Rajiv Malhotra’s new book, The Battle for Sanskrit, which is going to be launched soon is a great attempt at rescuing the discourse on Indology and Sanskrit from the clutches of western pay masters, who strictly guard the academic debate on interpretation of Sanskrit texts and have completely boxed out the traditional Indian schools. But while Rajiv Malhotra is busy in dismantling the western hold on Indology, an equally important question that one should ask is about the continued use of English as the national language of India.
The need for national language
What defines a culture, if not its own language. The reason that the national language formed the most controversial topic during Constitution debates, should itself explain the important role of language for national polity. Given the high passions that marked these debates, the constitution assembly agreed to use English for fifteen years and then switch to Hindi. But when the time came for this switch, Lal Bahadur Shastri buckled under the pressure from Southern states.
Given that language evokes raw passions even today and forms an important part of identity, the debate on national language is even more relevant. English cannot embody the ethos of Indic civilization and is fast eroding native cultures around the world and not just India. It would not be an exaggeration to state that if you lose your language, you lose your culture.
The new language policy
Before starting any debate about national language, one needs to ensure that the existing local languages are given their proper due and the national language is not forced upon people in a top-down fashion.
The current policy that is used in the country is Local language+English i.e. people start with learning their local language and use English for administration and business purpose. But given the difficulty people face to learn a foreign language, the number of people actively using English fluently is still less than 10% of Indian population.
Given that learning outcomes are best in local language, it would be good to stick with local language as the first choice in every region. The new language policy should aim towards (Two Indian languages)+English as the goal for future students. Among the two Indian languages, the first should be the local language and second should be a choice among other Indian languages.
Sanskrit as the national language
The one language which best captures the ethos of Indic civilization is Sanskrit. The battle for Sanskrit will reach its definite conclusion only by adoption of Sanskrit as the lingua franca of India and its rejuvenation on national level.
Apart from the accolades showered on Sanskrit by modern linguistics, Sanskrit forms the bedrock of all Indian languages. It is only Sanskrit which breaches the language divide between North-South India.
Giving primacy to one language and imposing it on other regions usually generates hatred and seems imperialistic. But since Sanskrit is not spoken anywhere in India, it resolves this issue by default because unlike Hindi, even north Indians will have to make an effort to learn Sanskrit.
What makes this plan for Sanskrit really difficult is the feasibility and implementation since there are few Sanskrit speakers today and everyone else would have to learn it from scratch. There would be a backlash from people who already use English as according to many of them it would be a wastage of effort and energy when everyone else is switching to English in the age of globalization. This argument makes sense from an efficiency point of view but is efficiency a good measure when it comes to preservation of culture and nationhood?
No amount of GDP growth can compensate for the loss of culture and treasure trove of wealth that is currently hidden from Indians due to lack of Sanskrit knowledge. Also, revival of Sanskrit is one of the best ways to keep local languages alive due to its overlap with other languages while simultaneously fulfilling the goal of adopting a national language other than English and finally breaking away from colonial legacy.