Sanskrit – helping rural women progress

Eisha Sarkar finds out how Sanskrit is helping village women to study further and make progress

Students jostle for space outside a classroom in the long corridor of the M M Gandhi Arts and Commerce College at Kalol. Clutching on to their books they talk of the next wedding in their village. It's not out of the ordinary, except that it's Kalol (about 50 km from Vadodara) - a very small town with a population of about 25,000 and has almost nothing to offer except for the few manufacturing industries. Yet, female students from villages in and around the town make it a point to come to the college everyday to study, well, Sanskrit. Strange, isn't it?


Sanskrit for women

That the dying language of our forefathers and many generations yonder, is very much sought-after comes as a shock to outsiders. "But it has been like this since the college started in 1990. We have three subjects for the Bachelors of Arts course - Gujarati, Sanskrit and Sociology majors. Sociology is a comparatively new subject here, compared to the languages, so students are still trying to get familiar with the course. Sanskrit has always been the most sought-after course, especially by women," says I P Macwan, a lecturer of English at the college and ex-principal, which is one of the higher education institutions in the town.

Too good to be true

While the college provides short-term courses and diplomas in computer application and functional English, besides a regular Bachelor of Commerce course, it is Sanskrit that has brought the college lots of accolades and recognition. Macwan is quick to point out, "In the last year TYBA examinations, this college ranked second in Gujarat University in Sanskrit. We are that good. The girls put in a lot of hard work in this subject. Of the 175 students in TYBA nearly 100 are girls."

Money-spinner for village women

So what do women do after they graduate in this less-popular subject? While urban students dismiss the language as 'dead', students in this college are willing to take up BEd courses after completing their Bachelors. "Studying Sanskrit has helped us in a big way. Now, we can look forward to teaching jobs in colleges and schools here and in Halol (which is a 20 minute drive from Kalol). Most schools have Sanskrit as a subject. We can always teach there or take tuitions for the children. Gujarati is spoken everywhere so teachers have to clear tougher exams to get into teaching courses. Sanskrit is also easier to clear at the university level and if we do well, it also provides us an opportunity to go to Vadodara and Ahmedabad to study further," says Sheela P, a second year student at the college who resides in a village near neighbouring Derol.

Signs of progress

"There used to be a time when the women from these villages would think twice about going to college. Now, we see some of them coming here even in jeans and attending grammar classes and learning shlokas byheart. The progress is gradual, but it is there and that's what we are looking to achieve," says Macwan.

Sanskrit, because of its association with ancient and sacred Hindu texts such as the Vedas, makes for an attractive option for tribal and rural women. Kalol is located in Panchmahal, which used to be one of the so-called backward districts of Gujarat, but is now seeing a lot of developmental changes thanks to the booming automobile manufacturing industry here. "The only way a place can develop is through education. Though people in the rural areas of Gujarat are aware of the benefits of education, they're often conservative and do not allow their women to go to colleges for higher education. Sanskrit helps us break ground there as it is a 'respectable subject' of study," says J S Patel, secretary of the college trust.

"My parents would not have allowed me to study commerce in a college. But Sanskrit they readily agreed for. They said they would have no problems marrying me off now," says a student who doesn't wish to be named.

It's a small step towards progress for rural women, but an important one in preserving a language that is so unique to our culture and heritage.

The story has appeared in Education Times.