In Orissa, a village of Sanskrit pundits

Bhubaneswar(visakeo)-Sanskrit may have ceased to be spoken by people, but there is a remote
village in this coastal district of Orissa where every home has a pundit
of the ancient language.

Sasana village in the Shyamsundar gram panchayat area is almost an
anachronism in today's culture which no longer takes pride in mastering
the language which, along with Latin, was once the two most dominant
languages in the world.

The village, inhabited almost fully by Brahmins, has a little over 32
households with 200-odd members. In all the households one will come
across Sanskrit pundits employed in government-run Sanskrit-medium
educational institutions.

"We are proud patrons of Sanskrit. The ancient language is very much
alive at the village, 76-year-old Baishnav Charan Pati, a Sanskrit
pundit who has retired from his teaching job, said.

Pati said that they made sure for generations that at least one child in
every household had been taught in the Sanskrit medium of education.

"Most of the Sanskrit-educated residents have found employment either in
government schools or have taken up career as priests to preside over
Hindu ceremonies,'' Pati said.

Take the case of Pundit Trilochan Sadangi. Both his sons and daughter
are Sanskrit-educated and are teaching the language in government-run
schools.

"By encouraging our children to learn Sanskrit, we are trying to revive
the language. We are largely successful till now and we earnestly hope
that our future generations will keep the tradition alive,'' Pati said
with a tinge of pride.

The village's fascination for Sanskrit has not come from the blue, but
rather flowed from its rich tradition in Sanskrit learning.

A nearby village Babkarpur has the presence of a miniature temple
dedicated to the great poet Kalidasa, author of 'Abhigyana Shakuntalam'
and many other classics, which tells eloquently of the region's love for
the things Sanskrit.