Bhagavad Gita, Mahabharat, and Sanskrit to be taught in Pakistan school. Know all about the initiative

A Pakistani university has launched a course to teach Sanskrit to students and is planning to introduce the Gita and Mahabharat afterwards - for the first time after the 1947 partition. The Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) has launched a four-credit course in the language. As part of the course, students are also being exposed to the Urdu rendition of "Hai katha sangram ki", the iconic theme from the Mahabharat television series.

The initiative was a result of Dr Ali Usman Qasmi, Director of the Gurmani Centre, who told The Tribune that Pakistan has one of the richest yet most neglected Sanskrit archives at the Punjab University library.

"A significant collection of Sanskrit palm-leaf manuscripts was catalogued in the 1930s by scholar JCR Woolner, but no Pakistani academic has engaged with this collection since 1947. Only foreign researchers use it. Training scholars locally will change that," he said.

"In 10-15 years, we could see Pakistan-based scholars of the Gita and the Mahabharata," Dr Qasmi said.

It's also the result of the efforts of Dr Shahid Rasheed, Associate Professor of Sociology at Forman Christian College.

"Classical languages contain much wisdom for mankind. I started with learning Arabic and Persian, and then studied Sanskrit," Dr Rasheed said. "It took almost a year to cover classical Sanskrit grammar. And I'm still studying it," he added.

"I tell them, why should we not learn it? It is the binding language of the 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," he added.