RENO(USA):The two-day Sanskrit seminar, first of its kind in the region, concluded here on Monday with chanting of Sanskrit shlokas by Andrea Forman, lead singer of Shanti Shanti, the only Sanskrit rock band in the world.
The seminar, attended by about three-dozen participants, resulted in Washoe County of Nevada proclaiming January 12 as "Sanskrit Day". It is reportedly the first time any County in USA has dedicated a day to Sanskrit.
Robert M. Larkin, Chairman of Washoe County Commission, who signed and read the proclamation at the inauguration, said, "As Hinduism expands in the West, it is important that to understand Hinduism, one should have a working knowledge of Sanskrit."
Organized by prominent Hindu chaplain and Indo-American leader, Rajan Zed, and run by Govinda Yelagalawadi , well-known Sanskrit scholar, its participants included Christian and Unitarian Universalist ministers, doctors, lawyer, scientist, university professor, students, etc.
Vedas (written in Sanskrit) are dated by different scholars from 6500 BCE to 1500 BCE. Sanskrit language must have evolved to its expressive capability prior to that. Besides Hindu scriptures, a vast amount of Buddhist and Jain scriptures were also written in Sanskrit. According to tradition, self-born God created Sanskrit, which is everlasting and divine. First scripture of the world, Rig-Veda, was written in Sanskrit. Many Sanskrit works are still to be translated. Sanskrit has a close relationship with other classical languages like Latin, Greek, French, German, etc.
Mahatma Gandhi said, "Without the study of Sanskrit, one cannot become a true learned man." German philologist Max Muller added, "Sanskrit is the greatest language of the world." In America, scholar William D. Whitney wrote the Sanskrit Grammar in 1879. Sanskrit is also known as "the language of the gods".