Sanskrit revival is the ongoing resurgence of interest in and use of the Sanskrit language in India. Sanskrit is one of the 22 scheduled languages in the Indian Constitution, which gives it official recognition at the federal level. On top of that, in 2010, Uttarakhand became the first state in India to have Sanskrit as its second official language, followed by Himachal Pradesh, in 2019.
There have been numerous efforts to restore Sanskrit to its former prominence, with widespread federal and state-level governmental support for Sanskrit education. With continuing Sanskrit education across Indian schools and universities, and high-demand for learning Sanskrit, the overall (first, second, third language) speakers naturally increases in every census. As of 2025, Samskrita Bharati, one of the most popular and widely-known non-profit Sanskrit learning institutions, reports training over 10 million people through its conversation campus to speak in Sanskrit, and over 135,000 teachers to teach professionally with Sanskrit as medium of instruction in schools and universities. Additionally, they report having set up over 6000 Sanskrit homes, one of their flagship projects, where all members of such families speak in Sanskrit, and the mother tongue (native language) of the children is Sanskrit.
According to the last conducted Indian Census, in 2011, there were 3,122,823 total speakers of Sanskrit (as a first, second, or third language), with 24,821 speakers reporting it as their first language, 1.13 million as a second language, and 1.96 million as a third language Despite projects such as Sanskrit Bharati's 6000 Sanskrit homes, first-language Sanskrit statistics from the census are widely reported and interpreted simply as a wish to be aligned with the prestige of the language, due to fluctuations in first language speaker counts across decennial censuses. Quote: "What this data tells us is that it is very difficult to believe the notion that Jhiri is a “Sanskrit village” where everyone only speaks fluent Sanskrit at a mother tongue level. It is also difficult to accept that the lingua franca of the rural masses is Sanskrit, when most the majority of L1, L2 and L3 Sanskrit tokens are linked to urban areas. The predominance of Sanskrit across the Hindi belt also shows a particular cultural/geographic affection that does not spread equally across the rest of the country. In addition, the clustering with Hindi and English, in the majority of variations possible, also suggests that a certain class element is involved. Essentially, people who identify as speakers of Sanskrit appear to be urban and educated, which possibly implies that the affiliation with Sanskrit is related in some way to at least some sort of Indian, if not, Hindu, nationalism." Quote: "Consider the example of this faith-based development narrative that has evolved over the past decade in the state of Uttarakhand. In 2010, Sanskrit became the state's second official language. ... Recently, an updated policy has increased this top-down imposition of language shift, toward Sanskrit. The new policy aims to create a Sanskrit village in every “block” (administrative division) of Uttarakhand. The state of Uttarakhand consists of two divisions, 13 districts, 79 sub-districts and 97 blocks. ... There is hardly a Sanskrit village in even one block in Uttarakhand. The curious thing is that, while 70% of the state's total population live in rural areas, 100pc of the total 246 L1-Sanskrit tokens returned at the 2011 census are from Urban areas. No L1-Sanskrit token comes from any villager who identifies as an L1-Sanskrit speaker in Uttarakhand."
Sanskrit was added to Google Translate in 2022, as it was the most requested language at that time. Many Western countries such as Germany, the United Kingdom, the United States, European countries, as well as China have also witnessed propagation of Sanskrit.
History In 1891, there was organized activity among the Theosophists in British India promoting and participating in the revival of Sanskrit. In 1894 the American Asiatic and Sanskrit Revival Society was established.
In India, Sanskrit is included in the 14 original languages of the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution. Many organizations, like the Samskrta Bharati, are conducting Speak Sanskrit workshops to popularize the language. The All-India Sanskrit Festival has been hosting composition contests since 2002.
The state of Uttarakhand became the first state in India to declare Sanskrit as an official language. The Central Board of Secondary Education in India has made Sanskrit a third language in the schools it governs (though it is an option for a school to adopt it or not, the other choice being the state's own official language). In such schools, learning Sanskrit is an option for grades 5 to 8 (Classes V to VIII). This is true of most schools, including but not limited to Christian missionary schools, including those which are affiliated to the ICSE board, especially in those states where the official language is Hindi. An option between Sanskrit and a local language as a second language exists for grades 9 and 10, except in the State of Karnataka, where State government policies mandate Kannada as the compulsory second language.
Sanskrit revival movements Sanskrit literature movement
There is a Sanskrit literature movement to revive Sanskrit.Sanskrit Literature movement.
The Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) has started giving "World Sanskrit Award" to eminent Sanskrit scholars to recognise their outstanding contribution to the study, teaching, research in Sanskrit language and literature. Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn of Thailand was conferred the first "World Sanskrit Award" in 2016. In 2017, Robert Goldman was awarded the World Sanskrit Award.
There are also many Sanskrit writers who won Sahitya Akademi Award winners.
Global organisations
Samskrita Bharati is an organization working for Sanskrit revival. It is a tax exempt nonprofit organization with its headquarters in New Delhi, India. The International Centre, Aksharam, a complex located in Bangalore, India, is its international centre. It houses a research wing, a library, audio-visual lab, and staff quarters. It also has several state-units spread across the country both in the United States and India. The US chapter is a registered nonprofit tax-exempt organization with its headquarters in San Jose, California. Samskrita Bharati functions as an umbrella organization for various organizations working for promotion of Samskrita. Being the liturgical language of Hindus, it is used during worship in Hindu temples in the West. It is taught in many South Asian studies/linguistics departments in universities across the West. Also, Sanskrit revival attempts are underway amongst expatriate Hindu populations in the west. It is also popular amongst the many practitioners of yoga in the West, who find the language useful in understanding the Yoga Sutra.
Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan is an India educational trust. It was founded on 7 November 1938 by K. M. Munshi, with the support of Mahatma Gandhi. The trust programmes through its 119 centres in India, seven centres abroad and 367 constituent institutions. One of its purposes is the promotion of Sanskrit over "all aspects of life from the cradle to the grave and beyond" – thus filling "a growing vacuum in modern life".
Modern Sanskrit universities in India
In the last few years sporadic efforts have been made to form Sanskrit universities for Sanskrit studies and vyakarana in India. The Sanskrit Universities Bill is aimed at converting Sanskrit deemed to be universities to central universities. The partial list of such universities and colleges is given below in chronological order:
S. No Year Established Name Location State Specialization11791Sampurnanand Sanskrit UniversityVaranasiUttar Pradesh21824The Sanskrit College and UniversityKolkataWest Bengal31894Government Sanskrit College, BaripadaBaripadaOdishaTraditional Sanskrit education (+2 Upashastri, +3 Shastri), Oldest Sanskrit college of Odisha 41906Madras Sanskrit CollegeChennaiTamil Nadu51961Kameshwar Singh Darbhanga Sanskrit UniversityDarbhangaBihar61962National Sanskrit UniversityTirupatiAndhra Pradesh71962Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri Rashtriya Sanskrit VidyapeethaNew DelhiCentral Govt81970Central Sanskrit University (formerly Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan)New DelhiCentral GovtMulti-campus91981Shree Jagannath Sanskrit UniversityPuriOdisha101993Sree Sankaracharya University of SanskritKaladyKerala111997Kavikulaguru Kalidas Sanskrit UniversityRamtek (Nagpur)Maharashtra122001Jagadguru Ramanandacharya Rajasthan Sanskrit UniversityJaipurRajasthan132005 Shree Somnath Sanskrit UniversitySomnath-Veraval, JunagadhGujarat142005 Sri Venkateswara Vedic University TirupatiAndhra Pradesh152008 Maharishi Panini Sanskrit Evam Vedic VishwavidyalayaUjjainMadhya Pradesh162018 Maharishi Balmiki Sanskrit UniversityKaithalHaryana
Sanskrit revival by states of India
Vedic and Sanskrit school education board
The Maharshi Sandipani Rashtriya Veda Sanskrit Shiksha Board (MSRVSSB) is a national-level school education board which grants the Veda Bhushan (10th) and Veda Vibhushan (12th) certificates to the students of affiliated schools. MSRVSSB certificates are accredited by the Association of Indian Universities (AIU) and AICTE as the recognised qualifications for admission into other tertiary institutions for a higher degree. Along with the modern subjects, the students are also taught Hindu scriptures, vedas, upnishads, ayurveda and Sanskrit.Technical regulator asks universities, colleges to recognise & admit students of Vedic board, ThePrint, 22 Sept 2022.
Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh has several dozens Sanskrit institutes, including the Rashtriya Sanskrit Vidyapeeth and Rashtriya Sanskrit Vidyapeeth (deemed university) at Tirupati.Andhra Pradesh in Sanskrit Studies In India, Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan.
Assam and Northeast India Assam and Northeast India, where Sanskrit has reached by the late vedic period, has Kamarupa Anusandhan Samiti which was established in 2012 to research Sanskrit, Ananda Ram Baruah institute of languages publishes Sanskrit manuscripts, and Assam Sanskrit Board is responsible for researching and preserving Sanskrit documents and manuscripts.
Bihar Bihar has Sanskrit institutes like Kameshwar Singh Darbhanga Sanskrit University.Bihar in Sanskrit Studies In India, Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan. Bihar Sanskrit Shiksha Board conducts the Annual Secondary School Examination in February/March and the Supplementary School Examination in August/September, following the course/syllabus prescribed by the state government.
Delhi Delhi has at Delhi University, Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan, Delhi Sanskrit Academy Department and Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri Rashtriya Sanskrit Vidyapeetha (deemed university) undertaking research and teaching in Sanskrit.Delhi in Sanskrit Studies In India, Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan.
Gujarat Gujarat has Shree Somnath Sanskrit University and 50 Sanskrit pathshalas (schools) of which 38 are officially recognised by the government.Gujrat in Sanskrit Studies In India, Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan.
Haryana Haryana state has over 24 Sanskrit colleges offering education equivalent to bachelor's degree, additionally masters and doctoral level degrees are also offered by the Kurukshetra University and Maharshi Dayanand University.Haryana in Sanskrit Studies In India, Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan. In 2018, Haryana established Maharishi Balmiki Sanskrit University, Kaithal as a teaching and affiliating university for research in Sanskrit, vedas, Indic languages, Indian culture and Indian philosophy.Maharishi Balmiki Sanskrit University to be set up at Kaithal, Business Standard, 15 Mar 2018.
Himachal Pradesh