Blogging in Sanskrit binds overseas students

Indian students, alumni and faculty from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), University of Maryland (UMD), Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), Caltech, Purdue and so on are bringing out an online Sanskrit magazine under the banner of Campus Samskritam Network (CSN). Hosted on the www.speaksanskrit.org website, the webzine is called 'Vishvavani' (the voice or the language of the world).

 

Last week the third issue of Vishvavani was released, featuring a wide range of topics. It had an article on ancient Indian mathematics by Prabha Mandyam, (Ph.D. student at Caltech), another on Swami Vivekananda by Harichandan Mantripragada (Ph.D. student at Carnegie Mellon University) and a travelogue by Dr. Jyotsna Kalavar (associate professor at Penn State University).

 

The webzine is enriched by a 'subhashitam' (wise saying) and even a Sanskrit crossword puzzle. Sowmya Joisa and Avinash Varna, editors of the magazine, say that even though it is not the first online Sanskrit magazine it is currently the only active one available online.

 

The group has been inspired by the first online Sanskrit magazine 'Apoorvavani', which is not active any more, and by a monthly print magazine 'Sambhashana sandesha' - both brought out by Samskrita Bharati. In addition to a document format uploaded on the web, the contents of the magazine are also published on a blog to make it easier for readers to comment on and give feedback, according to a statement.

 

In the past two years, blogging in Sanskrit has emerged as a popular online activity contributing to and providing growing evidence of the popularity of the language. While some like 'kalidasa', maintained by Ajit Krishnan, a software engineer at Microsoft Seattle, cover a wide variety of topics, others like 'learnsanskrit' maintained by Himanshu Pota from Australia, focus on specific topics such as teaching Sanskrit, Sanskrit songs, grammar, words, wise sayings and so on.

 

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