Sanskrit returns to Pakistan for the first time since Partition

What began as a three-month weekend workshop has now been upgraded into a full four-credit university course after receiving an encouraging response from students.

Dr Ali Usman Qasmi, Director of the Gurmani Centre for Languages and Literature at LUMS, told The Tribune that Pakistan is home to one of the richest yet least-studied collections of Sanskrit manuscripts in the region.

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“A significant collection of Sanskrit palm-leaf manuscripts was catalogued in the 1930s by renowned scholar J.C.R. Woolner at the Punjab University library. However, since 1947, no Pakistani academic has seriously engaged with this archive. Only foreign researchers have been accessing it,” Dr Qasmi said. “Training scholars locally will help change that.”

Mahabharata and Gita on the syllabus

The university is also planning to introduce courses on the Mahabharata and the Bhagavad Gita, two foundational texts of ancient Indian philosophy and literature.

“Hopefully, this initiative will build momentum,” Dr Qasmi said. “In 10 to 15 years, we could see Pakistan-based scholars specialising in the Gita and the Mahabharata.”

Reflecting on the popularity of the programme, he added that while the number of students remains modest, interest is steadily growing. “Ideally, by Spring 2027, we should be able to offer Sanskrit as a year-long course,” he said.

Dr Shahid Rasheed, Associate Professor of Sociology at Forman Christian College and a key figure behind the initiative, said the revival of classical languages holds immense value for humanity.

“Classical languages contain a vast reservoir of human wisdom. I began by learning Arabic and Persian before turning to Sanskrit,” he told The Tribune.

Dr Rasheed said he relied heavily on online learning platforms, studying under Cambridge Sanskrit scholar Antonia Ruppel and Australian Indologist McComas Taylor. “It took nearly a year to complete classical Sanskrit grammar, and I am still continuing my studies,” he said.