The department of Sanskrit Studies, University of Hyderabad (UOH) organized ‘Samskrtotsava’ at the School of Humanities on 14th August, 2014. The event was held to celebrate Sanskrit day and observe the significance of the language.
Prof. Amitabha Dasgupta and Prof. Sripada Subrahmanyam
The inaugural address was delivered by Prof. Amitabha Dasgupta, Dean of the School of Humanities. He spoke about the importance of Sanskrit and also pointed out the lopsided nature of Indians. According to Prof. Dasgupta, Indians seem to be ignorant about Sanskrit as the focus remains purely on western science. However, the need of the hour is to realize the fact that Sanskrit will help us become nationalist. He stressed the fact that people all over the world gradually realised the importance of Sanskrit. Therefore, it becomes utmost important that the Indians should work towards bridging the gap.
On this occasion, a lecture was delivered by Prof. V. Kannan, Professor of Mathematics and former Pro Vice Chancellor at UoH. Prof. Kannan delivered a talk on “Modern Mathematics in Samskrita”. He cited examples of famous Mathematicians like F Cajori, La Place to substantiate that whatever formulae are present in the modern mathematics, those had already been proven in Sanskrit 1000 years ago. He also cited Brahmagupta and said that his formula was rediscovered in Europe. He presented numerous examples during the course of his lecture and stated that even the Arabs borrowed Trigonometry from India.
Prof. V Kannan
Prof. Kannan sang verses in Sanskrit and also translated them in English. He emphasized that some formulae in Sanskrit could be written in a single line whereas the same takes two-three sentences in English. He also gave a list of formulae that were proven in Sanskrit years ago like magic squares, the rule of 3, the zero and volume of a sphere.
Prof. Sripada Subrahmanyam Director, Andhra Pradesh Government Oriental Manuscripts Library (APGOML) Hyderabad was one of the distinguished speakers. He spoke about the “Significance of Sanskrit Shastras”. Prof. Subrahmanyam started his speech with the famous Sanksrit verse, “Gurur Bhrama Gurur Vishnu”.
The lectures provided an insight into the intricacies of the language and laid emphasis on the fact that a lot more needs to be done to preserve the language that discloses the ancient Indian intellectual worldview.
-Saumya Painuli, M.A Communication, UoH