Samskrit Week is celebrated every year three days before and three days after the Shravana Purnima. Hence this year it will be from 19th to 25th August. It has become a routine program of Samskrit institutions and organisations. No doubt they have to celebrate and propagate Samskrit. But should it be the program of Samskrit institutions alone? Don’t others too have the responsibility of popularising Samskrit? Samskrit belongs to all and all need to learn or work for Samskrit. A community which abandons its language of culture, its source of inspiration and its bond of unity cannot flourish to its fullest. Losing the link to our past is like losing the civilizational memory and the priceless heritage.

Though I write about Samskrit Week every year in Samskrit language and appeal to Samskrit scholars and students, this year I decided not to appeal to them but to appeal to everybody who love Samskrit, who revere Samskrit and to all those who understand their belongingness to the great Samskrit heritage, because the onus of promotion of Samskrit lies on all of them. Hence, I am writing this article in English/Indian languages and not in Samskrit.

If you really love Samskrit, which ever institution or organisation you are working in or associated with, request them to do some thing for Samskrit in this Samskrit Week. Request every one amongst your contacts and acquaintances to help the cause of Samskrit in whatever possible way. You can request – 1) to start learning Samskrit 2) to donate generously to any of the Samskrit teaching activity/ Prachar/ Gurukul/ Veda Pathashala/ Project etc. 3) to be a volunteer 4) to give time to teach/organise 5) to utilise his/her talent - for Samskrit.

Making the Samskrit Week celebrations more focussed may produce greater impacts. To popularise Samskrit, the focus can be popularising Samskrit Knowledge Systems. NEP 2020 says (in para 4.17) “The importance, relevance, and beauty of the classical languages and literature of India also cannot be overlooked. Sanskrit, while also an important modern language mentioned in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution of India, possesses a classical literature that is greater in volume than that of Latin and Greek put together, containing vast treasures of mathematics, philosophy, grammar, music, politics, medicine, architecture, metallurgy, drama, poetry, storytelling, and more (known as ‘Sanskrit Knowledge Systems’), written by people of various religions as well as non-religious people, and by people from all walks of life and a wide range of socio-economic backgrounds over thousands of years. Sanskrit will thus be offered at all levels of school and higher education as an important, enriching option for students, including as an option in the three-language formula. It will be taught in ways that are interesting and experiential as well as contemporarily relevant, including through the use of Sanskrit Knowledge Systems, and in particular through phonetics and pronunciation. Sanskrit textbooks at the foundational and middle school level may be written in Simple Standard Sanskrit (SSS) to teach Sanskrit through Sanskrit (STS) and make its study truly enjoyable.” Hence one way to highlight Samskrit is via popularising the “Sanskrit Knowledge Systems” (SKS) in this Samskrit Week. Every day, one aspect of SKS may be highlighted for seven days.

A search on the internet shows up ample number of websites on Indian Knowledge systems in Samskrit, Tamil, Prakrit, Pali, etc languages. Select any site and topic you like and share them to as many people as you could or in as many groups as possible. If you are going to arrange any talks, you would easily get seven speakers on seven topics of SKS for seven days.

Why don’t we make Samskrit Week celebrations something different this time? Share your thoughts in social media in this regard. Let us reach maximum number of people and approach maximum number of institutions. Samskrit teachers and Samskrit students celebrating Samskrit Week in the premises of Samskrit Universities and Samskrit Colleges will be good to keep their spirits up. Conducting competitions for school students are also needed. But let us take Samskrit beyond that. Let the country know about Samskrit Knowledge Systems this time. Samskrit language was the chariot of Knowledge Systems of this land for thousands of years. Let Samskrit Knowledge Systems be the chariot for Samskrit language at this juncture of educational reforms!