Latest news with #Sanskrit
News18
17 hours ago
- General
- News18
Want To Be A Good Yoga Teacher? Here Are The Qualities That Matter
Last Updated: A student may not remember your Sanskrit verses or the jargon you use, but they will always remember how you made them feel At a Yoga centre where I was attending a programme some months ago, I happened to encounter a person from Russia as he was exiting the classroom. Red-faced, he was walking out in a huff, preparing to pack his bags and leave. He let loose when I asked what had happened: 'The teacher thinks she's an enlightened soul and so superior! I find people here are so rigid about what's wrong and right. Worst is they themselves don't practice what they teach!" It was a long list of complaints. It occurred to me that students were not content to just learn Yoga poses and practices from teachers — that their teachers needed to measure up in other ways, too. So, what are the qualities that make a successful Yoga teacher? We approached veteran Yoga teacher and guru, Dr Hansaji Yogendra, Director of The Yoga Institute, Santacruz, Mumbai, for answers. Here are edited excerpts from an interview. A good Yoga teacher is not just someone who knows asanas, pranayamas or the scriptures – she or he must embody the practice. Inner stillness, compassion and humility are absolute musts. I always say to teachers — be still. Stillness requires courage. The ability to be quiet and to observe, without judgment, reflects an inner strength. The Inner Motivation The motivation to teach must come from a place of seva — selfless service — and not from a desire to impress, preach, or seek recognition or validation. A true teacher doesn't teach in order to be seen, but rather to help others see themselves more clearly. Empathy, kindness, and genuine human connection are needed. I often remind new teachers that people don't care how much you know, until they know how much you care. Knowledge And Skills, but Also Own Practice A Yoga teacher should understand all three — the body and how it functions, the mind and how it behaves, and the spirit and how it seeks. More importantly, they must remain dedicated to their own practice. All of Yoga is abhyasa —so, practice, practice, practice! The teaching carries authenticity and depth only if the teacher is first a sincere practitioner. Perfection is a myth — but progress is essential. And it is only through consistent sadhana that skills transform into wisdom. Your Class Should Be A Space of Peace, Not Pressure For this, some do's are: Do practice what you teach. Keep learning. Respect each student's unique journey. Create a safe and inclusive space where everyone feels seen and supported. And some don'ts are: Don't impose, compare, or preach. Teaching is about guiding and about not showing off — remember, there is a difference between teaching and preaching. Inspire through your own lived experience; don't just share information or bookish knowledge. And always remember: anything that doesn't bring psychological balance is not Yoga. Let your class be a space of peace, not pressure. How To Be More Confident Confidence comes from clarity and consistent practice. When you engage in daily sadhana and witness the subtle shifts in your own body and mind, you begin to teach from a place of truth. And that truth builds authentic confidence. Yoga doesn't make your life better; Yoga makes you better at life. Live Yoga fully, and the confidence to teach will arise naturally and effortlessly. The Test of A Good Teacher A student may not remember your Sanskrit verses or the jargon you use from anatomy, but they will always remember how you made them feel. A good teacher helps students feel seen and safe, and inspired. The real test? When a student begins to practice on their own—not out of pressure, but out of joy. That's when you know that Yoga has truly happened. Be Morally and Ethically Sound You have to be morally and ethically sound, only then can there be true spiritual progress. That moral compass can only develop when all three pillars of Yoga — the body, the mind, and the soul — are nurtured through a balanced integration of Physiology, Psychology, and Philosophy. A good teacher must be well-versed in all three dimensions of Yoga — Physiology, Philosophy, and Psychology. At The Yoga Institute, we emphasise all three. Here, Yoga is not confined to physical postures, but is embraced as a way of purposeful living. The emphasis is not merely on flexibility of the body, but on cultivating stability of the mind, along with clarity and inner resilience. The philosophy taught is not rooted in rigid beliefs, but in practical wisdom that can be meaningfully applied to everyday life. The author is a journalist, cancer survivor and certified yoga teacher. She can be reached at swatikamal@ Watch CNN-News18 here. The News18 Lifestyle section brings you the latest on health, fashion, travel, food, and culture — with wellness tips, celebrity style, travel inspiration, and recipes. Also Download the News18 App to stay updated! First Published:
Time of India
18 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Time of India
Indian Historiography: New Approach to Literary History
