Sanskrit needs global recognition: Haksar

"Global exposure of the vast literature of Sanskrit which is a major component of India's cultural heritage, will help in better understanding of Indian culture, and accelerate multi-culturasim in the world," Aditya Narayan Dhairyasheel Haksar said while delivering a talk on "Literary Translation in a Multi-Cultural World" at the York Centre for Asian Research (YCAR), York University.

He said that while the great sacred and philosophical works were well known, but other aspects of Sanskrit literature were yet to receive public exposure. Haksar pointed out challenges faced in translating Sanskrit literary work into English and said that there was a distinction between literal and literary translation as later maintained flavour of the language’s genius and its rich literary heritage.

Commending the research work in Sanskrit being done at the York University and the University of Toronto, Haksar said that both institutions were playing an important role in propagating and promoting among new generation of Canadians various aspects of Sanskrit literature which to a considerable extent stayed in India within the domain of the specialist.

Sanskrit has an unbroken literary tradition of at least three thousand years. As the lingua franca of India’s cultural growth and the principal vehicle of its thought, Sanskrit has a unique position in Indian identity, Haksar added.

A number of students were of the view that Sanskrit may be considered a so-called dead language in India, and said: "For Canadians, to learn Sanskrit is a challenge."
Sanskrit is the "mother" of the so-called "Indo-Aryan" languages, a branch of Indo-European (to which also English and most other European languages belong), they added.