DESI is an active student group formed to study, discuss and contribute towards various facets of India, like culture, society, development, security and portrayals of India in the west. DESI attempts to serve as a forum to encourage developmental efforts, promote exchange of information and social entertainment.
Press
Release of Samskritotsavam - The Sanskrit
festival at UMD
Lavanya Muthukumar
As an initiative of the Shruti team of DESI, which aims to study the historical and contemporary nature of Indian Culture, DESI introduces "Learn-to-speak-Sanskrit". Out of popular demand DESI took initiative and talked with Mr. Rajesh Rachabattuni and convinced him to come over to the campus for an introductory session. The first introductory session was held in the Banneker Hall at the Stamp Union. This session drew 30 people who were actively engaged in conversation in Sanskrit by Rajeshji within minutes. At the end, everyone present had learned to speak a few Sanskrit sentences. More
Kalidasa And Ancient India
B.S.V. Prasad
[The Old is not necessarily admirable, And the New always despicable; The wise discriminate and decide; Fools let others decide for them. -- Kalidasa, Act I, Malavikagnimitra]
Sanskrit literature is a perfect form of a perfect pleasure. It becomes a lifelong obsession for most connoisseurs; I know of no other body of literature that is so wholesome, so cultivating and uplifting, and so timeless in its appeal to readers. Sanskrit literature easily spans a period of some 5000 years; even though the language was no longer being spoken in the streets as far back as 1000 BC, literature continues to be created in Sanskrit to this day.
Kalidasa is undoubtedly among the greatest poets of all time, and certainly the greatest among Sanskrit poets after Vyasa and Valmiki. Four poetic works, Raghuvamsa, Kumarasambhava, Meghaduta, and Ritusamhara, and three dramas, Vikramorvasiya, Malavikagnimitra, and Abhijnanasakuntala are attributed to him; in addition to these, Indian tradition attributes to him several other works in diverse disciplines, ranging from poetics and astrology to mathematics and astronomy. It goes without saying that he had more than a little mastery of all these disciplines. More
Sanskrit : our crowning glory
Karan Singh
THERE ARE at least four good reasons why Sanskrit studies need to be encouraged in this country and given an appropriate place in our educational system.
First, as a classical language, Sanskrit is recognised as being among the most remarkable to have emerged anywhere on this planet during the entire course of human history. Its grammatical structure is so exquisite, and its sonic quality so superb, that it is universally recognised as representing a high watermark of human linguistics.
It is not necessary to quote numerous Indian and foreign scholars to support this view. Providing as it does the foundation for most of the other Indian languages, it is to them what Greek and Latin together are to most Western languages.
Secondly it, represents, as it were, the great Himalayas of our cultural life, towering as a magnificent testament to the creativity and genius of the Indian mind. It is rich with unbounded treasures?the Vedas, the Upanishads, the Brahmanas, the Aranyakas, the Puranas, the Ramayana, the Mahabharata and the Yoga Shastras, which represent a cultural and spiritual tradition unique in its scope, depth and vitality, expressing the collective genius and richness of Indian civilisation. More