Excerpts from the interview: Q. What was the genesis of the Sahitya Akademi-edited anthology Indian Literary Historiography ? Could you tell us more about it? A. This book began a few years ago as a conference organised by the Sahitya Akademi. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now Not many people—perhaps no one—has addressed Indian literary historiography at book length. Historiography isn't widely understood or practised in India, and many may wonder what it actually is. Simply put, it is a history of histories. At a more nuanced level, it's the study of the methodologies used in writing histories. I found the subject fascinating, and I was in a position to persuade the Sahitya Akademi to organise a pan-Indian conference, with participation from many languages. This book is the outcome of that conference. I also tried to include languages not represented at the event, and so on. The subject interested me partly because I've been involved in writing a history of Indian literature myself—one that follows a somewhat different approach to most. In India, the pattern established by the Sahitya Akademi has been to give equal space to all recognised languages—14 at the time of the Constitution's adoption, then 18, and now 22. The Akademi, in fact, recognises 24. So when they organise a conference or commission a volume, they expect most of these languages to be represented in separate chapters by subject experts. This model has been widely adopted and is now expected not just from the Sahitya Akademi but from other publishing institutions as well. That's the approach I've followed here. Q. It is interesting to encounter these essays, as this area does not appear to have been explored with such a strong empirical focus before. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now Would this anthology be considered an important starting point in that direction? A. Yes, but also very enjoyable. One point worth making at the outset is that during British colonisation, many officials and scholars believed that Indians lacked a sense of history—be it political or literary. This notion began with John Stuart Mill, who wrote about this supposed deficiency. Later, Lord Macaulay claimed Indian history was unreliable, citing examples from the Puranas , such as kings ruling for 27,000 years and mythic elements like oceans of milk—concluding that such accounts were implausible. This view persisted for over a century. Even as late as 1900, the British Sanskrit scholar A.A. Macdonell remarked that Indians did not write history because they never made any—an insult and injury wrapped into one sentence, appearing in his lengthy history of Sanskrit literature. Yet even his work acknowledges the vast literary output in Sanskrit, which contradicts his own claim. These are colonial slanders, reflecting a sense of superiority. But the larger question remains: how do history and literature relate? Traditional historians have long insisted that history must be grounded in strict documentation—records, evidence, material data. Under such a lens, much of Indian tradition is excluded. These historians have often refused to treat literature as valid historical evidence. Happily, some of these once-dominant voices have begun to acknowledge that there can be more than one kind of history. , a widely respected historian, now distinguishes between 'embodied' history—clearly written as history—and 'embedded' history—where historical content is hidden within literature. Texts such as plays, epics, even the Puranas, may not look like history but can yield rich historical insight depending on how they are read. Indian bilingual scholars like Vasudev Sharan Agarwal and Hazari Prasad Dwivedi also made important contributions. Agarwal, for example, drew on literary works like Kalidasa's Meghaduta to construct a picture of India in Kalidasa's time—not from a historical chronicle, but from a highly literary text. It depends on how one approaches the material. Reading for poetic ornamentation yields aesthetic pleasure, but reading from a different angle can also reveal historical depth. Western scholars—and some heavily Westernised Indian historians—took a long time to recognise this. But history is now seen as a broader, more complex field. Over the past few decades, it has also lost its exclusive claim to 'truth.' The postmodern critique has blurred the boundary between history and literature. We now understand that no single version of history can claim absolute truth. Competing narratives arise based on perspective, interpretation, and motive. History is a narrative, and so is literature. That puts them on equal footing—and makes for a very exciting intellectual playing field. Q. As literature and history converge, how might this reshape our understanding of Indian literature? Does it point to a redefinition, a new canon, or simply a fresh lens on existing texts? A. Yes, the book offers a history of the histories of literature in various Indian languages. One innovation I introduced, departing from the usual Sahitya Akademi model, was to abandon the English alphabetical order typically used in such collections—where Assamese comes first, and Urdu last. Instead, since this is a book on historiography, I arranged the languages chronologically, beginning with the oldest. Of course, determining which language is 'oldest' is not straightforward—it's a politically charged question. Is Sanskrit older