World Sanskrit Day: History And Significance

In a bid to honour one of the world's oldest known languages, every year World Sanskrit Day is celebrated on the full moon day of the Hindu calendar month of Shravan or Sawan month. This year World Sanskrit Day, which is also known as World Sanskrit Diwas, is being observed on August 31.

The celebration of the day aims at the awareness and promotion of Sanskrit language. Apart from this, the celebrations also mark the sanctity and divinity of the language, which is also considered the Dev Vani (language of the Gods).

Sanskrit has also been used to write some crucial scriptures in Hinduism like Vedas, Upanishads and Bhagavad Gita. Many believe that Sanskrit was created and passed on by Lord Brahma to rishis.

History

The celebration of Sanskrit Day and Sanskrit Diwas was declared by the government of India in 1969. The day was supposed to be a tribute to the work of the renowned Sanskrit scholar Paṇini and his legacy.

This is why, annually World Sanskrit Day is observed on the birth anniversary of Panini, whose contribution to the evolution of the language stands significant and unmatched till date

Significance

The celebration for Sanskrit is significant, as this Indo-Aryan language has successfully left a mark not only in the Indian subcontinent but has also extended to continents like Europe.

Carrying the most extensive vocabulary, Sanskrit is well known for contribution to languages like Greek and Latin.