'Most scientific language': Delhi CM Rekha Gupta claims Sanskrit is ‘NASA-approved’ for coding - Is that true?
Written By Prapti Upadhayay
Published: May 05, 2025, 12:25 IST | Updated: May 05, 2025, 12:25 IST
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India news: Speaking at the closing ceremony of the initiative run by the Delhi government and NGO Samskrita Bharati, Gupta called Sanskrit “the most scientific” and “ideal for coding.”
At a recent Sanskrit learning event in Delhi, Chief Minister Rekha Gupta claimed that NASA scientists had recognised Sanskrit as a scientific and computer-friendly language.
Speaking at the closing ceremony of the initiative run by the Delhi government and NGO Samskrita Bharati, Gupta called Sanskrit “the most scientific” and “ideal for coding.”
“The glorious history of India is written in this language, our culture is recorded in it, and it is taught in over 60 universities across the world. While researching, I found that even NASA scientists have written research papers on it, recognising it as a scientific language, one that supports coding and commands,” she said on May 4.
The Delhi CM further said that Sanskrit is the root of many Indian languages. “Every state has a mother tongue, but in reality, Sanskrit is our mother tongue as every language has descended from Sanskrit. Hindi, Marathi, Bengali, Sindhi, Malayalam — these are all branches of Sanskrit,” she added.
So, is there any truth to her statement about NASA? Yes, partly.
In 1985, a paper titled “Knowledge Representation in Sanskrit and Artificial Intelligence” was published by Rick Briggs, who was associated with NASA Ames Research Centre. The article appeared in the Spring 1985 edition of AI Magazine.
Briggs argued that Sanskrit’s structured grammar and rule-based syntax made it a good candidate for artificial intelligence applications. He described it as a “remarkable natural language which is ambiguity and syntax free,” and explained how it could be mapped to semantic networks used in AI.
However, it is important to note that this was not an official NASA endorsement, but rather an academic paper by a researcher affiliated with the organisation.