BANGALORE, INDIA, October 9, 2011 (dailypioneer.com): The world’s only Sanskrit newspaper, published from Mysore, is struggling to survive for want of financial support.
“Sudharma” editor KV Sampath Kumar told The Pioneer he was on the verge of closing the unique daily due to a great financial crunch. “We need more than Rs. 60,000 (US$ 1,200) per month to run our paper which has a global circulation of over 3,000. We are not even getting advertisements to sustain the paper.”
The two-sheet, tabloid-sized newspaper, published six days a week, was founded in July 1970, born from a desire to keep alive an ancient language that is the root of our cultural history. Kumar, a Sanskrit scholar, took over the paper after his father’s death. Assisted by his wife (also a Sanskrit scholar), two close friends and a few other Sanskrit scholars–all of whom work for free–he has carried it forward for 20 years without a break, bringing into the present the great traditions of the past, ranging from Hindu scriptures to yoga. There is also a web edition which is popular worldwide, receiving 29,000 hits per day.
Despite the financial challenges, Kumar wants to continue this labor of love. But he needs help to do so. “I need support of the Government and advertisers to take this forward.”