UNESCO Declares Vedic Chanting

11-18-2003, 06:10 AM

UNESCO Declares Vedic Chanting an "Intangible Heritage of Humanity" and Sanskrit
Has Regained Popularity in Schools

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http://pib.nic.in/archieve/lreleng/l...111200311.html

PARIS, FRANCE, November 12, 2003: The oral tradition of Vedic chanting has been
declared an intangible heritage of humanity by UNESCO. In a meeting of jury
members on November 7, 2003, at Paris, Mr. Koichiro Matsuura, Director-General
of UNESCO, declared the chanting of Vedas in India an outstanding example of
heritage and form of cultural expressions. The proclamation says that in the age
of globalization and modernization when
cultural diversity is under pressure, the preservation of oral tradition of
Vedic chanting, a unique cultural heritage, has great significance.

The jury members included Dr. Richard Kurin, Director of the Center for Folklore
and Cultural Heritage of the Smithsonian Institution (United Nations), Mr. Juan
Goytisolo, Writer (Spain), Mr. Yoshikazu Hasegawa (Japan), Ms. Olive W.M. Lewin.
Pianist, ethnomusicologist, Director of the Jamaica Orchestra for Youth
(Jamaica).

The UNESCO declaration will bring international recognition to the excellence of
the Vedic chanting tradition of India, which has survived for centuries encoding
the wisdom contained in the Vedas through an extraordinary effort of
memorization and through elaborately worked out mnemonic methods. The purity and
fail-safe technique devised for Vedic chanting in the olden days led to access
to one of the ancient literatures
of humanity in its entirety today.

The Department of Culture, Ministry of Tourism and Culture, took the initiative
to put up the candidature of the Vedic chanting to UNESCO. A presentation was
prepared by Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts. The Department has also
prepared a five-year action plan to safeguard, protect,
promote and disseminate the oral tradition of Vedas in terms of their uniqueness
and distinctiveness, encourage scholars and practitioners to preserve,
revitalize and promote their own branch of Vedic recitation as the custodians of
their own traditions and direct the efforts primarily to making the tradition
survive in its own context.
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Sanskrit has Regained Popularity at Universities and Schools
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http://ww1.mid-day.com/news/city/200...mber/67869.htm

MUMBAI, INDIA, November 4, 2003: The ancient language of Sanskrit has become
prevalent once again at schools and universities in the country. At Mumbai
University, this article says that the number of students registered for
courses at the University's Sanskrit department has gone up from 175 to 260 in
the last 4 years. Dr. G.P. Mahulikar, head of the University's Sanskrit
department says, "I am amazed to see the kind of response from students.
When I did my MA in 1975, there were around 10 students in the post-graduate
class. Now, the number of students is 30." The number of students studying
Sanskrit as part of a certificate or diploma program has also grown to full
capacity. All age groups seem to want to learn the language as it opens up
doors to study ancient epics and disciplines such as Ayurveda.

Dr. Kalplata Mahajan, a 56-year-old general practitioner says, "I learnt
Sanskrit in school but could not pursue it as I took up medicine in college."
Rajashri Barve, a Kathak dancer from Malad adds, "Since the language is also
becoming popular in schools, there is a demand for Sanskrit teachers. That is
another reason more students are learning the nguage." For Prasad Akolkar, a
Ayurveda practitioner, the language will help her in understanding ancient
Ayurveda.

The demand for learning Sanskrit has increased for three reasons; firstly it has
become popular as an optional language in schools and Sanskrit teachers are in
demand, secondly it is now offered as a course on the Civil Services examination
and students usually score well on the test, and thirdly as students attempt to
discover their roots by studying ancient Indian epics,the language of the
literature is Sanskrit.