Look who’s teaching Sanskrit in UP
Contrary to the popular notion that Sanksrit is confined to the Hindus, there are many Muslim teachers in the State who have specialised in the language.
Name: Shahid Zama Ansari.
Profession: Sanskrit teacher in Azamgarh district.
Name: Mohammad Lam Ansari.
Profession: Sanskrit teacher in Allahabad district.
Contrary to the popular notion that Sanksrit is confined to the Hindus, there are many Muslim teachers in the State who have specialised in the language.
Not only have they learnt Sanskrit at the graduate and post-graduate levels, but they are also teaching it. Most have also undergone training at the camps organised by the Uttar Pradesh Sanskrit Sansthanam.
”Our trainings are not restricted to any particular caste or religion. We were really surprised when Muslims also showed interest in the course. Incidentally, they all had studied Sanskrit till the graduation level, which was one of the essential qualifications to attend our Sanskrit teachers course,” said Chandrakant Dwivedi, deputy director of the Sanskrit Sansthanam.
While over half-a-dozen Muslims attended the training course organised in several districts, only two were able to make it to today’s workshop at the Sansthanam.
”I knew that there would be a lot of opposition, but it’s only because of the politicians that this divide between the languages has been created,” said Mohammad Lam, who hails from a small village in Allahabad district.
Mohammad Lam has been studying Sanskrit since he was in Class VI. While he left Urdu later, he continued to study Sanskrit. He did both his graduation and B.Ed. in Sanskrit. ”I did my B.Ed. in Sanskrit because I wanted more people, including those from my community, to understand this beautiful language,” he said.
He attended the Sansthanam’s teacher training course in 2003-04. Since then, he has been organising regular camps where he teaches Sanskrit to beginners in 15 days to one month.
A post-graduate in Sanskrit, Shahid Zama now plans to do his doctorate in Sanskrit, apart from teaching several others. ”My family was very supportive when I wanted to learn Sanskrit. I did my post-graduation in Sanskrit from Sarvodaya PG college at Mau, and am now preparing for my doctorate in Sanskrit,” he said.
He too attended the Sansthanam’s training course in 2003-04, and has been conducting regular camps since then. ”People should realise that Sanskrit is a language which is closely associated with the Indian culture and ethos. It has nothing to do with religion, and people should not try to create any such rift,” said Shahid.
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