Who says Sanskrit is dead?

Sanskrit is regarded as the mother of most of the Indian languages. Hindu mythologies call the language Dev Vani, meaning the language used by the gods. The centuries old language can be heard only on national channels or radio programs specifically meant for the preservation of the language. But the modern world shows that the language is strong enough and rules the computation field as it is the most convenient language for software programs and to script languages.

Amrita Samskritha Higher Secondary School, Paripally in Kollam is a school that teaches Sanskrit to 3,000 students, the largest of its kind in the state. From its inception, the school is known as the Samskritham school. Started in 1964, it continues to support and nurture new generations to love the language. Started as an upper primary school in 1964 at Parippaly, it became an icon among Sanskrit schools gradually. It became a high school in 1982 and later, a well reputed higher secondary school in the academic year 1990-91. “As mother of most of the Indian languages, Sanskrit helps us to understand almost all Indian languages. It was my passion to learn Sanskrit from childhood itself,” said Veena R., a class ten student, to DC.

“We use the noon break to use the language practically in everyday life,” said Sreekumar, Sanskrit teacher of the school. Kochapallil Sukumaran started the Sree Velu Memorial upper primary school to support the underprivileged in the locality. The small school with less than 250 children is maintained by headmistress Sudhana. Along with the school there is an orphanage, a match box company and a tile factory. The workers’ children were the majority of the school at that time. The school started a hostel to accommodate students from SC/ST sections.

The school was handed over to the Mata Amritananda Mayi Mutt in 1989. Now there are 3880 students in the school, 3330 in the upper primary- high school Section and 550 in the higher secondary section . Among the UP- high school section, 3000 students learn Sanskrit as their first language. “It is not mandatory that everyone should learn Sanskrit as their first language, but students themselves opt to do so. They have strong support from their parents,” said N. Madhusoodhanan, Sanskrit teacher of the school. There are 300 students who have opted for Malayalam as their first language. The school has an ample number of Sanskrit teachers to handle this huge population of Sanskrit loving students. There are 24 teachers to handle the UP- HS section and two to handle the higher secondary section.

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