than Tamil ? Is Urdu older than Hindi? Are Marathi and Gujarati contemporaneous? Still, I felt it was worth attempting a chronology based on historical evidence, which seemed more meaningful than alphabetical or script-based orders, such as the Devanagari order, which can also distort the narrative. These inherited structures—alphabetical or otherwise—are constructed paradigms that go unquestioned. I wanted to disrupt that a bit. While the model helped hold the nation together in the early years of its existence, it has drawbacks. In these collections, each language is treated in isolation, as though they developed independently. But Indian languages have a long history of interaction, influence, and exchange. The siloed structure fails to capture that interconnectivity. I couldn't change the model, but I could take a different approach. After years of working with those volumes, I was given the opportunity to write the South Asia section of the History of World Literature (in four volumes). There, I broke from the language-by-language format, which, though tidy, doesn't integrate. True integration would involve showing how languages flowed together across time, linked by chronology, genre evolution, and innovation. For instance, a literary innovation may arise in Urdu today and appear in Malayalam tomorrow—either through influence or independently. As Shishir Kumar Das noted, such patterns can reflect either prophane (early) or epiphane (later) appearances of similar phenomena across languages. This flowing model seemed a better way to capture the complexity of Indian literary history. Yes, the risks are real—we've grown used to seeing 15–20 pages per language, each in its own chapter, disconnected from the rest. As my friend Sujit Mukherjee said, such books are held together only by the binder's glue; they lack a unifying vision. So I chose to write a literary history where all languages flow together. And if some readers count pages to compare Bengali with Tamil or Hindi with Kannada, so be it—I didn't count. I followed the narrative and thematic criteria I set out, not quotas. Q. Having lived with this project for so long, what were the absolutely astonishing discoveries that you made? A. Yeah, I'll come to that in a moment. But first, let me clarify one thing. The vision I just described isn't in this book—it's in The History of World Literature in four volumes. The history I wrote there, of South Asian literature, is something I'm trying to publish in India. Now, about this book—yes, the discoveries and excitements are enormous. I believe in engaging with contributors, reading drafts, offering feedback. Many are old friends—some of the country's best scholars. It's been a rich exchange of ideas. Some rewrote pieces several times, others cut them down. Let me highlight a few cases. In Sanskrit, early histories of Indian literature were written mostly by Westerners. In Hindi, it was Grierson; in other languages too, a Western scholar often compiled the first grammar, dictionary, and history—often before fully mastering the language. In Sanskrit's case, from the Rigveda (1500–1200 BCE) to Jayadeva's Gita Govinda (~1200 CE), the language held cultural dominance. When Western scholars encountered this, they were taken aback. William Jones , who translated Shakuntalam in 1789, called Kalidasa the 'Shakespeare of India,' but also wondered why the play had seven acts and so much eroticism—things he didn't associate with drama. This attitude led to the artificial categorisation of kavya versus sahitya, a division Indians themselves never made. In Tamil, there's a long-standing competitive coexistence with Sanskrit. In Hindi, the late Avadhesh Kumar Singh listed 46 different literary histories. In Urdu, early histories were limited in scope—initially omitting non-Muslims and women, for instance. Each language has its own internal exclusions and silences, but some issues—like inclusion—cut across them all. That's the real excitement of this volume. In my concluding chapter, I review 21st-century histories of Indian literature—five or six of them—and explain how I came to conceptualise a literary history that doesn't go language by language, but follows a chronological flow, highlighting innovation wherever it occurred. There is an inherent imbalance in our linguistic landscape—Hindi is spoken by five times as many people as the next major language. I wish all languages were equally represented, but that's not how things are. We must work with what we have and compensate accordingly, striving for a spirit of inclusiveness—though it will always be seen differently by different people. That's part of the debate, and the fun. Yes, it's been exciting to work on this volume since the 2016 conference. But I must stress again: the other project—in which I imagined myself (pardon the vain conceit) riding a chariot pulled by 24 horses, each one a language—is a different model. I lived with that for 18 years, from 2004 to 2022, as part of a Stockholm-based collegium. I've followed both models in my writing—one in Indian Literary Historiography, the other in the global history project. It goes beyond what most literary discussions do. Most are either criticism or reviews of a single text. Few explore long historical perspectives across multiple languages in one book.
