Technology has opened up new opportunities to preserve and propagate Sanskrit, Vice-President M. Venkaiah Naidu said at the ninth annual convocation and decennial celebration of the Karnataka Samskrit University here on Saturday.

“Digitalisation of ancient manuscripts, epigraphs, and inscriptions, recording of the recitation of the Vedas, and publishing books bringing out the meaning and significance of ancient Sanskrit treatises would be some of the ways to preserve our culture embedded in Sanskrit texts. We must make it a mass movement to revive Sanskrit learning where all the stakeholders should contribute to the re-discovery of India’s rich classical literature and cultural heritage,” he said.

He said Sanskrit helps us understand the soul of India. “If one has to understand the Indian worldview, one has to learn Sanskrit. If one has to appreciate the literary genius of Indian poets, one must be familiar with Sanskrit. If one has to research the civilisational richness of our great country, one has to be a student of Sanskrit,” Mr. Naidu said. 

Appreciating the role of institutions such as the Karnataka Samskrit University in the preservation of classical languages, he urged the universities to engage in active research on the ancient texts and make the research outcomes relevant to the contemporary world. Mr. Naidu also called for efforts to preserve the rich literature of all six classical Indian languages — Tamil, Sanskrit, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, and Odia.

On the occasion, the university conferred an honorary doctorate on three scholars — Acharya Pradyumna, V.S. Indiramma, and Vidwan Umakanth Bhat.

In his address, Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot stressed the need for encouraging people to learn Sanskrit along with regional languages.