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Prof. Satya Dev Verma 1. Whenever there is an occasion to felicitate the pioneers who served the cause of ‘Dev – Vani’ Sanskrit in India, the name of Prof Satya Dev Verma would be remembered with great reverence. An original thinker, a prolific writer and a gifted poet, Prof. Verma was an Indian Sanskrit scholar who took upon himself to promote this ancient language – the mother of all other languages, with a devotion and selfless zeal so rare to be seen. ‘Sanskrit’ for him was not a language but an ethos and a way of life that would open up the window to our culture heritage and unfathomable knowledge contained in the Vedas, Upanishadas and all other scriptures. 2. Early Life He was born on 12 Dec 1918 in a simple agricultural ‘Kamboj’ family in village Alahar (Distt Kurukshatra) in Haryana, Satya Dev was the youngest child with two elder sisters. He lost his mother Smt. Tulsi at a very young age. His father Sh. Vir Singh took ‘Sanyaas’ soon after and young Satya Dev was sent for studies to ‘Gurukul Pothohaar’ near Rawalpindi in the erstwhile Pakistan. There he studied Sanskrit, Vedas and other ancient scriptures under the tutelage of revered Sh. Muktiram ji (later Swami Atmananada). He completed Shastri followed by post graduation both in Sanskrit and Hindi literature. Due to the Gurukul education he was naturally inclined towards the ‘Arya Samaj’. Also as an awakened Indian, he was greatly inspired by Lokmanya Tilak, Veer Savarkar, and Dr. Hedgewar - the founder of Rashtriya Swayam Sevak Sangh. While in Rawapindi, he came in contact with several families connected with Arya Samaj. In due course, he got married to ‘Kamla (Gandhi)’ from a Punjabi family who was to play a major role in his life. As Dr. Kamla Verma she rose to become an active social worker, a powerful orator and a well known political leader in the seventies, of course under the guidance of her spirited husband. She has held important portfolios as a cabinet minister in the Haryana Government from time to time. 3. Professional Career After the partition, for a few years Satya Dev Verma stayed in Amritsar and worked as a lecturer of Sanskrit in Khalsa College. Subsequently, in 1955 he shifted to Yamuna Nagar (Haryana) as a lecturer in Sanskrit at the famous ‘Mukand Lal National College’. There he served as Head of the Sanskrit department till Dec 1978. Prof Verma firmly believed that Sanskrit was not a difficult language suited only for the scriptures. Like a crusader he dedicated himself to establish Sanskrit as a household language that can be used for day to day conversation. While taking lectures in the class room, interspersed with his own poetic compositions, he used to delve at great length to explain the grandiose of Sanskrit language to the students. Even outside the college, he was always keen to teach Sanskrit to whosoever expressed his willingness and never charged any money in return. Making all out efforts he would establish contact with the Sanskrit teachers in other schools and colleges across the state and relentlessly exhorted them to make similar effort. Not many had the vision and the desired amount of zeal. While quite a few scholars supported him, to many others it sounded difficult and impractical but Prof Verma was thoroughly convinced of his mission and continued this drive with an unflinching zeal. He firmly believed that Sanskrit is the only panacea for various misgivings that had seeped in during centuries of foreign rule and various language disputes which were politically motivated. Therefore, he assiduously worked in his own way to introduce and promote Sanskrit as a language right from class I in the schools so that the younger generation gets familiar with this great language. He would exhort the parents to initiate their children into learning Sanskrit during their formative years. Regardless of a lukewarm response, he continued with his efforts smilingly. 4. Setting Example Setting an example, the first thing he did was to initiate his two sons Rajeev Kant and Vimarsh Kant into learning Sanskrit as their mother tongue. Right since their childhood he spoke at home to all the members in simple Sanskrit. He composed and hummed lullabies in Sanskrit for them. As they grew up, both became fluent in spoken Sanskrit. The onlookers used to be surprised to see this medium of conversation between the father and the sons. They would astonishingly ask as to which language it was? He would then explain to them with patience and a great sense of pride. In the family and the neighborhood he was popularly addressed as ‘Tata Ji’ – a colloquial for the Sanskrit word ‘Taat’ – the father figure. The social environment being Hindi/English and Punjabi dominated; it was a daunting task to maintain the discipline of using Sanskrit as the language of communication. Yet, Prof Verma never compromised on this issue. The cows in his house were given classic Sanskrit names as ‘Kalyani’, ‘Mangla’, and ‘Suveera’ etc. Similarly the dogs were named as ‘Ravi’,‘Ketu’ and ‘Shwetu’. These animals were always spoken to in Sanskrit and their response was quite endearing as if they understood each word of it. Like this, he went on to demonstrate that Sanskrit can be adopted for day to day use as any other language. At times as a conscious citizen, he would express his views on some social/national issues in communications to the the Prime Minister, the Governer/Chief Minister of a state or some other great personalities. He made it a point to write these letters in simple Sanskrit. Once he wrote a letter in Sanskrit to the then Vice President Dr. Sarva Palli Radha Krishanan. Occasionally he used to get a response from these offices. After every election, he would urge the members of Parliament and the state assemblies to take oath in Sanskrit. He would send a letter of thanks whenever a member of parliament took oath of office in Sanskrit. Among a handful of such dignitaries, one can recall that Mr. Balram Jakhar was one such MP who always took his oath in Sanskrit and Prof Verma used to compliment and congratulate him for this. He was very happy when years back AIR and DD (Door darshan) started a news bulletin in Sanskrit that continues till date. With such initiatives his point was vindicated that Sanskrit is very much alive and is not a forgotten/dead language as some intellectuals proclaim. His ruse was that the successive governments did not do enough to accord a respectful status to this language. He advocated better vocational opportunities in the government services as well as competitive exams for the Sanskrit students. In this context it may be mentioned that at present, Uttarakhand happens to be the only state that had declared Sanskrit as its second official language in Jan 2010 with a mandate to promote Sanskrit. The question is why can’t the same be done in the other states, when after the independence, great statesmen like Mr. BR Ambedkar had advocated that Sanskrit should be accorded the status of national language? 