Time of India
21 hours ago
- General
- Time of India
Lack of staff affects academic work in Puri Sanskrit univ
1 2 3 4 Bhubaneswar: For one and a half years, Shree Jagannath Sanskrit University in Puri is functioning without a permanent vice-chancellor. An acute shortage of permanent staff has affected academic activities and caused delays in the publication of results, among others. Currently, the VC of Utkal University of Culture, Bhubaneswar, is overseeing the affairs of the Puri institute. After Rabindra Kumar Panda left the VC's post before the end of his term in Nov 2023, vice-chancellor of Odia University, Sabita Pradhan, took over charge of the Sanskrit university in Nov last year. Subsequently, vice-chancellor of Utkal University of Culture, Prasanna Kumar Swain, was appointed as in-charge VC. "The university is functioning like a college. As the institute does not have a permanent VC and in-charge VCs keep changing, we cannot expect a steady growth and start of the recruitment process," said a faculty member requesting anonymity. He said the examination section does not have enough people to process the results and publish them on time. "Major reforms are needed to make the university vibrant. Some old methods need to be changed. Skill development programmes should be started. Quality education with modern techniques should be given importance," he added. Harihar Hota, former VC of the Sanskrit university, said many academic activities and administrative works are getting affected due to the lack of permanent teaching and non-teaching staff. "Guest faculty members or contractual staff will leave the job as soon as they get another good offer," he added. He said job-oriented courses should be offered by the university to attract students. "Some courses can be designed in such a way that they will provide jobs to students. Proper leadership and regular faculty members can help in this," he added. According to govt data, around 50% of the total sanctioned posts of the university are vacant. It has five vacant professor posts out of a sanctioned strength of seven. The institution has six vacant associate professor posts against the sanctioned strength of 12. Similarly, there are eight vacant assistant professor posts against a sanctioned strength of 19. Swain said he has been trying to continue the academic and administrative activities smoothly. "We have dug a big bore well to provide drinking water facilities. We are replacing the old electrical wiring system in buildings. The most important thing is recruitment. I hope the govt will do that very soon," he added.
