VADODARA, Oct 13: He is a follower of Islam. But instead of learning Arabic or Persian, has mastered Sanskrit and is now a noted scholar on the subject. He is Pandit Ghulam Istagir, who was here to attend the 39th annual conference of the Oriental Institute. `Gaining knowledge or learning a particular subject should not depend on the religion one follows,'' he believes.He considers himself privileged because nobody in his family persuaded him to do something against his wishes. ``Though I read the Quran, I teach the Ramayana and the Mahabharat at the institute,'' he says, adding that he had been learning Sanskrit right from his childhood.According to him, no subject should be treated like a particular person's or religion's domain and everyone should have an equal exposure to every religion and subject. Sanskrit should, in fact, be introduced as a secondary subjects in schools like in earlier days, he opines. ``The word Quran is also in fact adapted from Sanskrit,'' claims Istagir. ``Though it was suggested along with 35 other names, it was only this name that the people adopted, which proves the power of the language,'' he adds.``The subject is losing its importance and people fail to realise that it was a subject that this country was once proud of,'' he regrets.
