Sanskrit Room Opens at BAOU Campus in Ahmedabad Drive
Ahmedabad Welcomes a University-Level Sanskrit Room with Free Lessons and Rare Books.
Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Open University opened a new Sanskrit Room on Tuesday, 1 September 2026, at its Jyotirmay Campus in Ahmedabad. The project runs in partnership with the Gujarat State Sanskrit Board, which operates under the Education Department of Gandhinagar. The opening coincided with the university’s Sanskrit Literature Day, held as part of the state’s annual Sanskrit Week celebrations.
The launch establishes the institution as the first open university in Gujarat to build a dedicated Sanskrit facility under the state government’s ongoing scheme. Across the state, more than 550 schools, colleges, and training centres have taken up the same programme, which sets up physical spaces equipped with historical literature, study resources, and learning tools.
University Vice-Chancellor Professor Ami Upadhyay led the event with Professor Yogendra Parekh, the Director of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences. Traditional opening rituals began the morning, including the sounding of a conch, the lighting of an oil lamp, and recitals from the ancient Vedas. Professor Parekh addressed the audience to open the session, following which Dr Vinod Majirana performed the Sanskrit song Gaame Nagare Samasta Rashtre Rachayem Sanskrit Bhavanam.
Joining them on the main stage were Himanjay Paliwal, Chairman of the Gujarat State Sanskrit Board, and Dr Vishnuprasad Trivedi, Principal of Kapadwanj College.
Delivering the presidential address, Professor Upadhyay described Sanskrit as an essential pillar of Indian culture, literature, science, and economics. She warned that when a society neglects its mother tongues, its cultural memory shrinks alongside them. To illustrate her point, she pointed to the modern revival of the Hebrew language in Israel during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, which succeeded because citizens shared a collective determination to preserve their ancestral speech.
Professor Upadhyay stressed that Sanskrit belongs to everyone, regardless of caste, social group, or background. She reminded listeners that Dr Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar, the chief architect of the Indian Constitution, formally supported Sanskrit during Constituent Assembly debates between 1946 and 1949 when members discussed potential national languages for the newly independent republic.
During her address, Professor Upadhyay introduced two new campus programmes. The university will host a 20-day spoken Sanskrit training course, provided without fees to campus employees and local neighbourhood residents. She also outlined plans to trial a “Sanskrit Tourism” initiative, which will arrange guided educational tours connecting sites tied to the Ramayana, the Vedas, and ancient archaeological settlements across India.
The open university already operates an on-site Sanskrit Language Laboratory, founded four years ago to assist students with pronunciation and grammar through audio recordings. For the past three years, the institution has also delivered postgraduate degree courses focused on Sanskrit, Indian Knowledge Systems (IKS), and Hindu Studies. Looking forward, Professor Upadhyay asked academic staff to learn four to five new Sanskrit vocabulary words every day so that conversational phrases become normal across departments.
Himanjay Paliwal gave his guest speech entirely in Sanskrit. He noted that lasting preservation comes through daily speaking, reading, and listening rather than simply building rooms out of brick and mortar. He stated that the government’s wider scheme aims to move Sanskrit beyond traditional religious rituals and academic lecture halls. By connecting classical texts with modern school subjects such as science, biology, and logic, the board hopes to make the ancient tongue practical for young learners.
Dr Vishnuprasad Trivedi followed with a lecture examining the psychology of human thought. His talk focused on the opening six verses of the Shiva Sankalpa Sukta, drawn from Chapter 34 of the Shukla Yajurveda. He explained that human thoughts travel great distances in an instant, whether a person is wide awake or fast asleep. Because the mind directs the five senses, he remarked, ancient thinkers compared personal discipline to a chariot driver steering spirited horses. Keeping the mind steady allows a person to gather real knowledge and carry out good actions in daily life.
The gathering also recognised academic research from an earlier international conference on Indian Knowledge Systems hosted by the university. Judges had chosen six papers for special honours. The university handed cash prizes and certificates to the winning authors:
Anjali Ramol and Dr Narendra Kumar
Jaimin Dave
Dr Aditya Joshi and Jay Joshi
Afsana Khatun
Arpan A. Nayak and Damini Shah
Dr Kriti Vyas and Professor Drishta Barot
After the formal speeches, guests visited the new study hall. Shelves held classic editions of the Vedas, Puranas, Ramayana, Mahabharata, history volumes, Sanskrit grammar handbooks, and classical texts on Nyaya logic. Staff had also arranged an interactive exhibition called “Science in Sanskrit,” which set out charts explaining historical mathematics, astronomy, and medical recipes alongside displays of traditional language games designed for classroom pupils.
The morning ended with formal closing remarks. Dr Mukesh Idhariya, a Sanskrit lecturer at the university, offered the vote of thanks to the visiting speakers, organisers, and attending students. Shyam Patel, who teaches within the Indian Knowledge Systems department, acted as the master of ceremonies throughout the day.
