Picture Credit: Twitter
India is a country of diversity with so many cultures as well as languages around. More than 19,500 languages or dialects are spoken in India as mother tongues according to a report carried out in 2018. Out of these many languages, Sanskrit is renowned as among the oldest language in Indian history. Although not many speak the language, there is a fair part of India that understands, writes, and, speaks the language.
In fact, many other languages including Hindi are said to have derived from Sanskrit. Now, as India’s ancient culture is slowly fading and Sanskrit is losing its importance, many conscious efforts are being made to protect it. And a boy’s effort to commentate in Sanskrit during a gully cricket match earned praise from Prime Minister Narendra Modi who shared the video with a strong caption.
“This is heartening to see…Congrats to those undertaking this effort. During one of the #MannKiBaat programmes last year I had shared a similar effort in Kashi. Sharing that as well,” wrote Modi while sharing the video.
Watch it here:
While the Bengaluru boy made a commendable effort to speak a language that is considered one of the toughest, many would not have understood a word. According to data from the 2011 Census, less than 0.002 per cent of the Indian population speaks Sanskrit. Only 24,821 people in India have Sanskrit as their mother tongue. The number was 14,135 in the 2001 Census, so there is a considerable rise in the number of speakers. Hopefully, the numbers will go up in the coming years.