Margao, Sep 11 (TOI): In what could bring cheer to lovers of India's ancient language Sanskrit, a newly formed trust, Shree Subramanyam Vangmayee Parishad, has taken upon itself to promote and propagate the language of the gods in Goa.
Churning out 50 pundits (scholars or masters in the ancient holy texts called Vedas) in the next 10 years is among the avowed objectives of the Parishad. Towards that end, the parishad has already purchased two acres of land in a tiny hamlet Shivsare in Rivona village in Sanguem taluka where the trust proposes to build a residential school for the students of the six-year course in the study of Vedas and shastras.
The school will be officially launched on September 12 at a function to be held at Vimleshwar temple, Rivona, officials said.
Addressing media persons on Thursday, Sandip Tengse, the president of the parsihad, said that while the trust was formed in 2014, the school has already started functioning from a small premises in Rivona where 30 students have already enrolled for the course. While six of these students are from Goa, the rest are from Maharashtra, Karnataka, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, and Tamil Nadu. "The school will follow the ancient gurukul (residential nature of schooling) system of education; it will be a gurukul of the shastras," Tengse said.
The proposed school, located on the banks of the River Kushawati, will, apart from having hostels for students and residential quarters for teachers, also house a goshala (cow shelter) and a library, members of the parishad said. The building is proposed to be completed within three years.
Secretary of the trust, Aparna Patil, said that the curriculum will consist of three subjects - Vyakran Shastra or linguistics, Nyaya Shastra or the science of logic, and the Mimansa Shastra or the science of interpretation.
As a part of the course curriculum, students will be sent for training under reputed pandits to various parts of India in Indian mathematics, Kautilya's economics, Alankar Shastra (figure of speech), Pachang (almanac) calculation, etc.