Cambridge closes door on Sanskrit, Hindi

Organiser ^ | November 05, 2006 | Rashmee Roshan Lall

[SunkenCiv]

Cambridge has finally closed the door on Sanskrit as a hallowed subject of undergraduate study, nearly one-and-a-half centuries after it first established a chair in the 3,000-year-old language. The Times of India sought -- and received -- confirmation of the university's decision within hours of Cambridge honouring Prime Minister Manmohan Singh with a doctor of law degree, in what some scholars believe to be the most cynical form of "tactless academic marketing"... Dr John Smith, reader in Sanskrit at Cambridge, told TOI that it is "not a trivial decision...this is a decision about letting the subject wither on the vine. It is an administrative decision but should actually have been an academic one"... "They are doing this at a point of time when they are honouring Manmohan Singh, soliciting benefactions from wealthy Indian businessmen and seeking students from South Asia," he said. He said he had no new undergraduate students seeking to learn Sanskrit in this academic year, which began a week ago.

[xc1427]

LMAO!

[ARridgerunner]

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