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Journalism of Courage
AT the department of linguistics in Pune8217;s Deccan College, there is a sense of timelessness. The corridors are empty, the classrooms vacant. The calm is deceptive though. It hides the hectic activity that8217;s on. Next to the 150 year old main building of the college, 16 scholars are meditating on the words of an ancient language. The objective is to demystify Sanskrit, making it more accessible to scholars and by extension to the common man.
The Sanskrit-English dictionary project of the Deccan College, which was conceptualised by legendary linguist and Sanskrit scholar S M Katre way back in 1948, is still on. Till now it has produced seven volumes, each with three parts. The scope of the project can be gauged by the fact that even after 57 years, lexicologists of the project are still exploring words that begin with aa. And that8217;s not because they are going slow. It8217;s simply because this is one of the most comprehensive lexicology project in an Indian language that involves more than 1,500 scriptures and more than a crore words.
WITH the intention of incorporating as many meanings as possible, the team is exploring the layers below a word. This is what makes the project unique8212;though tough too.
The process began more than 50 years ago when nearly 1,500 scriptures and books from the 9th century BC to 19th century were identified and given to over 30 Sanskrit scholars. After going through the books, they jotted down the Sanskrit words and their possible meanings in English along with the reference of the exact context in which it was used. The result is more than a crore reference slips.
There are some words in the dictionary to which more than four pages have been devoted. Till now about 95,000 words have found a place in the dictionary8212;and they are all from the letter aa.
On the pace of project, Bhatta says: 8216;8216;We can8217;t compromise on the quality of work. But we need young blood to expedite the process,8217;8217; he adds.
The problem lies in the vacant posts in the project. There are 22 sanctioned posts from the Maharashtra governmpent, out of which 50 per cent is for reserved categories. Almost all the reserved category posts are vacant because there aren8217;t many Sanskrit scholars from that category.
But the team is not complaining. It8217;s too caught up figuring out the words.
