Sanskrit may be an ancient language but studying it leads to a range of career options:-

Sharad Dwivedi gives all the credit for his success to his knowledge of Sanskrit. “I’m glad that I chose it as an optional for the civil services mains exam. Sanskrit is extremely scoring and this helped me make it to the Indian Administrative Service (IAS),” says Dwivedi, sub-divisional officer of Siliguri and a member of the 2006 IAS batch.

The percentage of candidates ranking well in the civil services because of their Sanskrit score has been rising steeply, says Rajendra Kumar, professor of Sanskrit, Hindu College, Delhi, who also tutors civil services aspirants. “It is a scoring subject just like mathematics. If you are good at it, you can do really well,” says Praveen Shukla, a Sanskrit graduate and a civil services aspirant.

Students who graduate in Sanskrit from recognised universities are eligible for all government jobs that have graduation as the minimum requirement, the civil services being one of them.

If the only reason you have decided not to graduate in Sanskrit — your favourite subject — is the lack of a future in this language with a rich past, fear not. A host of options is open to you even if the civil services leave you cold.

“The way we have progressed in recent years, students have a variety of options, and they are only increasing. But only those who are genuinely interested in learning the language with all its intricacies should take it up,” says P.D. Singh, head, department of Sanskrit, Banaras Hindu University (BHU), Varanasi. BHU offers a variety of undergraduate and postgraduate courses, including translation diplomas, in Sanskrit. Those interested in further studies and research can study for an MPhil and a PhD. “Students from BHU are teaching Sanskrit and doing research in educational institutions in many parts of the world. What one needs to succeed is a passion for the language. That is the foremost requirement,” Singh says.

To teach Sanskrit in India, you will have to clear the Shiksha Shastri (BEd) examination that is offered by many universities in the country. Institutions such as the Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan, New Delhi, Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri Rashtriya Sanskrit Vidyapeetha, New Delhi, Kavikulaguru Kalidas Sanskrit Vishwavidyalaya, Ramtek and Sanskrit mahavidyalayas in various states recruit lecturers regularly, as do central universities such as Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, Delhi University and Calcutta University. The armed forces also recruit Sanskrit teachers for their education wings while the Union human resources development ministry recruits Sanskrit experts every once in a while.

“Students have moved beyond the traditional fields of teaching and research. Today they can earn very good money,” says Singh.

Translation jobs have taken centre stage in recent times and they are well paid too. Sai Venkatraman used to teach Sanskrit in a Bangalore school while doing translation work on a freelance basis. But he found it so lucrative that gave up his teaching job a year ago and now does translation full time.

“On good days, I can earn more than Rs 2,500 when I translate a 2,000-word Sanskrit text into English,” he says. There is also a demand for translating Sanskrit texts into other foreign languages. “Sanskrit translators get anywhere between Re 1 and Rs 2 a word, and those who are good will never be short of work,” says Prasenjit Mitra, head of the Calcutta-based Invida Solutions, a translation service provider. Those who are adept at foreign languages such as German, French and Chinese earn even more.

“Delhi University and a few others offer diplomas in translation. In fact, many of my students are planning to enter this field,” says Kumar.

Postgraduate students specialising in fields such as jyotish (astrology) Veda (study of the Vedas) and paurohitya (conducting religious ceremonies) can also set up their own practice.

As is the case with other classical languages, serious students can take up the study of ancient texts and their translation. “There are so many Sanskrit manuscripts hidden away in various parts of the country that it will take ages to study and translate them into other Indian languages. Unfortunately, we lack quality people who can do this,” rues Purwa Bharadwaj, a Sanskrit researcher at the Delhi-based Nirantar, a voluntary organisation in the field of education.

Bharadwaj blames the sad state of affairs in India on the lack of quality scholars. “Even today students learn the ancient texts and cumbersome grammar. Unless educationists who prepare the syllabus think out-of-the-box, not many will be encouraged to learn the language,” she says.

But if you have a penchant for India’s rich tradition, Sanskrit is the way to go.

Sources: The Telegraph (Kolkata, India)