Indian government has launched first-ever app that enables the user to learn Sanskrit, the ancient language of the country. The app created by Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) has been named ‘Little Guru’.
The app aims to make learning Sanskrit easy and entertaining by ‘gamifying’ it. It has been developed by Bengaluru-based company Gamapp sportswizz. The app is available on Google Play Store.
“Little guru is a beautiful symbol of what we proposed to do in teaching to people across the world. This app will help students, teachers, monks…to be able to get an app that will help them learn easier at their own pace, whatever time they want. It helps you do better,” said Dinesh Patnaik, director general of ICCR.
“We realised something, we need something more modern, more up to date. Which works with technology, to bring this ancient language to the people…We decided to use modern-day tools like machine learning, AI, and gaming techniques. Gaming techniques help in bringing life to language,” he said.
Sankrit is often called the ‘language of the Gods’ in Indian culture. ICCR has been providing Sanskrit books and other material to help people learn the language. ICCR comes under India’s Ministry of External Affairs. It also deputes teachers, professors to universities and institutes.
Indian diaspora as well as foreigners have been requesting ICCR for assistance in Sanskrit learning. Many Buddhist, Jain and other religious texts are in Sanskrit. There has been great demand from some countries for assistance in learning the language.
Many Indian languages like Bengali, Tamil, Marathi use Sanskrit as a base.
A number of universities teaching Sanskrit across the world have been keen for an app that helps not only the current students but also other young scholars who wish to learn Sanskrit before joining universities.