5. Literary works Being a gifted poet and a writer, Prof Verma created a number of literary works of repute in Sanskrit literature. He was a spontaneous poet and used to write songs and poems in Sanskrit. For easy assimilation he translated some of the famous devotional songs like “Jai Jagdish Hare”, “Uth Jaag Musafir Bhor Bhayee” and a few popular Ghazals of Faiz Ahmed Faiz and Mir Taqui Meer. All this to prove that Sanskrit was a lucid medium of expression that could be used for all forms of poetry. Some of the Sanskrit songs and the translated verses have been composed in to soulful music and they provide an interesting musical collection. Besides being a scholar of Sanskrit and Hindi, he had very good command over English language too. At times he would write articles in English over topical subjects and send for publication in the news papers. He also had a good sense of humor and wrote quite a few humorous/satirical poems on political issues. He believed that Sanskrit should be taught in all the schools as a compulsory language at least till the primary classes. Towards this he wrote ‘Saral (simple) Sanskrit’ books for class I to Class V students. He then approached the managements of all the private schools to introduce those books as a curriculum to teach Sanskrit to the tiny tots. Realizing the need for it, some of the schools introduced these books into their curriculum. 6. The Holy Quran Around 1973, he realized that the ‘Holy Quran’ which is in Arabic language had been translated in many world languages but not in Sanskrit. He got in touch with many prominent Muslim scholars regarding this and started translating the holy book into Sanskrit. This monumental work was published as “Saanskritam Quranam” in the year 1984 by the Indian Book Gallery, 2691, Baradari, Ballimaran, Delhi-110006. This is the first ever such achievement in the field of Sanskrit literature in the world. The “ Saanskritam Quranam” is composed in Sanskrit verse (‘Anushtubha’ Chhanda) and is spread over 344 pages containing 114 chapters. In the foreword, Prof. Verma has acknowledged that this work in Sanskrit is based on the English Translation of the Holy Quran by M. Pickthall and the Hindi translation by Maulana Mohammed Farooque Khan of ‘Maqtaba Al Hasan – Rampur (UP) in India. He dedicates this work with utter humility, to all the Sanskrit lovers of the world. Copies of “Saanskritam Quranam” were sent to all the prominent Muslim education institutes in India and the Muslim embassies. Some of the prominent Muslim scholars acclaimed Prof. Verma for this great achievement and his service to the mankind. One prominent Muslim scholar that deserves a mention here is Pt. Ghulam Dastagir Birajdar of Mumbai. Pt. Birajdar is a well known name in the field of promoting Sanskrit as a spoken language. He speaks and writes in Sanskrit fluently and was closely associated with Prof Verma. Both remained in touch on regular basis and would discuss related issues quite often. 7. 'Hit Sadhika' – the Sanskrit Magazine The most notable of these was a fortnightly Sanskrit Newspaper/ Magazine named as ‘Hit Sadhika’ that started circulating in the year 1982 and continued uninterrupted till the year 1998. This newspaper was composed, edited and managed by Prof. Verma single handedly. A local printing press owner published this low cost black and white paper out of regards for him. With a limited readership there was no question of any income. Therefore, he used to motivate some of his well meaning friends for financial contribution in this pursuit. Rest of the money went out of his own pocket. The critics could have a point that the out look and the contents of this paper were not attractive enough as compared to the commercial magazines in other languages. However, one must acknowledge the spirit behind this symbolic attempt and respect that this was a humble effort by Prof Verma to accord Sanskrit a place into the day to day print media. The ‘Hit Sadhika’ continued for 16 years uninterrupted till the year 1998. However, by then Prof. Verma’s health started deteriorating and he was not able to continue with writing work. As a result much to his discomfort, this magazine had to be discontinued. 8. Honours & Awards In recognition of this great literary work and his contribution to Sanskrit language as a whole, Shri Satya Dev Verma was awarded ‘Sahitya Academy awards’ by the governments of Haryana, Delhi and Maharashtra states of India. A few years back, some students in different universities wrote their theses for M Phil and PhD in Sanskrit, on Prof. Satya Dev Verma’s contribution towards Sanskrit language and his ethos of achieving national integration by promoting Sanskrit. By the year 1996, his health started deteriorating due to diabetes and high BP. In the year 1998, he suffered a mild stroke. He did recover within a few months but never regained complete health. His kidneys became weak and in 1999 he suffered another paralytic attack. This took away his speech that could not be recovered. For the rest of his life he remained bedridden and in spite of extensive medical care, his condition deteriorated and at about 2100h on 05 January 2000, he breathed his last at Yamuna Nagar (Haryana).

Sanskrit Forum (talk) 15:27, 1 September 2013 (UTC)