When One Girl Chose Sanskrit
There was a time when Sanskrit was not my strongest subject. In fact, if I had to reveal my school percentage from those years, it would probably surprise many people. I was getting around 48–49%. Sanskrit was certainly not the subject in which I was performing exceptionally well.
And yet, something inside me had already made a decision.
I wanted to learn Sanskrit.
Not because I thought it would give me a successful career. Not because someone told me it was the best subject to choose. And certainly not because I knew where this decision would eventually take me.
I simply had a question in my mind.
“Can I one day read the Vedas without depending on a translation?”
That question stayed with me.
Namo Namaste. Dr. Namrata Patel here.
A strange choice
When I first expressed my desire to study Sanskrit seriously, the response I received was very direct.
“You have gone mad. Sanskrit cannot be a career.”
I was told that I could learn Sanskrit as a hobby. I could read it if I liked it. But as a career?
What would I do?
At most, I could become a teacher.
For some people, that would have been enough to stop.
For me, it became a challenge.
I wanted to know whether Sanskrit really had such a limited future. More importantly, I was curious about the language itself. I wanted to go deeper—not simply learn enough to pass an examination.
I wanted to understand.
That difference changed everything.
When curiosity becomes stronger than doubt
I was one of the few girls studying Sanskrit seriously.
There were times when I was the only girl in the class. At some places, Sanskrit education at that level was not even easily available to girls.
But strangely, I don’t remember spending much time thinking, “I am the only girl here.”
My mind was somewhere else.
I had questions.
I wanted to learn grammar. I wanted to understand Sanskrit conversation. I wanted to read the scriptures in their original language. I wanted to reach a level where I did not always need someone else to tell me what a Sanskrit text meant.
That curiosity was stronger than the feeling of being different.
Looking back, I think this is one of the most important lessons my journey has taught me.
Sometimes we spend too much time asking whether we belong somewhere.
Perhaps the better question is:
“Do I genuinely want to be here?”
If the answer is yes, many other things become secondary.
From English medium to Sanskrit medium
My education did not begin in a Sanskrit-medium environment.
I studied in English medium. Like many students, I was also expected to consider the usual career choices.
Science.
Commerce.
Arts.
And there was a certain mindset around these choices. Arts was often considered the option for students who did not score particularly well.
But I knew something about myself.
Science was not my interest.
Commerce was not my interest.
I wanted Sanskrit.
So I chose the path that would allow me to study it.
Later, I discovered that there was a Sanskrit-medium institution in Mumbai. That discovery changed the direction of my education.
I moved from learning Sanskrit as one subject to studying through Sanskrit itself.
There is a huge difference between the two.
When you study a language as a subject, you can sometimes keep it at a distance.
When the language becomes the medium through which you learn, think, ask questions and communicate, it slowly becomes part of you.
My graduation and postgraduate studies took place through Sanskrit. I continued towards higher studies and eventually completed my doctorate.
At several stages, I received tremendous support from teachers and institutions that were willing to make space for my unusual choice.
That support mattered.
But support alone does not take you through a long journey.
Curiosity does.
The journey was not a straight line
After completing my Shastri, Acharya, Vidyavaridhi doctorate, I initially imagined a fairly traditional path.
Perhaps I would become a professor after qualifying State & National level Eligibility Tests for University Teaching called SET & NET. And I did qualify them, been a part of unreserved category called General Category in our country!
I cleared the examinations required for an academic career. But then I discovered another reality.
Having qualifications does not automatically mean that a suitable position will be waiting for you.
There may be no vacancy.
There may be geographical limitations.
There may be family responsibilities.
There may be many practical reasons why the obvious career path does not work.
I was also a mother. Leaving my family and moving somewhere else simply because a position was available was not always an easy option.
For a while, I could have thought, “This is the end of the road.”
Instead, I asked myself another question:
“What else can I do with what I have learned?”
That question opened another door.
From Sanskrit professor to Sanskrit entrepreneur
I started exploring.
Eventually, I founded Namaste Sanskrit Institute.
And that gave me an opportunity to look at Sanskrit differently.
I began asking:
Can a three-and-a-half-year-old child learn Sanskrit joyfully?
Can an adult who never studied Sanskrit learn it later in life?
Can senior citizens learn it?
Can Sanskrit be taught through songs, stories, games and activities?
Can Sanskrit be used for translation?
Can someone create a meaningful business name using authentic Sanskrit?
Can Sanskrit be used for invitations, writing, creative work and content?
Can people study scriptures without being limited to traditional classroom structures?
The answer to many of these questions was yes.
I realised that perhaps the problem was never that Sanskrit had no possibilities.
Perhaps we had simply stopped looking for them.
What choosing Sanskrit taught me
My journey with Sanskrit has changed my understanding of education itself.
We often choose a subject because we are told it has a good career.
That is understandable.
But sometimes a subject begins as curiosity and becomes a career only much later.
When I chose Sanskrit, I did not know I would become a professor.
I did not know I would complete a doctorate.
I did not know I would teach children, adults and senior learners.
I did not know I would work on translation, Sanskrit content, names, invitations, research and new ways of taking Sanskrit to people around the world.
I only knew that I wanted to understand.
And perhaps that is enough to begin.
The girl I was would not have known the future
If I could go back and speak to that young girl who was getting 48–49% and was told that Sanskrit could not be a career, I would not tell her exactly what the future would look like.
I would simply tell her:
“Keep asking your questions.”
Because sometimes a question can take us further than a plan.
My first question was simple:
“Can I read the Vedas one day without translation?”
That question became a journey.
And that journey eventually became my work.
Today, when I see children learning Sanskrit, adults returning to a language they once left behind, or someone discovering a new career possibility through Sanskrit, I remember where I started.
Not with certainty.
With curiosity.
And perhaps that is how many meaningful journeys begin.
Watch the complete conversation
There is much more to this story – the struggles, the unusual choices, the people who supported me, and how my journey from being a student of Sanskrit eventually led to the creation of Namaste Sanskrit Institute.
If you would like to hear the complete conversation and explore the story in my own words, watch the complete video on our YouTube channel.
Tags:
Sanskrit, Learning Sanskrit, Sanskrit Career, Sanskrit Education, Sanskrit for Students, Women in Sanskrit, Sanskrit Professor, Sanskrit Journey, Indian Knowledge Systems, Sanskrit Learning