Take Sanskrit out of its old ghettos

Over time, Sanskrit has got a bad rep, ironically because of its 'good reputation' as an ancient language of knowledge, philosophy and faith. The 'ancient' tag, while giving it a brand value, has scared most people away much after it stopped being only an 'in-language' solely for pandits and pundits, and was part of school curricula. Add to that Sanskrit's appropriation by those whose idea of the present and future are sculpted by a notional past. It must be freed from this 'Hindu' ideological and ivory-tower confinement that has made the likes of M K Stalin suspect it being pushed down throats - at the cost of other Indian languages like Tamil.

Sanskrit should be leveraged as a trendy 'subject' on a par with any other 'living' language that empowers. It has the special virtue of having an exceptionally strong in-built logical architecture. In an age of growing demand and interest in LLMs and AI, its potential value is barely ascertained. Reviving Sanskrit by bringing it into the classroom can make it accessible, unlocking a whole treasure trove of 'content' that need not be only past-facing. The revival in Europe and West Asia in the late 19th c.-early 20th c. of Hebrew, a 'Biblical' language that fell into disrepair, to a spoken and written language happened after it was unyoked from its use purely as a sacred language in Judaism. A Sanskrit revival can follow a similar trajectory.

Sanskrit must be de-Latinised, in the sense of being taken beyond its current religious, academic and 'quotable quotes from ancient texts for speeches' ghettos. For starters, modern, accessible dictionaries from Sanskrit to Indian languages like Hindi, Tamil and English should go hand in hand with making the language be utilised for pursuing new domains of knowledge.