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Sanskrit as Link Language and Devanagiri as Common Script continues...
It is not generally known that in the Constituent Assembly, there was a body of opinion that strongly advocated the adoption of Sanskrit as the official language (see Subhash Kashyap “Back to Sanskrit”, The Hindu, Jan. 11, 2000 p. 21)). And, it is not only in India: Sanskrit had its impact in many countries outside. It became the language of the learned even in South-East Asia and to some extent in parts of Central Asia. Most interestingly, many of the ancient Sanskrit plays that exist were found not in India but in Turfan on the edge of the Great Gobi desert in China.
The highly articulate member of the Constituent Assembly, Prof. Naziruddin Ahmad, regretted that we did not know with what great veneration Sanskrit was regarded in the civilized world outside. Ahmad called Sanskrit the “greatest, grandest and the best of all languages” (quoted in Bhupendra Yadav: “Decline of Sanskrit” Economic and Political Weekly Dec. 31, 2005 p. 5539. He quoted W.C. Taylor who said that Sanskrit was the language of unrivalled richness and purity. Max Mueller had called Sanskrit “the greatest language in the world, the most wonderful and the most perfect.”
According to Sir William Jones, “Sanskrit is of a wonderful structure, more perfect than Greek, more copious than Latin, more exquisitely refined than either.” Prof. Sahibdullah, world-renowned scholar of Sanskrit, had said that Sanskrit was “the language of every man to whatever race he may belong.”
Prof. Naziruddin Ahmad told the Constituent Assembly that Sanskrit was the grandest and the greatest language and was impartially difficult for all. It should therefore be accepted as India’s national language in preference to Hindi which gave undue advantage to Hindi speaking areas. “If the non-Hindi people have to learn a language, they would rather learn Sanskrit than a language which is infinitely below Sanskrit in status, quality and rank.”
Lakshmi Kant Maitra moved an amendment to the language clause in the Constituent Assembly. He proposed that Sanskrit should be accorded the status of the national and official language of India.
to be continued....