In a bid to survive and overcome financial crisis, several 100-year-old institutions, which conduct research on Sanskrit studies, have appealed to the State Government to make them a part of the proposed Sanskrit University. The varsity was announced by the State Government in 2015. Such affiliation would enhance the funding of the colleges, the officials said, reiterating that the institutions are on the ‘verge of collapse’ due to acute shortage of funds.
Institutions, such as the Sanskrit Sahitya Parishad, established exactly 100 years back, Shantipur Puran Parishad and Nabadwip Puratatwa Parishad, founded respectively in 1915 and 1993, have not received regular financial grant from both the State and Central governments for several years now.
Sanskrit Sahitya Parishad secretary Manabendu Bandyopadhyay claimed that Delhi-based deemed University, Rashtriya Sanskrit Sangstha, that is “supposed to distribute grant” has an acute shortage of fund.
“They told me that they have not received any money from the Central government to distribute,” said Mr Bandyopadhyay.
The Parishad, located in Shobha Bazar in north Kolkata, shifted from a rented building to a permanent structure in 1935 when Subhas Chandra Bose [Netaji] was the Mayor of Kolkata. “Netaji arranged for the land for the institute, founded by a group of Sanskrit scholars, where we are located now,” said Mr Bandopadhyay.
Rare manuscripts withering
“We have a collection of about 25,000 manuscripts and 62,000 books in our library, which are getting wasted,” Mr Bandyopadhyay told The Hindu . “Here we have a manuscript of the Bonhhi Puran , a 3rd Century AD treatise on various social norms and religious rituals. Apart from rituals of marriage it consists of various social norms. Besides, we have books on Christian practices in India, which also are rare,” said Mr. Bandyopadhyay.
He also said that due to lack of regular aid, more than half of their total staff of 18 has left. “The number of students here has also decreased from 40 to 12 in the last couple of years,” he added.
“The Human Resource Development Ministry (HRD) only paid the salary of Rs.6,000 to six of the staff here. But that too has stopped in the last two years. We cannot continue like this for long,” added Mr. Bandyopadhyay.
In view of the growing distress of the Sanskrit colleges, the upgradation of the city’s Sanskrit Colleges to a university was completed through the passage of the Sanskrit College and University Bill in December 2015. The committee, headed by renowned Indologist, Nrisingha Prasad Bhaduri, was approached by the college [Sanskrit Sahitya Parishad] authorities to set up a campus of the proposed University in their premises which houses a three-storeyed building.
The condition of another century-old institute -- Shantipur Puran Parishad -- is even more appalling. The tole (traditional schools for teaching Sanskrit) in Shantipur in Nadia district was shut down seven years back due to lack of funds. “Now we have only one caretaker for the institution’s building,” said Tapabrata Sanyal, the acting president of the institution.
It has a collection of about 1,400 manuscripts. The Nabadwip Puratawa Parishad (founded in 1993) which has a collection of more than 100 manuscripts and 5,000 old books is facing similar difficulties. Both the institutions have approached the Bhaduri committee “to bring the ailing colleges under the University” and to set up the [University] campus in their premises.
University in Nadia
Describing the proposed University as “a positive move”, Professor Bhaduri said that the University has provided them with a hope to revive Sanskrit learning in West Bengal. He also indicated that they select Nadia district to set up the University.
“The new campus of the proposed University will probably be set up in Nabawip [in Nadia] as there are still many toles in the area. We, in fact, have recommended Nabawip in our report,” said Mr. Bhaduri.
