Lahore: Two universities in Pakistan's Punjab province have launched short-term Sanskrit courses, marking a rare academic initiative in the country since the 1947 Partition and citing the shared civilisational heritage of the classical language.

The University of Punjab, Lahore, and the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) have introduced a three-month Sanskrit course, with admissions beginning this year after preparatory work undertaken in 2024.

Prof Ashok Kumar of the Hindi Department at Punjab University said LUMS was the first to roll out basic Level I and II courses, followed by the public university. The course provides elementary grounding in Sanskrit, he said, adding that proficiency in the language typically requires completion of seven levels over at least three years.

“If a full-fledged three-year programme is introduced in future, students would be able to read classical texts such as the Bhagavad Gita and the Mahabharata,” Kumar told PTI.

He said the initiative was also driven by the presence of a significant but underutilised collection of Sanskrit manuscripts in the Punjab University library. “After Partition, there were hardly any teachers left here who could teach Sanskrit. Despite having vast archival material, it remained largely unused,” he said.

At present, three students are enrolled in the Punjab University course, while around eight have joined at LUMS. Most of the students are Muslims with a keen interest in learning the classical language.

Sociologist Shahid Rasheed of Forman Christian College University said Sanskrit represents a shared cultural legacy of the region. Learning each other's classical languages could help build bridges in South Asia, he said.