NEW DELHI, OCT 6: Vice President C. P. Radhakrishnan has described Sanskrit as “Golden string” connecting India’s diverse linguistic traditions, calling for a renewed national effort to preserve, study, interpret and transmit the country’s ancient knowledge systems to future generations.
Addressing the Second Convocation of Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri National Sanskrit University in New Delhi on Tuesday, the Vice President said Sanskrit occupies a distinctive place in India’s intellectual and cultural history and has made significant contributions to science, literature, philosophy, arts and the broader civilisational heritage of the country.
Radhakrishnan stressed that India’s ancient knowledge cannot be allowed to remain confined to manuscripts, libraries and specialised academic circles. He called for these traditions to be preserved, researched and interpreted in ways that make them accessible to coming generations, warning that valuable texts and knowledge traditions could otherwise disappear from public and academic life.
He underlined the role of Sanskrit as a unifying linguistic and cultural link, saying that India’s many languages have independently enriched the country’s cultural landscape while Sanskrit has provided a deep intellectual and linguistic foundation connecting these traditions. He described the language as a key to numerous areas of knowledge and emphasised its enduring relevance in contemporary India.
The Vice President linked this cultural and academic responsibility with the National Education Policy 2020, which places renewed emphasis on the Indian Knowledge System. He said the policy has created an institutional framework for universities and educational institutions to incorporate India’s traditional knowledge into academic programmes while enabling students to remain connected with the country’s intellectual heritage.
Radhakrishnan also pointed to the geographical spread of Sanskrit manuscripts, noting that important manuscripts and knowledge resources are found not only in India but also in countries including Nepal, Tibet and China. He referred to the Government’s Gyan Bharatam Mission as another significant step towards preserving and bringing India’s manuscript heritage into wider academic and public access.
The Vice President emphasised that preservation should go beyond simply protecting old texts. The larger task, he suggested, is to study, interpret and apply the knowledge contained in them, enabling ancient intellectual traditions to engage with contemporary scholarship and future generations.
The convocation also highlighted the growing academic role of Sanskrit education. More than 1,300 students were expected to participate in the ceremony, while 240 students were to receive PhD degrees. As many as 60 students from the academic years 2024, 2025 and 2026 were scheduled to receive gold medals, while three meritorious students were to be honoured with the Shankar Dayal Sharma Medal for outstanding academic performance.
Union Minister of State for Education Dr Sukanta Majumdar also stressed the importance of combining India’s traditional knowledge with modern technological capabilities. He urged students to pursue Sanskrit and Indian intellectual traditions while also developing expertise in emerging fields such as artificial intelligence and digital technology, reflecting the changing requirements of contemporary education.
The Vice President’s address placed the convocation beyond the formal distribution of academic degrees, framing it as part of a broader national conversation on cultural continuity, knowledge preservation and educational modernisation. His message was that India’s ancient intellectual heritage should not merely be remembered as history but actively studied, documented and carried forward through modern institutions.
The emphasis assumes added significance for Sanskrit universities, which are positioned at the intersection of traditional scholarship and contemporary education. By encouraging research, digitisation, wider accessibility and interdisciplinary study, such institutions can play a central role in ensuring that India’s classical knowledge traditions remain relevant to future generations.
Radhakrishnan’s address therefore carried a wider message for India’s education sector: preserving heritage and embracing modernity need not be competing priorities. Instead, the country can use contemporary academic institutions and technologies to strengthen access to its classical languages, manuscripts and knowledge systems while preparing students for the demands of the future.
