Sanskrit Returns to Pakistan’s Classrooms After Partition: A Quiet Academic Revival Amid Complex Realities
For the first time since the Partition of 1947, Sanskrit—one of South Asia’s oldest classical languages—has formally returned to classrooms in Pakistan.
The revival is taking place at the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS), where a four-credit Sanskrit course has been introduced, marking a rare and symbolically significant academic development in the country.
How the Initiative Began
The course did not emerge overnight. It grew out of a three-month weekend workshop that unexpectedly drew strong interest from students, researchers, and academics curious about South Asia’s pre-modern intellectual traditions.
Encouraged by the response, LUMS institutionalised the effort into a full-fledged credit course, signalling that the interest was not merely experimental but sustained.
Students enrolled in the course are also being exposed to cultural reinterpretations of classical texts, including the Urdu rendition of “Hai Katha Sangram Ki,” the iconic title theme of the Mahabharat television series.
This approach blends linguistic learning with cultural familiarity, making the subject more accessible in a Pakistani context.
A Forgotten Scholarly Treasure
Dr Ali Usman Qasmi, Director of the Gurmani Centre for Languages and Literature at LUMS, explained that Pakistan possesses one of the richest yet most neglected Sanskrit archives in the region.
“At the Punjab University library, there is a substantial collection of Sanskrit palm-leaf manuscripts,” he said.
“These were carefully catalogued in the 1930s by scholar J.C.R. Woolner, but since 1947, no Pakistani academic has seriously engaged with this collection.
Foreign scholars use it, but local researchers do not. Training scholars here will change that.”
According to Dr Qasmi, reclaiming this intellectual heritage is not about religious revivalism but academic ownership. “These texts belong to the history of this region,” he emphasised.
Looking Ahead: Gita and Mahabharata Studies
The university plans to expand the initiative further, with future courses on the Mahabharata and the Bhagavad Gita already under discussion. Dr Qasmi believes the long-term impact could be transformative.
“In 10 to 15 years, we could see Pakistan-based scholars of the Gita and the Mahabharata,” he said, pointing to the possibility of indigenous scholarship replacing dependence on foreign researchers.
The Mind Behind the Movement
A key figure behind this quiet revival is Dr Shahid Rasheed, Associate Professor of Sociology at Forman Christian College, whose personal academic journey helped break the psychological barrier around Sanskrit in Pakistan.
“Classical languages carry immense wisdom for humanity,” Dr Rasheed said. “I began with Arabic and Persian, and later moved to Sanskrit.”
Largely self-trained, he relied on online platforms and international mentorship, studying under Cambridge Sanskrit scholar Antonia Ruppel and Australian Indologist McComas Taylor.
“It took nearly a year just to cover classical Sanskrit grammar,” he noted. “And I am still learning.”
Challenging Perceptions in a Difficult Environment
Dr Rasheed acknowledged that his choice often invites scepticism. “People ask me why I would study Sanskrit,” he said. “I tell them—why not? It isthea binding language of this entire region.
Panini, the great Sanskrit grammarian, came from this area. Much early intellectual work was done here, even before religious boundaries existed.”
He described Sanskrit as “a cultural mountain, a civilisational monument, adding, “We need to own it. It is ours too. It does not belong to any single religion.”
Can This Survive Pakistan’s Political and Social Climate?
The initiative stands out sharply in a country where Islam is the dominant cultural and political framework, and where decades of radicalisation, militancy, and cross-border tensions have narrowed space for pluralistic narratives.
Against this backdrop, the Sanskrit programme is not a mass movement, nor does it claim to be one.
Instead, it operates within elite academic institutions, insulated—at least for now—from ideological hostility.
Observers say its survival will depend on whether it continues to be framed strictly as a scholarly and civilisational study, rather than a religious or political statement.
For now, the revival of Sanskrit in Pakistan remains quiet, cautious, and deeply academic—but its very existence challenges long-held assumptions about intellectual borders drawn after Partition.
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