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Judgement of the Supreme Court of
India Regarding Sanskrit
In the Supreme Court of India*
Civil Original Jurisdiction
Writ petition (C) No.299 of 1989
(along with WP (C) Nos 13?3189, 1184189, 601189, 571189 and 1041189)
Shri Santosh Kumar & Ors. etc.
¾ Petitioners
Vs.
The Secretary
Ministry of Human Resources Development
and Anr. ¾ Respondents
Judgement
1. A professor of Cambridge University
is deeply, engrossed in his studies in his calm chamber: An agitated English
soldier enters the study room and accuses the professor in not sharing
the trauma of war which he and many others like him are facing while fighting
Germans. The professor calmly asks the young soldier for whom he is fighting
for. Quick comes the reply that it is to defend the country. The wise man
wants to know what is that country to defend which he is prepared to shed
his blood. The soldier replies it is the territory and its people. On further
questioning the soldier says it is not only this but the culture of the
country which he wants to defend. The professor quietly states that he
is contributing to that culture. The soldier calms down and bows in respect
to the professor and vows to defend with more vigour the cultural heritage
of his country.
2. This is what is said to have
happened during the Second World War when England was fighting almost a
last ditch battle of survival and all Englishmen contributed in their own
way to the ultimate victory of England.
3. The above shows the concern for
culture evinced even by the westerners. So far as "We, the people of India
"are concerned, they have always held in high esteem the cultural heritage
of this ancient land. And to foretell our views, learning of Sanskrit is
undoubtedly necessary for protection of this heritage. The stream of our
culture would get dried if we were to discourage the study of Sanskrit,
and that too on the most tenable ground that if the Central Board of Secondary
Education (for short 'the Board') were to do so, it would have to make
facilities available for learning of Arabic and Persian ¾ these
being also classical languages, which is the ground advanced by Addl. Solicitor
General, Shri Tulsi, appearing for the Board, in it not being in a position
to accept the prima facie view expressed by us on 19.7.94, when these cases
had come up for hearing that Sanskrit should be included by the Board as
one of the elective subjects in the syllabus along with Assamese, Bengali
etc. which are the languages specified in an Eighth Schedule of our Constitution,
mentioning about Sanskrit being also an Eighth Schedule language. The desire
to keep Sanskrit out does not stop here, as the submission also is that
if Sanskrit comes, the Board shall have to bring in languages like French
and German. This is not all, as it is contended by the Addl. Solicitor
General that the Board feels that arrangement may have then to be made
for imparting education even in Lepcha, a language whose name many of the
Indians might not have even heard.
4. We fail to appreciate at all
the stand taken by a responsible body like the Board, who has been entrusted
with the onerous duty of educating the youths of this country "in whose
hands quiver the destinies of the future," as the same is wholly untenable.
Without the learning of Sanskrit it is not possible to decipher the Indian
philosophy on which our culture and heritage are based.
5. The question raised being important
requires us, to answer it appropriately, to first know what our policy
makers have said about the importance of Sanskrit. We shall then apprise
ourselves about the place of Sanskrit in our educational ethos and shall
finally see whether teaching of Sanskrit is against secularism?
Our Education Policy qua Sanskrit
6. Being called upon to decide whether
Sanskrit is required to be included in the syllabus of the Board as an
elective subject so far as teaching in secondary school is concerned, may
we say at the threshold a few words on the importance of education as such.
This point is not required to be laboured by us in view of the Constitution
Bench decision of this Court in Unnikrishnan's case, 1993 (1) SCC 645 in
which the majority Judges well brought home the importance of education.
It would be enough to mention what Mohan, J. (as a majority Judge) stated
in that judgement. According to the learned Judge, education is a preparation
of living and for life here and hereafter and education is at once a social
and political necessity. It was also observed that victories are gained,
peace is preserved, progress is achieved, civilisation is built up and
history is made, not in the battle fields but in educational institutions
which are seed-beds of culture. Education was, therefore, regarded as enlightenment
and one that lends dignity to a man.
7. As we are concerned in these
cases with the teaching in the secondary schools, we may say something
about the importance of education in its early stages. It has been well
recognised that it is this education which lays the foundation for a full
and intense life and so this education must carefully keep alive the spark
of curiosity and fan it into a beautiful, bright flame whenever it comes.
