Who Is Dr Shahid Rasheed Behind Introducing Sanskrit Studies In Pakistan?
The Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) has launched a four-credit course in the classical language, following a strong interest received from students and scholars in a three-month weekend workshop held recently.
Students are also taught the Urdu rendition of ‘Hai Kahtha Sangram Ki’, the iconic theme from the Mahabharat television series.
As per the Tribune report, Dr Ali Usman Qasmi, Director of the Gurmani Centre, said that Pakistan has one of the richest yet most neglected Sanskrit archives at the Punjab University library.
Notable Scholar JCR Woolner catalogued a significant collection of Sanskrit palm-leaf manuscripts in the 1930s, which no Pakistani academic has engaged with since 1947. The collection was only accessed by the foreign researchers so far.
As per Dr Qasmi, the Lahore University aims to expand the upcoming courses on the Mahabharata and the Bhagavad Gita in the next 10-15 years.
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The initiative is brought with the efforts of Dr Shahid Rasheed, Associate Professor of Sociology at Forman Christian College.
Dr Rasheed believes that classical languages such as Arabic, Persian, and Sanskrit carry much wisdom for mankind. He relied on an online learning tool to learn the Sanskrit language while studying under Cambridge Sanskrit scholar Antonia Ruppel and Australian Indologist McComas Taylor.
Prof Rasheed reportedly said that it took him almost a year to cover the classical Sanskrit grammar, and he is still studying it.
While questioning about people’s objection to his learning the Sanskrit language, he said, “I tell people why we should not learn it? It is a binding language to entire region. Sanskrit grammarian Panini’s village was in this region. Much writing was done here during the Indus Valley Civilisation. Sanskrit is like a mountain – a cultural monument. We need to own it. It is ours too; it’s not tied to any one particular religion”.
Imagine if more Hindus and Sikhs in India started learning Arabic, and more Muslims in Pakistan took up Sanskrit, it could be a fresh, hopeful start for South Asia, where languages become bridges instead of barriers, he reportedly said.
