Mysuru: Maintaining that Sanskrit is the basis for most of the world languages, renowned entrepreneur Padma Shri Dr. Vijay Sankeshwar, Founder of VRL Logistics and VRL Media, said that the Sanskrit daily Sudharma, published from Mysuru, has made its own name across the country.

He was speaking at the 56th anniversary of Sudharma at a programme organised at BSS Vidyodaya in city yesterday.

Reiterating that most of the languages are born out of Sanskrit, Dr. Sankeshwar observed that Sudharma Sanskrit daily has withstood the test of times and has been popularising Sanskrit.

Pointing out that Sanskrit Shlokas are being used in many European countries, he said it is unfortunate that the use of Sanskrit is decreasing in our country because of politics.

Regretting that newspaper readership is steadily declining  post COVID, Dr. Sankeshwar, who is also a former Lok Sabha MP, said that the print of newspapers which was 26-27 lakhs in pre-COVID times, has now drastically declined to just 10 lakhs, which is alarming. “The newspaper readership started declining with the advent of TV and electronic media. Now, TV viewership too is declining because of cell phone addiction among the people,” he noted.

Writer S. Nataraj, who translated the book ‘The Saga of Sudharma’, said that Sanskrit is important if ‘Samskruti’ (culture) is to survive. Asserting that samskruti will perish if a language vanishes, he contended it is Sanskrit which has upheld the fundamental aspirations of this country. As such, it is important that efforts should be made for sustaining and promoting Sanskrit, he added.

Pointing out that Sudharma is not just a newspaper, but a penance, Nataraj said that Sudharma has also emerged as a Sanskrit brand of Mysuru. 

MLC K. Shivakumar, in his address, said that Sudharma is a cultural ambassador.

Stating that Sudharma has also spread culture through Sanskrit, he said, however, it is unfortunate that the newspaper did not get due recognition from the Government or organisations. The responsibility of saving this newspaper not only rests with the family, but as well with the society, he observed.

The anniversary issue of Sudharma newspaper, Sanskrit Scholar Dr. H.V. Nagaraja Rao’s works ‘Suvachanashatakam’ and ‘Shikharineeshatakam’, T.V.Satyanarayan’s work ‘Navaratra Durga Vaibhava’ and ‘The Saga of Sudharma’, the English version (translated by S. Nataraj) of senior journalist Kudli Gururaj’s Kannada work ‘Sudharma’ were released on the occasion.

M.R. Satish, President of Bengaluru’s Samyak Foundation, was felicitated.

Sudharma Chief Editor Dr. H.V. Nagaraja Rao, Editor K.S. Jayalakshmi, BSS Vidyodaya Secretary R. Vasudev Bhat, senior journalist Kudli Gururaj, V.D. Hegde, Srivatsa Acharya and others attended the programme.