Sanskrit and faith-based development: Searching for Sanskrit speakers in the Indian Census

Patrick McCartney © 2020 All rights reserved

This essay has two parts. The first discusses Sanskrit’s relative rankings within the 2011 and 2001 Indian censuses. The second is a discussion of how Sanskrit is operationalized for strategic soft power applications related to faith-based development.

Part 1: Sanskrit in the Census

As far as historical linguists and sociologists are concerned, Sanskrit became a second language around the beginning of the post-Vedic Period (ca. 500 BCE). This shift, from being a “mother tongue” to becoming a second language is described as a shift to a post-vernacular phase. Yet, regardless of the theological presumption, that the perceived devabhāṣā is eternal, Emeritus Professor of Sanskrit, Madhav Deshpande, explains it has undergone significant historical changes.

One of the key justifications for Sanskrit being used as a tool for the development of society is its perceived linguistic purity. However, it is argued that only a “pure” Sanskrit can deliver the utopian world it is used to inspire.

What, exactly, might a pure Sanskrit sound like?

This is a particularly vexing question, not only for the descriptive linguist who is aware that even in the earliest layers of the Vedic corpus (Ṛgveda), hundreds of loan words from other languages and language families are found. How did they…