I agree with letter-writer P.R.V. Raja (July 24) that the Dravidian parties appear to be engaged in the business of the politics of language, depriving Tamilians of a competitive spirit. The corruption of language is the greatest threat to freedom.
J.R.D. Rajakumar,Chennai
Letter-writer Sharada Schaffter (July 23) mentions that the oldest surviving Sanskrit manuscript dates back to only 1100 CE. How does it matter? Doesn’t everybody know that even by conservative estimates, the Vedas are at least 4,000 years old and that they are in Sanskrit? Therefore, the language itself must have been several centuries older. However, it is not the antiquity of Sanskrit that is most admired by those who know it but its wonderful scientific structure, its efforts to capture almost every sound and its unparalleled reach in terms of word creation. It was the principal language to convey a vast amount of abstract philosophical and metaphysical ideas and also create some of the greatest literary works. Some of the finest grammarians were Sanskrit grammarians.
Abhienav Mishra,New Delhi
The debate over ‘Sanskrit Week’ has gone out of context and is disappointing. Sanskrit and Tamil belong to two entirely distinct language families, that is, Indo-Aryan and Dravidian respectively. There is no doubt that Sanskrit has lost its prominence and is no longer spoken colloquially, however revered and precise it might be; Tamil still retains widespread use. So, the celebration of ‘Sanskrit Week’ among children should not be seen as an attempt to suppress a regional language but as a fillip to preserving our ancient Indian heritage.
Duke Biswas,New Delhi
The spate of letters that have appeared for and against the proposed ‘Sanskrit Week’ celebrations make it clear that many of us are perhaps unaware of some of the unique features of this great language. Apart from being the torchbearer for the Vedas and the Upanishads, it is amazing to see how it caters to the needs of modern technology. Many mathematical theorems have been elaborately dealt with in Sanskrit, including the mind-boggling Vimanika Shastra (pertaining to aeronautics). This apart, the most modern ideas of artificial intelligence and speech recognition techniques in computer science have been well supported by Sanskrit grammar if one goes by the research done in Germany. It is no exaggeration to say that Sanskrit is as old as the Vedas and as new as the morning! Politicians in Tamil Nadu need to be persuaded to shed their irrational hatred towards this wonderful language and allow it to spread among the young generation. They deserve a chance to understand its greatness.
K.R. Venkataramani,Coimbatore
