In a first since the Partition, a Pakistani university is set to bring back Sanskrit studies to a classroom. The big leap is reportedly being taken by the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS). According to The Tribune, the major introduction will give way to a full four-credit university course in light of a three-month weekend workshop receiving rave reviews.
Pakistan university professor speaks out about Sanskrit course
In an interview with The Tribune, Dr Ali Usman Qasmi, Director of the Gurmani Centre, opened up about Pakistan housing a vast expanse of least-studied Sanskrit archies.
“A significant collection of Sanskrit palm-leaf manuscripts were catalogued in the 1930s by scholar JCR Woolner, but no Pakistani academic has engaged with this collection since 1947. Only foreign researchers use it. Training scholars locally will change that,” he told the outlet.
He also hinted at the Pakistani varsity introducing courses on the Mahabharata and the Bhagavad Gita down the line. Hoping the Sanskrit course “sets a momentum,” he told The Tribune, “In 10-15 years, we could see Pakistan-based scholars of the Gita and the Mahabharata.”
He noted that while the number of students is still small, given the turnout at the weekend workshop, there were big hopes about the attendance growing in the next few years. “Ideally, by spring 2027, we should be able to teach the language as a year-long course,” he shared with The Tribune.
Dr Shahid Rasheed, Associate Professor of sociology at Forman Christian College, will be teaching the course. Upon being approached by Dr Qasmi, Dr Rasheed left his post at the FC College to come teach at the LUMS.
“I mainly teach grammar. When I was teaching ‘subhashitas’, the wisdom verses or shlokas, many of my students were fascinated to discover that so many Urdu words come from Sanskrit,” he told The Tribune.
“Many didn’t even know that Sanskrit was different from Hindi. In the first week, they found it a challenging language. But once they grasped the logical structure, they started enjoying it. The pleasure of solving something difficult is immense.”
Sanskrit course in Pakistan
LUSM’s Dr Qasmi detailed in the interview that the Sanskrit initiative was part of the university’s expansive focus on building a diverse language ecosystem, including Sindhi, Pashto, Punjabi, Baluchi, Arabic and Persian.
“Sanskrit is like a mountain–a cultural monument. We need to own it. It is ours too; it’s not tied to any one particular religion,” he told The Tribune. He even opened up about how others had questioned him about his choice to learn the classical language. “Why should we not learn it? It is the binding language of the entire region. Sanskrit grammarian Panini’s village was in this region. Much writing was done here during the Indus Valley Civilisation,” he added.
Noting the language’s importance and connection to the collective “Pakistani-Indian global heritage,” he attributed the relevance to reading classical texts in their original language.
Speaking on languages becoming “bridges instead of barriers,” he added, “If we want people to come closer, then it’s essential to understand and absorb our rich classical traditions. If we want people to come closer, then it’s essential to understand and absorb our rich classical traditions.”
According to its website, Lahore University of Management Science aka LUMS is a “not-for-profit university that was incorporated in 1984 and was granted a charter by the Government of Pakistan the following year.” It was founded by Syed Babar Ali, a renowned figured in the country’s business community.