KOTA, INDIA, January 15, 2007: With the demand for English-speaking Hindu priests growing both in India and abroad, a Rajasthan organization has started teaching the language to local pundits. The pundits are being specifically taught the English translation and meaning of Sanskrit Vedic mantras or chants. The exercise would help the pundits provide their services to Indians living abroad as well as to non-resident Indians (NRIs) coming to get married here. According to tourism industry figures, over 30 NRI weddings were to be held in Jaipur between December 2006 and March 2007.
A 20-day training module for priests that ended Sunday was held at the Jyoti Convent School in Kota. As many as 70 students first chanted the Sanskrit mantra with their teachers and then learned their English translation. The Rajasthan Sanskrit Academy and Sanskritam of Kota is undertaking the classes. The organizers feel that Indians living abroad are slowly drifting away from their own culture. They don’t know Sanskrit and it is difficult to make them understand Vedic mantras. But priests who can offer English translations would certainly help. Said R.M. Gupta, a US-based NRI: “It would help people like me who have come here to get sons or daughters married.” “In February last year, I had come to get my son married. Many friends and colleagues from the US and Britain came to attend the wedding. I had to arrange for a translator along with a pundit to help them understand the mantras. Now only a pundit would be sufficient.” he said.