It is called the language of the Gods and it is as old as
Classified as an Indo-Aryan language, it is the primary liturgical language of
Hinduism and a literary and scholarly language of Jainism and Buddhism. India
Much of our ancient texts, books, Vedas, Shastras and even ancient literature is written in this language. Today, Uttarkhand is the only State in
which has made this its
official language. Even now, it
is widely used as a ceremonial language in Hindu religious rituals and Buddhist
practice in the forms of hymns and mantras. India
This is the also the language that is generally used in temples and religious institutions and most of the Shlokas and Shastras is in this language.
This is Sanskrit, which Panani says, evolved out of the earlier Vedic form. Historians and linguists generally trace the beginning of Vedic Sanskrit as early as 1500–1200 BC.
There have been efforts to revive the language and
has a unique role in this. A Mysorean started in 1970 the first ever newspaper
in Sanskrit. Mysore
Called Sudharma, this vernacular has a print order of 3,000 copies a day and it is despatched across
Copies are also sent abroad. Founded by Pandit Kalale Nadadur Varadaraja ( K.N.)
Vardaraja Iyengar, the paper has never sought Government support, Government
advertisement or even subsidy. India
K.N. Iyengar, who was publishing Sanskrit works, hit upon the idea of starting a newspaper in Sanskrit to make use of the Sanskrit types that was lying idle with him. This is how the paper came to be started.
He was helped in starting the newspaper from some of his friends such as Agaram Rangaiah, editor of Saadhvi, a Kannada newspaper, and P. Nagachar, former Joint Director of Department of Information and Publicity.
Apart from these two, others who helped in starting the newspaper were H. G. Shithikanta Sharma, T. Shankara Shastri, Balaganapati Bhat, Shingappa, Araiyar Ramasharma, Roopa Narayan Pandeya, Venkatramana T. Bhat and other Sanskrit Vidwans and Pandits.
K.N. Iyengar was born in 1921 in a Vaidika family. After schooling in the traditional Sanskrit Paathashaala system, he attained the title of Pandit. Later, in 1955, he established his own printing press. A socially involved person, he was moved by the shortage of schooling for girls. This led him to found the Srikaanta Education Society dedicated solely to educating girl children. He was also involved with many other social service organisations.
Today, the newspaper is run by the founder’s son, K.V. Sampath Kumar, but soaring costs, lack of Government support and low readership has proved to a bane for it.
The paper has a digital version too but this can be accessed only if one has Internet at home or office. Subscribers from 38 countries and Sanskrit lovers are reading e-version of Sudharma everyday.
However, the print version too is being printed and distributed through post but the costs are rising and the venerable newspaper is finding it difficult to sustain itself. Moreover, printing material and printing paper are expensive and the costs are rising.
Till a few years ago, it was the only Sanskrit newspaper in
Now there are two more from India Gujarat. But
Sudharma was the first and it is the only one in South
The first issue of Sudharma came out on July 14, 1970 from Ganapathi Totti in Maharaja's
Sannidhi of Maharaja Sanskrit Paathashaala. Now, the paper is currently
published out of a press in the Ramachandra Agrahara and its subscriber base includes,
Sanskrit colleges, Vidyapeethas, public libraries in Karnataka and states of Sanskrit
College Jammu and Kashmir, Orissa, Tamil Nadu,
and Rajasthan. There are avid subscribers in countries such as Kerala, Assam Japan and the U.S.
The single sheet daily covers news, politics, yoga, vedas and culture. At first, Sudharma was hand-printed. Since then, the printing process has been modernized and it is currently printed by computerised offset printing.
Incidentally, Samskritavartamanapatram is a Sanskrit daily published from Vadodara and Vishvasya Vrutantam another daily published from
Surat, both in Gujarat.
(The Hindu newspaper has a write up on this newspaper in its today’s edition. It is written by R, Krishna Kumar).