Historic Rewind: For First Time After Independence, Pakistan Brings Back Sanskrit And Plans Epic Studies In Gita and Mahabharat – But Why Now?

The very bold and interesting decision of the Gurmani Centre for Languages and Literature at LUMS to offer courses on the Mahabharata and Bhagavad Gita,  these are the two most important epics of South Asia and are deeply rooted in India, has already created a lot of interest and got a lot of people talking.

However, the students will not be told how to interpret the literature religiously, and that is the main point of this lecture series. This means soon the students will be able to read these texts through a literary, philosophical, and historical lens, unpacking the very stories that have been told in the region for ages.

They are making cultural and linguistic connections , like, for example, looking into the Urdu version of the Mahabharat TV series’ theme song. It is a smart, fun way to show how narratives and notions go around, change, and find their place in different languages.

Just think about this, classroom following the path of Arjuna’s chariot and Krishna’s advice through the mists of time and realizing that these ancient stories are not only Indian , they are world culture’s shared treasures. 

Cultural Reclamation: Why Sanskrit Matters

The LUMS Sanskrit initiative is not just an academic course but an audacious act of cultural and intellectual reclamation, ending a 70-year silence since Partition. Experts like Dr. Shahid Rasheed and Dr. Ali Usman Qasmi point out that Sanskrit is a common heritage of South Asia that transcends religious divides. The language of the great grammarian Panini, whose birthplace is located in present-day Pakistan, is a stark reminder of the intertwined history of the region. 

According to a media report by The Tribune, Dr. Ali Usman Qasmi, Director of the Gurmani Centre, said, “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 J.C.R. Woolner, but no Pakistani academic has engaged with this collection since 1947. Only foreign researchers use it. Training scholars locally will change that.”

By declaring Sanskrit to be “ours too,” LUMS invites students and scholars to delve into the ancient world of knowledge, to uncover the literary treasures, to trace the historical continuity which leads to the present day, thus creating a region of pride and awareness around a culture that has been long forgotten, and a legacy that has been deep-rooted in ancient times.

(With Inputs From ‘X’ And Media Reports)

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