Time of India
a day ago
- Politics
- Time of India
Anil Vij Urges Youth to Limit Screen Time, Announces Rs 12.5 Lakh Grant for Meritorious Students
AMBALA: Haryana's cabinet minister for power, transport and labour, Anil Vij, expressed serious concern over the growing obsession of the younger generation with mobile phones, televisions, and computers. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now Speaking at the 'Bhavishya Jyoti Samaroh' organized by a national daily to honor meritorious students from Ambala district, Vij urged youth to limit screen time in order to preserve mental and physical well-being. Addressing a gathering as the chief guest, Vij said, 'Today, people spend most of their time watching the world through TV screens, reacting to what they see. The younger generation is getting lost in mobile phones and digital screens. If we truly want to reform our youth, we must begin by encouraging them to use mobile phones and TVs sparingly.' At the event, minister Vij honored 125 top-performing students from various schools in the district. He also announced a personal donation of Rs 12.5 lakh from his voluntary fund, pledging Rs 10,000 to each of the recognized students as a gesture of support for their academic excellence. Highlighting both the pros and cons of technology, Vij said, 'Technology has made our society more aware and connected, but it has also distanced us from each other. In earlier times, people would gather in their neighborhoods and engage in conversations. That spirit of community is fading.' He emphasized the need for society-builders and mentors who can help shape the character of the youth. 'We need individuals who can guide the next generation toward a life of purpose and value,' he added. Stressing the adverse impact of excessive mobile phone use, Vij noted its harmful effects on mental health. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now 'The brain is constantly running, and continuous screen exposure is weakening our cognitive strength. We must adapt to technology, but also maintain a healthy distance from it,' he said. Quoting the ancient Sanskrit saying 'Tamso Ma Jyotirgamaya' (Lead me from darkness to light), Vij underlined the importance of moving from ignorance to knowledge. He reminisced about his own student days, when learning was confined to schoolbooks and long hours in the state library. 'In our times, we didn't have mobile phones or internet. We relied on books and deep reading to gain knowledge, but today, access to knowledge is unlimited. Still, the desire to learn must come from within.' Calling the felicitation of students a noble initiative, Vij appreciated the role of media houses in recognizing young talent and contributing to social change. 'Every individual has some unique talent or capability. Success is a combination of ability and opportunity. Without opportunities, even the most capable person's talent may remain undiscovered.' He lauded newspapers as the mirror of society and praised the organizing media outlet for its contribution to education and community welfare. 'The word 'NEWS' itself represents North, East, West, and South – a reflection of what's happening all around us. It is the responsibility of newspapers to present the truth and shape public thought. Amar Ujala is doing commendable work in this direction,' he remarked. The ceremony was attended by hundreds of students, their parents, and local dignitaries.
News18
a day ago
- Science
- News18
Twin Toppers! Rajasthan Sisters Score Same 97.17% In Class 10 Board Exams
Last Updated: Twin sisters Kanishka and Kartika Chaudhary from Nagaur, Rajasthan, achieved identical marks of 97.17% in Class 10 board exams. In a heartwarming story of dedication and sibling bond, twin sisters from Rajasthan's Nagaur district have astonished everyone by achieving identical marks – 97.17% – in the Class 10 board examinations. This remarkable feat was accomplished by Kanishka and Kartika Chaudhary, residents of Chhapri Khurd village, who have been inseparable throughout their lives, especially in their studies. The results, announced on 28 May by the Rajasthan Board of Secondary Education (RBSE), amazed not only the Chaudhary family but also their teachers and the entire village. Both girls sat the examinations together, studied side by side, and ultimately secured identical scores, precisely down to the decimal point. The sisters attend Kalpana Chawla International Private School in Rajsthan's Merta Road. Their father, Shivnarayan Chaudhary, is employed as a conductor with Rajasthan Roadways, while their mother, Suman Chaudhary, is a homemaker. Renowned for their teamwork, the twins have consistently been each other's greatest supporters, motivating one another to excel. Twin Sisters' Scorecard Kanishka Chaudhary Hindi – 96 English – 98 Science – 97 Social Science – 98 Hindi – 96 English – 99 Science – 95 Social Science – 98 Mathematics – 96 Sanskrit – 99 Currently, Kanishka and Kartika are in Sikar, preparing for competitive entrance examinations. Kanishka aspires to become an engineer, while Kartika is determined to pursue medicine. Their village is planning a grand welcome to celebrate their success. This year, a total of 10,94,186 students had registered for the secondary and secondary vocational examinations, out of which 10,71,460 appeared taking the overall pass percentage to 93.60 per cent. When it comes to gender-wise performance, girls outshone boys in the RBSE exams with a pass percentage of 93.46%, while the boys recorded a slightly lower pass percentage of 92.64%.
