AI can help unlock beauty of Sanskrit beyond grammar: FM

Chennai: Pitching for the use of AI to make Sanskrit more engaging and accessible, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Tuesday that technology should go beyond teaching grammar to help learners appreciate the literary richness and beauty of classical texts.

Speaking at the launch of the AI-based Large Language Model (LLM) ‘Sanskrit Heritage Model’ at the Madras Sanskrit College, Sitharaman said modern language pedagogy abroad succeeds by drawing from great literature rather than confining learners to rigid rules. “The language has to be tempting enough for people to learn. These are the kind of spice you need into it,” she said, cautioning against tools that are “dry as bone” in teaching the language.

Underlining the need for critical and appreciative studies of Indian classics, the Finance Minister drew a comparison between the vast scholarship surrounding William Shakespeare and the relative scarcity of accessible analytical works on Sanskrit poet Kalidasa.

“You take a ‘Romeo and Juliet’, or the favourite play of mine, ‘Julius Caesar’... I can get you at least three books. All of which will speak so much about why Shakespeare brought in a certain theme,” she said, pointing out that similar comprehensive works explaining Kalidasa’s mastery in English or modern Indian languages remain hard to find.

Sitharaman noted that AI could bridge this gap by analysing classical texts at scale. “If I’ve had this wonderful machine, which knows to perfection if the grammar of any sentence is right, and it can explain why the ‘Sandhi’ (combination of two sounds or letters) and ‘Samasa’ (combination of two separate words) will have to be like this. Can throw at me the hundred top ‘Upamas’ (similes)... A scholar doesn’t have unlimited time, whereas this can give me untiring, unlimited extent of time that I’m willing to spend for me to know about it,” she said.

Highlighting the global historical imprint of Sanskrit as an enduring element of India’s soft power, Sitharaman shared observations from her travels abroad. Recalling a visit to Croatia, she noted that the local language contains “more than a thousand Sanskrit words even as they use it today,” instilling a strong sense of pride among locals regarding their ancient heritage. She also cited the presence of ancient Indic language repositories and Sanskrit links in the Philippines, Vietnam’s Cham kingdom, Central Asia, and the Caucasus.

The Minister urged technologists to deploy AI tools to locate and index dispersed historical manuscripts, palm leaves, and inscriptions worldwide. Referring to the ancient Leiden copper plates from Tamil Nadu that documented grants to a Buddhist vihara near Nagapattinam, she called for technology to dredge global archives so researchers can map the geographic spread of Indian languages.

“That biggest strength, which is in our DNA, should not be lost.

And that tradition should go along with the technology which can take it into the 21st and 22nd century and further,” she said, offering her full backing to such initiatives.

The Sanskrit Heritage Model has been developed by technology firm Articul8 AI, led by CEO Arun K Subramaniyan, Managing Director Ananthanarayanan Shanmugham, and Trustee and Director, The Madras Sanskrit College, Sri Ramesh Mahalingam.

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