Sanskrit is revived, then dies again in this MP village
The village of Mohad in Narsinghpur district seems unremarkable today but at the turn of the century it attracted curiosity from across the country and around the world. According to residents and media reports from the time, in a single year Mohad became one of the only places in India where most residents spoke Sanskrit.
“Mohad was an inspiring example for all of us in the area,” said Radheyshyam Narolia, 75, a retired deputy director from MP’s agriculture department. “The way they brought a dead language to life was a rare feat.”
Interviews late last month with more than 50 families in the village showed Sanskrit is becoming a dead language in Mohad again. The swayamsevak who initially popularised Sanskrit died without leaving behind a similarly effective successor; alleged caste discrimination has made Sanskrit seem pointless to many Dalits and OBCs, who make up half the population; and the state government, which promised to build a Sanskrit school eight years ago, has yet to do anything concrete.
The push for Sanskrit began in 1996. According to Vikram Chouhan, RSS member who oversees Mohad, within a year enough residents were fluent in Sanskrit for it to become the “first language”. That meant the villagers could read and write, a significant feat for a state with a literacy rate of only 70%.
HT reported on the success of this endeavour in 1997. Then, Sanskrit classes were held at the village choupal in the evening, after women had finished chores. The sessions continued well into the night. When HT visited, there were 200 people at a single class.
Now only a fading memory lingers: asked “tvam nam kim?” (what is your name?), most residents understand and reply accordingly, but conversation cannot proceed much further. According to Beni Prasad Patel, Mohad sarpanch, only 150 people of the 5,000 in Mohad can still speak Sanskrit fluently. Of the more than two dozen Dalits in Mohad, young people were also despondent about the prospects of Sanskrit.
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