National Language of India

The Chief Justice of India opened at the Allahabad High Court on 26th November 1966, an exhibition of old papers, documents and historical papers, in connection with the Court’s Centenary Celebrations. A notable fact about all these documents and historical papers, which are dated from the time the East India Company established its rule over the old NWP (North Western Provinces), that is 1775, is that almost all of them are in Persian. Muslim rule, beginning in Northern India in the eleventh century, lasted about 700 to 800 years, and I imagine that ever since its commencement Persian was used as the official language of administration. With the coming of the British, Persian was succeeded by English and Urdu. Yet I wish to draw attention to the fact that, despite the long period of official disregard and neglect, Sanskrit continues be the vehicle of all our religious and other sacred literature and our ancient cultural traditions. It is not difficult to find out why this is so. At the root of the tremendous power of survival of Sanskrit is the love and devotion of the people for their own original mother tongue.

It is true that all these days illiteracy has been rampant in land, and even elementary education and literacy has been confined to the so called higher castes. Learning and scholarship really widespread only among, Brahmins, and the regional languages must have governed the daily lives of the people. But acquaintance with such languages must have prevailed only among the residents and natives of the local regions. Only Sanskrit must have served the purpose of communication and intercourse between the literate people belonging to, and hailing from, the different parts of India.

The Muslim rulers do not appear to have established any educational institutions for the instruction and education of the people. Education in those days was also of a purely literary description, and owing to the absence of the modern printing and non publication facilities, the number of books available for use, even in educational institutions like the Pathshalas and Maktabas, must have been exceedingly small. The people must have therefore generally lived what I may call a literature-free life untroubled by libraries, reading-rooms, newspapers and journals.

The British almost right from the commencement of their administration began establishing primary and other schools and even colleges. Of course their main aim was to spread knowledge of the English language. But the regional language was the medium of instruction in all the lower classes, and alongside Sanskrit, Persian and Arabic were also taught. This way knowledge of Sanskrit once again began spreading in India, particularly among the Hindus. With the growth of a spirit of nationalism during the last 100 years, and particularly from the time of the establishment of the Indian National Congress in 1884, love of Sanskrit has deepened in the land. The advent of independence forthwith raised the question of fixing and developing a national language for India as a whole and, perforce and instinctively, the case of Sanskrit came before the mind. Knowledge and use of English among the Indian people even in their social and community life became a familiar feature. Suggestions were even made to treat English as the national language of India. But that was an impossible proposition because outside the educated middle classes living mostly in urban areas, neither knowledge of English, nor liking and love for it, had penetrated into the hearts and minds of the masses of India. The British ruled India mostly through Indian agencies. The Britons served for a limited number of years in India and on retirement went to England. There was thus no sizable group of people in India, after the British had left, who could call the English language their own. The result is that the English language has, on its own merits, taken no deep roots. There is no doubt that in. course of time English will become useless in India except for international purposes and intercourse.

When the Constitution of India was being framed the question of national language was widely discussed and it was ultimately decided, as indicated by Articles 343 and 346 of the Constitution, that Hindi would be the official language of the Union, and the language of communication between the Central Government and the States, and between the States inter se. There is however no provision in our Constitution declaring positively, and in so many words, that Hindi should be treated and regarded as the national language of India.

Past experience has, however, shown that the use of any language as the official language by the Government, or as its spoken language by the ruling community of the day, does not necessarily lead to its adoption by the people of India for their common, family or community intercourse, as their national language. Even under the most favourable conditions and in spite of its extensive use by Government and semi-Government agencies, trade, business and other organisations, English has failed to reach the hearts of the masses. Hindi starts with many advantages in its favour but we have to consider its appeal in the non-Hindi-speaking areas. This appeal, it now appears, has not been very encouraging. Even its adoption as the official language of the Union has caused some dissatisfaction, and many consider that the selection of Hindi as official language has led to a sense of paramountcy among the ‘Hindi-speaking people over their non-Hindi-speaking brethren.

The existence of such a feeling is a very disturbing feature of this language controversy. It is of the highest importance, and in the national interest, that a sense and feeling of unity and integrity of India should prevail all over the country, and nothing should be done to create any desire for disintegration of India or the growth of a parochial feeling on any account whatsoever. It is on a consideration of all these different aspects that I have myself since 1947, pleaded the cause of Sanskrit, and even suggested that, as it has already won for itself since ages past the position of the national language of India, it should be recognised as such.

Sanskrit is not only the repository of all our ancient laws, scriptures and literature, but it is also the mother of almost all the regional languages of India. For any individual, well-versed in Sanskrit acquisition of knowledge of all the regional languages (may be with the exception of Tamil) is an easy job. The Indian people have stuck to Sanskrit with matchless devotion and affection. And now that they have become their own rulers, instruction in Sanskrit is fast spreading and making rapid progress. Even Sanskrit Universities have been opened. I therefore strongly appeal that the Central and State Governments should take forthwith all possible steps to expand facilities and establish institutions for instruction in Sanskrit, and I feel sure that Sanskrit would, on its own merits, and by the voluntary choice of the people, become the de facto national language of India. Then there would be no difficulty whatsoever in making it also the official language.

Fifty years ago it was sometimes said that Sanskrit is a dead language. Even then it was a thoughtless, groundless assertion, but now in free India Sanskrit has risen again in all its glory and majesty. Just as we are proud of living with a culture which today is the most ancient in the world, with its roots in the hoary past, so let us also claim that our national language is of ancient origin, having links with our past history and traditions, and that it is a language which has continued throughout the ages to govern the literary and cultural life of this great sub-continent.