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An Appeal

May 12, 2009

Samskrutam: A glorious language.

Most of the gems of our cultural and religious heritage (the Vedas, Upanishads, Ramayana, Mahabharata, Subhashitams, the Puranas, Kalidasa's compositions) originated in this language. Even today, Samskrutam is taught in a few Samskruta/ Veda paathashaalas. Unfortunately, its spread outside these specialized schools is limited. Even worse, vested interests have been somewhat successful in spreading the idea that Samskutam is the preserve of a select few from a particular stratum of society. All this has gone towards creating a general impression that Samskrutam is an inaccessible language that has negligible if not zero relevance in real life.

 

This misconception about Samskrutam has been a powerful tool for vested interests that seek to separate Indians in general and Hindus in particular, from their cultural roots. To remove this misconception, it is necessary to demonstrate in practise that Samskrutam is indeed an accessible language that is versatile enough for practical use. One of the best ways to achieve this is to have a successful daily newspaper in Samskrutam.

 

This thought motivated Pandit Girvaana Vaani Bhushanam Vidyaanidhi Kalale Nadaadur Varadaraja Iyengar to start Sudharma. From its inception to date, Sudharma has been the only daily newspaper in the world in Samskrutam.

 

The beginnings of Sudharma.

On 15th July 1970, Sudharma, the only Samskruta daily newspaper in the world, came into being in the Ganapati Sannidhi of Srimanmaharaja Samskruta Paathashaala. Pandit Varadaraja Iyengar was the publisher as well as the founding editor. For almost twenty years, until his last breath, Pandit Varadaraja Iyengar worked tirelessly and selflessly to make sure that Sudharma regularly reached rs' doorsteps and fulfilled the (high) expectations of Samskruta lovers. The postal authorities facilitated the distribution of this newspaper at a low price (5 paise per copy when it began).

 

The founding editor

Pandit Girvaana Vaani Bhushanam Vidyaanidhi Kalale Nadaadur Varadaraja Iyengar was born in 1921 in a family if vaidikas. After schooling in the traditional Samskruta paathashaala system, he attained the title of Pandit. Later, in 1955, he established his own printing press. A socially involved person, he was moved by the shortage of schooling for girls. This led him to found the Srikaanta Educational Trust dedicated solely to educating girl children. He was also involved with many other social service organizations.

 

It was his strong conviction that a newspaper in Samskruta was the best means to propagate the language and undo the various misconceptions that prevailed about it in the layman's mind. Indeed, this was the key to the larger goal of reconnecting our people to the core of our culture. This conviction led to his founding the Samskruta daily "Sudharma". He took up the role of founding editor of Sudharma. The founding of Sudharma, and Pandit Varadaraja Iyengar's courage of conviction in pursuing this project was appreciated by a number of intellectuals. Traditional intellectuals conferred upon him titles of "Girvaana Vaani Bhushanam" and "Vidyaanidhi". From its inception till August 4, 1990, Pandit Varadaraja Iyengar worked tirelessly for the growth of Sudharma

and the fulfillment of its larger mission. On August 5, 1990 Pandit Varadaraja Iyengar merged with Paramaatma. Since then, his second son, Sri. K. V. Sampath Kumar has been managing this newspaper starting as an assistant.

 

Encouragement from eminent people.

As word spread about Sudharma, curiosity and interest led many distinguished people to come to the Sudharma once and learn more about it. Such dignitaries were often surprised when they found out that contrary to what they thought; Samskrutam was a language that could be simplified to become easy to comprehend for the common man. The fact that a Samkruta existed was (and is) in itself a novelty. Even when pressed for time, many such dignitaries including distinguished Vidwaans, heads of various Mathas, and people in high government positions (including the President of India) have come to the Sudharma once to see the Sudharma phenomenon for themselves. The founding editor was appreciated by these dignitaries.

 

About Sudharma.

It is impossible for a single person to establish and run a newspaper. Following Pandit Varadaraja Iyengar, Honorary editor Vidwaan H. V. Nagarajarao has been working tirelessly with dedication towards fulfilling Sudharma's mission. Vidwaan H. G. Srikanthasharma, Vidwaan T. Shankarashastri, Vidwaan Balaganapati Bhat, Vidwaan Shingappa, Vidwaan Araiyar Ramasharma, Dr. N. S. Anantharangachar, Vidwaan T. Venkatramana Bhat and other senior Vidwaans have cooperated with Sudharma. Similarly, Honorary Editor Vidwaan T. V. Sathyanarayana has been working tirelessly for Sudharma.

 

Sudharma's growth.

At first, Sudharma used to be hand-printed. Since then, the printing process has been modernized. It is currently printed by computerized offset printing. In order to ensure swift dissipation of news, Sudharma has established an online e-paper on the internet as well. This has made Sudharma much more accessible. To this day, Sudharma's cost has been maintained at a very reasonable level.

 

Financial assistance for Sudharma.

Any newspaper requires a financial source in order to even run (let alone successfully). The usual financial sources for most newspapers are advertisements, donations and contributions from the government. Being in Samskrutam, Sudharma has never had sufficient revenue from advertisements. It has not received financial support from the government either. Despite supporters' encouragement, today's high prices have led to several critical difficulties. Printing material and printing paper are much more expensive these days. Salaries for workers need to be raised in tune with the current costs of living. These economic pressures are making it increasingly difficult to maintain Sudharma as a newspaper. It is becoming impossible to provide the honorary editors with

the honorarium due to them. In spite of these daunting difficulties, Sudharma has been appearing regularly for the past 40 years.

 

July 2009 shall be an occasion to start celebrating the 40th year of Sudharma's being. We appeal to one and all to share this joy and help Sudharma grow further.

You may help Sudharma in the following ways.

1. Putting out advertisements in Sudharma.

2. Putting out advertisements in the special anniversary issue.

3. Encourage at least five people to become donors of Sudharma.

4. Reading articles from Sudharma and introducing new article writers to Sudharma.

 

Celebrating 39 successful years and entering the 40th year of Sudharma, we are bringing out a special anniversary issue. We request willing authors to contribute appropriate articles for this special issue by June 5. We request readers to participate in every possible way in order to further Sudharma's mission.

We look forward to contributions to Sudharma through contributed articles and advertisements. Your contribution will go a long way in helping Sudharma fulfill its mission.

 

Advertisement Rates.

Full Page front inner cover (Multi colour) Rs. 15,000/-

Full page back inner cover (Multi colour) Rs. 15,000/-

Full page back outer cover (Multi colour) Rs. 15,000/-

Full page (Multi colour) Rs. 10,000/-

Full Page (Single colour) Rs. 4,000/-

Half Page (Single colour) Rs. 2,000/-

 

Kindly help to keep this paper alive by subscribing this paper. His contact phone no is 0821 2442835Address is,Sri K.V.Sampath Kumar, Chief Editor, "Sudharma " Samskrita daily,No 561, 2nd cross,Ramachandra Agrahara, Mysore 570 004.sudharma.sanskritdaily

Om Namo Bhagavathe Vasudevaya ||

Jai Shree Krishna.

Jayashree

 

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