Tribal
Village in Banswada district of Rajasthan switches to ancient language, spreading the good
word
Courtesy - Indian Express, Friday, 14th march 2003
From the Walls of
Shambhunath Jha's house, plastered posters vie for attention. But the one that catches
your eye is a conversation chart that goes something like this : "Welcome, please sit
down. Would you like something to drink? Nice to meet you. See you again. Goodbye."
The chart doesn't just tell you how to make polite conversation. It also tells you how to
do it in Sanskrit.
Jha's little daughter
rapidly replies to her father's questions, all in Sanskrit. Near the kitchen, the Jha
household has put up another chart, this time listing the name of cooking ingredients and
food items. "We use it as a regular glossary. Sanskrit is not our mother tongue, so
sometimes we need to look up the chart. But most of the time, we manage without it"
says Jha proudly.
The professor is one
of the many residents in Ganoda village who are confident they can carry on an entire
conversation in Sanskrit without a problem. The grocery shop owner claims he can rattle
off shlokas in Sanskrit while in the adjoining utensil store the owner informs that he
helps his children with their language homework.
"Almost everyone
can speak or understand the language here", Naresh Doshi says. "I studied only
till Class VIII but I still manage in Sanskrit. We don't speak it at home all the time,
but we understand and if someone comes to my shop and asks for something in Sanskrit, I'll
know what to give."
In this
tribal-dominated village, Sanskrit is slowly becoming a way of life. Slogans in Sanskrit
make the village walls, the language spoken in practically every house and every
school-going child rattling off a few sentences. The entire process actually started by
default. Until about 10 years ago, Ganoda village was like any other in Banswada district
of Rajasthan. Tribal dominated, average literacy levels and a nondescrpt entity. But the growing number of students passing out
of the government Sanskrit college in Ganoda changed all that. Over 100 students in the
three Sanskrit institutions of the village - a primary school, middle school and the
college - have joined hands with a group of their teachers to try and make Sanskrit the
second language of the Wagdi speaking population.
Kanhaiya Lala Yadav
is a first generation learner from his tribal household in Dukhvada. "We speak Wagdi
at home but I often debate with my friends in Sanskrit" says the undergraduate
student. Jha adds, "We decided recently to try and take the language to as many
people as possible. There's already an atmosphere of learning that has been created over
the years. Now we are trying to reach out to as many people as possible in remote areas
and teach them Sanskrit." And to spread the good word, the teachers and students are
practically going door-to-door, teaching, putting up posters and impressing many with
their synchronised recitation of shlokas.
For the motivated Sanskrit speaking lot
of Ganoda, the ultimate aim is to make it a unique and model Sanskrit village. Their
punchline is "don't say hello, say Hari Om".