By: Ishan SinhaMANGALURU: As social media relentlessly bends established languages with abbreviations, slang and unconventional usage, a family in Dakshina Kannada has gone the other way – keeping a classical language alive, not just as a tradition, but as the language of everyday conversation.For 37 years, the family of Vasanth Madhava and his wife, Savithri, in Bantwal taluk’s Kalladka has made Sanskrit their primary language at home, turning their house into a living Samskrita Gruha (Sanskrit home), where three generations communicate only in that language.The initiative began in 1989 when Vasanth, convenor of Sri Rama Vidya Kendra, married Samskrita Bharati volunteer Savithri. Before marriage, Savithri requested that at home, they should speak in Sanskrit – prompting Vasanth to attend conversational camps to gain fluency.“If the language that forms the root of our ancient knowledge and tradition is made a spoken language, the outcome will be positive,” Vasanth said.In the initial years, the couple used Sanskrit nameboards on walls and in different parts of the kitchen to familiarise themselves with household vocabulary. When their son was born, he picked up the language quite naturally.The family’s dedication became evident when the boy joined primary school. His teachers had to request the parents to teach him Kannada as he could communicate only in Sanskrit at the time.Today, the practice continues even among the grandchildren.Vishwas Mahodya, an activist with Samskrita Bharati, said Savithri had been associated with the organisation as a full-time worker from its early days. She was trained in the language there and developed a deep interest in it.“She actively contributed to our mission by conducting numerous Sambhashana Shibiras or spoken language camps over several years. After marrying Vasantha, a headmaster, she and her husband took the commendable decision to transform their home into a true Samskrita Gruha,” he said.
