the Sanskrit dictionary project undertaken by Pune-based Deccan College Post Graduate and Research Institute is now being backed by the Centre through its Central Sanskrit University in Delhi
In the works since 1948, a year after India got independence from the British rule, the Sanskrit dictionary project undertaken by Pune-based Deccan College Post Graduate and Research Institute is now being backed by the Centre through its Central Sanskrit University in Delhi.
With more than 20 lakh vocables spread over 35 volumes, K Sanjay Kumar Murthy, principal secretary at the Central Ministry of Education, reviewed the project on Wednesday as the Deccan college and the Sanskrit university signed a MoU for the exchange of resources.
Murthy announced that the dictionary will be open for citizens in the next two months with digitisation of first five volumes completed.
Murthy said the Central Sanskrit University has been roped in to provide permanent resources and collaborate with the Deccan college for the project.
“The digitalisation project will be open for public within two months, wherein users can get access to this body of work. It is a continuous work in progress. We will ensure that the remaining work is completed in a shorter period with the use of technology and young resources,” Murthy said.
The review meeting at Deccan college was attended by Anil Sahasrabudhe, chairperson, National Educational Technology Forum (NETF) and also chairperson of National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC); professor Shrinivasa Varakhedi, vice-chancellor, Central Sanskrit University (CSU); Vikas Chandra Rastogi, IAS, principal secretary, state higher education; professor Nitin Karmalkar, former vice-Chancellor of Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU) and chairperson of the NEP 2020 Steering State Committee; professor Pramod Pandey, vice-chancellor of Deccan College Deemed University Pune; Shailendra Deolankar, state director of higher education of the state; and professor Suresh Gosavi; vice-chancellor, SPPU and Prof Prasad Joshi, editor of Sanskrit dictionary since 2017 .
Murthy said that there are 61 departments, ranging from agriculture to archaeology, across the nation on the Sanskrit dictionary project.
“In today’s meeting it was decided that the Deccan College under this new arrangement should continue in its leadership role to provide guidance and collaboration to all these departments,” he said.
It was also decided that Karmalkar and Pandey will make an outreach to major universities in the country like Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), Banaras Hindu University (BHU), Delhi University and other varsities and see how this collaborative work is done, he said.
“NEP 2020 provides framework for joint collaboration and the Maharashtra government will launch programmes towards dissemination of Indian Knowledge System (IKS) from next academic session. In this, four universities from Maharashtra are combined to provide 7-8 courses to 30 lakh odd students interested in doing a minor course in that discipline. Using this introductory programme, we would reach out to other central universities and offer such type of course based on that discipline and profession. It will a major project to be carried out in coming years,” Murthy said.
Sahasrabudhe said, “The basic groundwork has been done by C-DAC Pune and it will continue as new vocables will be added for the dictionary. As we go along not only Sanskrit to English, but also in Marathi, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu that also could be thought of as a long-term road map for work ahead. Scholars across universities will be supported by the use of technology in this project.”
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