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Re: Vedic scholarship in India
Sankar Jayanarayanan <kartik@Eng.Auburn.EDU> writes:
>As my friend said, in a few years, even chanting of the Vedas would be history.
>What was handed down generation after generation as the nectar of spirituality
>is decaying so fast that there may be nothing at all soon.Already, in the north,
>there is almost none who knows the Vedas. The Maths established by Sankara,
>I hear, are in ruins in the North, East and the West. The one at Puri is
>almost empty. There is nothing going on there.
>Kartik
This is not correct, imho. While atharva veda has almost declined and
there are extremely few people left in the parampara, this is not true for
other vedas. Further, the maths are NOT in ruins, atleast it wasn't when i
visited them in 1985 or so. I can not imagine a decline of all of them in
11 years.
All of these schools have active paaThashaalaa-s. Instead of
quoting my observations of the schools and the Maths, let me quote from
the book 'Tradition of teachers : Shankara' by william cenkner.
'The Sringeri school usually enrolls eighty students, from age 10 to
late teens, and approximately 13 panditas each specializing in a particular
veda..The pandita of the yajur veda in sringeri told me that he has spent
45 years with this text alone...The basic course usually extends over
7 years but can take as long as 10 years. Instruction is also given in
logic, mimamsa, and vedanta philosophy and astrology. The more advanced
students of this matha go to the bangalore pathasala to specialize in
purva mimamsa and vedanta. There were 6 students and 2 panditas when i first visited, and the course of philosophical studies lasrs for 6-7 years.
The kanchi math supports many pathasalas with a few young students
in sanskrit studies at new kanchi. The major school at kumbakonam,
which was the seat of kanchi shankara for some decades in the past, usually
has 15-20 students and 3-4 panditas.
In the govardana matha at puri, the school has courses other
than sanskrit studies, namely in history, math...The sanskrit academy of this
matha has in recent times around 400 students and 15 teachers in a 10 year
program, followed by 2-3 years with specialization in sanskrit literature,
gram,mar, the vedas and the vedanta.
The dwaraka pathasala at dakor teaches traditional sanskrit studies...
the shankara of dwaraka established a sanskrit academy and arts college
and an indological research institute for indoclogical studies..the arts college
had 400 students.... in 1976, 28 students were studying for the traditional
sanskrit titles of sastri and acharya, and 35 students were pursuing
a modern MA degree in sanskrit. There were also 8-10 doctoral level
in sanskrit studies..'
'The traditional method of learning is based on the oral
transmission...At the beginning and end, the students prostrate before the
pandita. In one class i heard the sloka repeated twice by the pandita and
then recited twice vy the student...the pandita responds quickly to mistakes..
In another class, i observed that slokas of 50 words were recited at one
time and the students counted the words on their fingers. Fifty such
groups of 50 words comproised a lesson, which constitutes a 45 minute class.
The ideal is to spend 4 hours each day in lessons and 6 hours in private
recitation...'
*end quote*
This should adequately prove that the maths are not empty as
said above. Of course, when i visited the maths, i frequently encountered
people claiming superiority of one over the other {the rivalry between
sringeri and kanchi is well known} and the denial of kanchi as a math
established by Shankara.
Unlike the maths in south {sringeri and kanchi}, the one at puri
is very unassuming. Many stone rooms are actually buried in sand. My favorite
was the Jyothirmatha {which is around 2000 metres above sea level} and
just beyond this math {50 km} at the foothills of Mt. Neelakanth lies the
wonderful temple of Badrinath {at around 4000 metres above sea level}.
Finally, as far as i remember, the mathamnaya scheme allotted
to each vidyapatha specialized in a particular veda. Sama, Atharva, Rig,
and Yajur for dwaraka, badrinath, puri and sringeri, respectively.
Regarding the vedas as such, there are still many places where
one can learn them from a pandita in Benares, and other places. To claim
that no one knows vedas in the north is a stretch of imagination. Many
pandita-s i have seen are quite humble and unassuming. They may not be
famous and well-known.
Giri
--
{The opinions expressed above are mine and not that of my employers}
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brahma satyaM, jagat mithya, jivo brahmaivana paraH - Adi Shankara
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