It is more than 5,000 years old and is considered one of the oldest languages in the world. It forms the base of holy scriptures spanning across three religions – Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism. But Sanskrit as a subject has seen a decline, with many schools and colleges replacing the language of the Vedas with foreign languages such as French, German and Spanish.

But the language is flourishing in unlikely places. Like Dublin, Ireland.

Meet Rutger Kortonhorst, 58, an Irish national of Dutch origin. He not only gives guest lectures in Sanskrit across the world, but also teaches the language to school children in Dublin.

In town to give a guest lecture on Sanskrit, organised by the department of Sanskrit at Mount Carmel College on Saturday, he spoke about his journey into the labyrinths of the language.

When Kortonhorst was 20, he signed up for a course in practical philosophy at the School of Philosophy and Economic Science in Dublin. He discovered on joining the course that practical philosophy was the English translation of Advaita Vedanta, a sub-school of the Vedanta school of Vedic or Hindu philosophy and religious practice, which declares that there is but one reality. He decided that he would learn the language of the Vedas to understand them better. Thus began his quest to learn Sanskrit, which according to him is a continuous journey. He is now the HOD (Sanskrit) at John Scottus School in Dublin, and teaches the ancient language to over 250 children between the ages of five and 14. More.

See: Bangalore Mirror

Subscribe to the translation news daily digest here. See more translation news.