay.
In the 19th century, the Hindus (Muslims still lagged behind in this respect) were desirous of learning English whereas the Government was offering them Sanskrit! Today they are pitching for German but are being offered Sanskrit again! let us see if that analogy holds completely correct. English was the popular choice because of three reasons.
First, all modern and contemporary knowledge was available in English. Second, Sanskrit was dated because there had hardly been any knowledge-production in that godly language for centuries Third, Sanskrit scholarship was ‘patronage-based’ whereas English scholarship was ‘market-based’.
Unlike the Englishmen, the Germans never had a political control over India. In fact, they had wrapped up the world map, choosing to concentrate on Europe. Germans (I include Austrians in that definition) produced renowned philosophers, authors, musicians, scientists etc. But actually it is their legendary engineering those appeals to the people most. It is the Europe’s largest, and world’s fourth largest economy. But given the fact that German population is greying, and they need workforce where Indians can step-in. Thus in a result-driven world, German steals the thunder over Sanskrit.
Whether German (or Germany) could be of any help to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Make in India’ plan remains to be seen. The Prime Minister is yet to visit Germany. In the 1970s, the hallmark “Made in Germany” not only implied precision manufacturing but it also meant a highly efficient and disciplined system of industrial production.
The German engineering, automotive and chemical industries were at the forefront of technology. No doubt Germany was upstaged by the US and Japan in 1980s-90s in some of the industrial segments. But the glory still lives on in Indian mind. The fascination for ‘German’ — to my mind — is actually a fascination for industrial rather than literary/philosophical heritage of Germany.
Are we really being kind to our Sanskrit experts as we are starry-eyed about SanskritIJ Has somebody done a survey/research what our Sanskrit graduates/post-graduates/Phd holders do after passing out from universityIJ Whether the careers they pursue has something to do with Sanskrit or notIJ In fact, Sanskrit scholars have actually been abandoned by the nationalists. They are not really involved in projects where their knowledge might find good use. The irony is that, today most guardians of Hindu nationalism have no actual exposure to Sanskrit. Many of them are actually good at English.
But this is not wholly unreasonable. This is because our Sanskrit-dependency has decreased. In early 19th century, Indian languages had not developed to an extent they could support a curriculum. There were few books available in Indian languages then. But modern Indian languages are markedly developed today. Most Sanskrit books for that matter have been translated into Indian and foreign languages including English.
It seems that Kendriya Vidyalaya has not properly pursued the tri-lingual formula. As per the Indian Education Commission (1964-66) chaired by DS Kothari, every Indian child should learn language of his region (in non-Hindi region) in addition to Hindi and English. But Kendriya Vidyalayas, located all over India, do not teach a regional language (unless more than 20 students opt for it). The only languages they teach are English and Hindi. The ‘third’ language was Sanskrit, which was snipped by the German. But this is not the situation in Kendriya Vidyalayas alone. The same has happened in Central Board of Secondary Education curriculum.
However, it is ironical that the removal of German caused a diplomatic furor. A hypothetical removal of English from Kendriya Vidyalaya’s syllabus would not have perturbed the British Prime Minister or the American President. But German Chancellor Angela Merkel took up with issue with Mr Modi at the G20 summit in Brisbane. It proves that German in Kendriya Vidyalayas was not just a language, but it was also an arm of diplomacy.