लङ्कायां संस्कृतम्

Below are excerpts from Rohana Seneviratne’s article.

• “Buddhist monks from their early Samanera age, are “required” to learn Sanskrit alongside Pali … it is Pali – not Sanskrit – that is expected to sustain the local version of Theravada Buddhism on this land.”
• “The academic contexts where Sanskrit is taught in support of the study of disciplines such as the Sinhala and Tamil languages and literature, History, Religious Studies, Archaeology, and Philosophy often confine Sanskrit scholarship to the basics. "
• “I encounter more students, mostly Buddhist monks, for whom Sanskrit has been made compulsory by the UGC but often whining about their inability and unwillingness to continue offering Sanskrit. One of the justifications they produce is that they have sufficient knowledge of Sanskrit and the university must allow them to pursue new knowledge – new in the sense unrelated to Sanskrit. Most interestingly, I am striving to teach the rudiments of Sanskrit grammar to the holders of Rajakiya Pandita degree from the Pracina Bhasopakara Samagama. Most of those titular Rajakiya Panditas I encounter – to my chagrin – often fail to parse a simple sentence or work out basic declensions of Sanskrit nouns.”
• “Most of those who excelled in the training, unfortunately for us, found more attractive opportunities in and beyond academia abroad and, more pathetically, never looked back at the Sanskrit education in Sri Lanka, or in some cases, even at Sanskrit, after securing employment and study opportunities totally unrelated to what they had done during their undergraduate career. "
• " As was seen in the works of Hela Havula and its descendants, the Hela language or pure, if not uncontaminated, Sinhala, wanted scholastic Sanskrit – in the sense Paninian Sanskrit – to leave it and to retain only its Hela or tatbhava forms. Over time, Sinhala Punditocracy, however, seems to have realized that Sanskrit could not be amputated from the body of the Sinhala language because it is not a spare limb but inherent in its blood. " (<– Remarkable that even sinhala-s had their “Lemurian” movements!)
• “On the other hand, the form of pseudo-scholastic Sinhala or the Sinhala language purported to be extravagantly garnished by Sanskrit as used by Panditammanyas or self-styled pundits, especially in the press, in Sri Lanka excels even Paninian Sanskrit in many ways. The result is a nauseating form of apabhrasta or substandard Sanskrit, and therefore apabhrasta Sinhala as well. "
• " we had very few Sanskrit poets essentially including Ven. Davuldena Gnanissara (d. 2017), and Ven. Kekunawela Piyaratana the reception of whose poetry in Sanskrit left hopes about a living Sanskrit scholarship outside India.”
• “Interest in and activities on conversational Sanskrit are on the rise in Sri Lanka, which I am glad to note here. The University of Kelaniya commendably organizes an annual conference where conversational Sanskrit is one of the media papers can be presented. Further, at Peradeniya, I have started teaching a few courses on creative writing in Sanskrit at as a result which a few students have produced new compositions in Sanskrit in the form of poetry, drama, and short stories. "