It has been stated that it is the education received in early stages, which
widens the contacts of child or youth with the surroundings of the world;
and with every new and fruitful contacts with the world of things, the
world of men and the world of ideas, life of the young becomes richer and
broader. It is early education which seeks to broaden the mind by exposing
the learner to the world of thought and reflection, which can inspire him
with lofty idealism by giving him the glimpses of a good life which a worthy
education is capable of bringing.
8. We may now advert to the broad
framework of our education policy as accepted by the Central Government.
For our purpose it would be enough if we refer to the policies as formulated
in 1968 and 1986. Here again, we would confine our attention to what was
stated in these policies regarding Sanskrit. In the 1968 policy the following
found place qua this language:
"Considering the special importance
of Sanskrit to the growth and development of Indian languages and its unique
contribution to the cultural unity of the country facilities for its teaching
at the school and university stages should be offered on more liberal basis.
Development of new methods of teaching the language should be encouraged,
and the possibility explored of including the study of Sanskrit in those
courses (such as modern Indian philosophy) at the first and second degree
stages, where such knowledge is useful."
9. The 1986 policy has to say as
below in this regard in para 5.33 :
"Research in Indology, the humanities
and Social Sciences will receive adequate support. To fulfil the need for
the synthesis of knowledge, inter-disciplinary research will be encouraged.
Efforts will be made to delve into India's ancient fund of knowledge and
to relate it to contemporary reality. This effort will imply the development
of facilities for the intensive study of Sanskrit." (Emphasis supplied)
10. It would be of some interest
to note that when Sir William Jones, one of the most brilliant men of 18th
century, came to India in 1783 as a Judge of the then Supreme Court of
Judicature at Fort Williams in Bengal, he got Interested to learn Sanskrit
and it grew so strong that within six years he not only became the master
of the language but translated Kalidasa's Shakuntala. After about two hundred
years it has fallen to the Judges of the present Supreme Court to highlight
the importance of Sanskrit and to see that it finds its due place into
the niche of our national life.
Place of Sanskrit in our Educational
Ethos
11. It is well known that Sanskrit
is a mother of all Indo-Aryan languages and it is this language in which
our Vedas, Puranas and Upanishads have been written and in which Kalidasa,
Bhavabhuti, Banabhatta and Dandi wrote their classics. Teachings of Shankaracharya,
Ramanuja, Madhawacharya, Nimbarka and Vallabhacharya would not have been
woven into the fabric of Indian culture if Sanskrit would not have been
available to them as a medium of expressing their thoughts.
12. The report of the Sanskrit Commission
(set up by the Government of India) which was submitted in 1957 speaks
eloquently about the importance of Sanskrit. We do not purpose to burden
this judgment with all that was said by the Commission in this regard.
It would be enough for our purpose if we take note of some passages finding
place in the report which highlight the quality, substance, content and
strength of Sanskrit. At page 71 of the report it has been mentioned that
Sanskrit is one of the greatest languages of the world and it is the classical
language par excellence not only of India but of a good part of Asia as
well. At page 73 the report states that the Indian people and the Indian
civilisation were born, so to say, in the lap of Sanskrit and it went "hand-in-hand
with the historical development of the Indian people, and gave the noblest
expression to their mind and culture which has come down to our day as
an inheritance of priceless order for India, nay, for the entire world."
The report further speaks at page 74 about the "great mental and spiritual
link" of Sanskrit and of it being the elder sister of Greek and Latin,
and cousin of English, French and Russian.
13. There is no need to dilate on
the importance of Sanskrit further in our national ethos in view of what
was stated by no less a person than the first Prime Minister of the country,
Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, in this regard, which is as below:
"If I was asked what is the greatest
treasure which India possesses and what is her finest heritage, I would
answer unhesitatingly ¾ it is the Sanskrit language and literature,
and all that it contains. This is a magnificent inheritance, and so long
as this endures and influences the life of our people, so long the basic
genius of India will continue."
Is teaching of Sanskrit against
secularism?
