Sanskrit has scope to tap treasure of knowledge: Banwarilal Purohit

Chennai: Averring that learning other languages, in addition to mother tongue, helps one to acquire additional knowledge, Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit has said that Sanskrit, home to many religious, scientific and literary compositions, offers profound scope to tap the “huge treasure of knowledge.”

The Governor who stressed the importance of acquiring proficiency in the mother tongue, said learning other languages helps us to acquire additional knowledge and enables us to communicate with people from other regions and nations.

“That is the reason why languages such as English have gained ground in Tamil Nadu,” he said and added that the Madras High Court is engaged in pursuing this idea aiming to bring the judicial pronouncements closer to the common people through Tamil. The Governor was addressing a huge gathering after releasing the Tamil-Sanskrit dictionary, compiled by late Prof. S. Hariharan, father of BJP national secretary H. Raja, at the Music Academy here on Tuesday evening.

The dictionary was released in the presence of the Kanchi Sankaracharya Sri Vijayendra Saraswathi Swamy who blessed the people on the occasion. “Recently, the President of India who visited Raj  Bhavan had at a meeting with the Chief  Justice of  Madras High Court and other judges in my presence, mentioned that efforts could be taken to translate the judgments of the high court into Tamil so that the litigants are aware of the details of the judgement by reading it themselves. The high court of Madras is engaged in pursuing this idea,” Mr Purohit said.

Turning to the dictionary he said the “useful  translation in Tamil will help people of Tamil Nadu to gain substantially in economic and scientific terms. “Prof. Hariharan’s work has been a labour of love aimed at promoting development through languages. His compilation will also help to bring out linguistic brotherhood by bringing together two major languages of India. It was the dream of Pandit Deen Dayal Upadyaya, the  legendary nationalist thinker that national integration should be achieved through linguistic brotherhood. Towards that end Prof. Hariharan has indeed made a distinguished contribution,” he said.

Junior seer of Kanchi mutt stirs controversy

Vijayendra Saraswathi, the junior seer of the Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam, on Tuesday night stirred a controversy by “disrespecting” Tamil Thaai Vaazthu at an event here.

Television footage showed the junior seer sitting in his seat the dais when the Tamil anthem was played. However, he stood for the national anthem.

It showed Governor Bhanwarilal Purohit and others on the dais standing up for the Tamil anthem, while Vijayendra Saraswathi preferring to sit.

The incident took place at the launch of Tamil-Hindi dictionary written by late Hariharan Sharma, father of BJP leader H Raja. However, there was no explanation from the organisers. Twitter was abuzz with condemnation for the
junior seer of the Kanchi mutt for disrespecting the Tamil anthem. Tamil Thaai Vaazthu is played usually at the start of an event in Tamil Nadu.