14. Of the three objections mentioned
by the Addl. Solicitor General regarding the inability of the Board in
acting in accordance with the prima facie views expressed by us in our
order dated 19.7.1994, the only objection which merits our close look is
that if Sanskrit were to be included as an elective subject, Arabic and
Persian shall also have to be so done. The two other objections, namely
inclusion of French and German also in the syllabus and of language like
Lepcha do not deserve any consideration for obvious reasons.
15. The first objection needs our
consideration because in some quarter there may be a feeling that by conceding
to Sanskrit alone as an elective subject, we would act against secularism,
which has been accepted by a nine-judge Bench of this Court in S. R. Bommai
Vs. Union of India, 1994 (3) SCC 1, as a basic structure of our constitution.
It is apparent that we cannot give any direction about which it can be
said that it is against the secularist requirement of our Constitution.
16. For the disposal of the cases
at hand it is not necessary to elaborately discuss what are the basic requirements
of secularism inasmuch as in Bommai's case this exercise has been well
done by the learned Judges. It would be enough for our purpose to note
what some of the learned judges said in this regard. Sawant J., with whom
one of us (Kuldip Singh, J.) agreed, quoted in para 147 of the report what
Shri M. C. Setalvad had stated on secularism in his Patel Memorial Lectures,
1965. One of the observations made by Setalvad was that secular state is
not hostile to religion but holds itself neutral in matters of religion.
The further observation in para 148 is that the State's tolerance of religion
does not make it either a religious or a theocratic State. Ramaswami, J.
stated in para 179 that secularism represents faiths born out of the exercise
of rational faculties and it enables to see the imperative requirements
for human progress in all aspects and cultural and social advancement and
indeed for human survival itself.
17. It would be profitable to note
that according to Justice H. R. Khanna secularism is neither anti-God nor
pro-God; it treats alike the devout, the agnostic and the atheist. According
to him, secularism is not anti-thesis of religious devoutness. He would
like to dispel the impression that if a person is devout Hindu or devout
Muslim he ceases to be secular. This is illustrated by saying that Vivekananda
and Gandhiji were the greatest Hindus yet their entire life and teachings
embodied the essence of secularism (see his article "The Spirit of Secularism"
as printed in "Secularism and India; Dilemmas and Challenges" edited by
Shri M. M. Sankhdhar.)
18. We also propose to refer to
what was said by the Sanskrit Commission on the subject of "Sanskrit and
National Solidarity" in Chapter IV of its report. The Commission has, in
this context first stated that Sanskrit is the "embodiment of Indian culture
and civilisation." It then observes that the Indian people look upon Sanskrit
as the binding force for the different people of this great country, which
was described as the greatest discovery which the Commission made as it
travelled from Kerala to Kashmir and from Kamarupa to Saurastra. The commission,
while so travelling, found that though the people of this country differed
in a number of ways, they all were proud to regard themselves as participants
in common heritage and that heritage emphatically is the heritage of Sanskrit.
According to the Commission one of the witnesses which appeared before
it went to the length of suggesting that if the Sanskrit commission had
come before the States Reorganisation Commission many of the recent bickering
in our national life could have been avoided (pages 80 and 81).
19. From what has been stated above,
we entertain no doubt in our mind that teaching of Sanskrit alone as an
elective subject can in no way be regarded as against secularism. Indeed,
our constitution requires giving of fillip to Sanskrit because of what
has been stated in Article 351. in which while dealing with the duty of
the Union to promote the spread of Hindi, it has been provided that, it
would draw, whenever necessary or desirable, for its vocabulary, primarily
on Sanskrit. Encouragement to Sanskrit is also necessary because of it
being one of the languages included in the Eighth Schedule.
20. We, therefore, conclude by saying
that in view of importance of Sanskrit for nurturing our cultural heritage,
because of which even the official education policy has highlighted the
need of study of Sanskrit, making of Sanskrit alone as an elective subject,
while not conceding this status to Arabic and or Persian, would not in
any way militate against the basic tenet of secularism. (Emphasis supplied).
There is thus no merit in the first objection raised by the Board.
21. In the aforesaid premises, we
direct the Board to include Sanskrit as an elective subject in the syllabus
under consideration. Necessary amendment in the syllabus shall be made
within a period of three months from today.
22. The writ petitions are allowed
accordingly. No order as to costs.
Sd / -
(Kuldip Singh)
Sd/-
(B. L. Hansaria)
New Delhi
4 October 1994
