News Special Reports Tamil Nadu

Was Sanskrit Compulsory To Study Medicine In Madras Presidency? Here’s What The Evidence Says

November 21, 2022
The Commune

PTR Palanivel Thiagarajan, Tamil Nadu Finance Minister, had posted a video on his Twitter handle commemorating the formation of the Justice Party, the parent organization of today’s Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK). He stated that its ideologies of inclusive growth and social justice are becoming increasingly relevant as disparity grows in this period and that MK Stalin’s Dravidian Model Govt, founded on these values, strives for a fair and just society.

The Justice Party is described in a video posted on his Twitter account, which says,”100 years ago, there is no political party for the majority people here (erstwhile Madras state). Women did not have the right to vote. There was no reservation system in education and jobs. From school to college studies, most teachers and students belonged to a particular section of the society (Brahmins).”

It added, “It was a time when knowing Sanskrit was mandatory to study medicine and not everyone was allowed to enter temples. In this case, on November 20, 1916, Justice Party which was the South Indian Liberation Front earlier, was formed to restore the self-esteem of the oppressed and backward people.”

This is not the first time that DMK leader PTR has made this claim.

Earlier in May 2020, he claimed the same while responding to prominent economist Prof. Shamika Ravi.

 

However, this claim that Sanskrit knowledge was mandatory to study medicine in erstwhile Tamil Nadu, seems to be a perennial bogus propaganda of Dravidian Stockists to further their malicious propaganda against the Sanskrit language and Brahmins.

Political commentator Dr. Sumanth Raman, who is known for coming across as a subject matter expert on all subjects, asked PTR if he could publish the GO (Government Order) from the government archives, which states that knowing Sanskrit was necessary to study medicine.

Instead of answering a simple question about the GO declaring Sanskrit necessary to study medicine during the Justice Party’s tenure, Dravidian Stockists began abusing Sumanth Raman by disparaging his caste and bringing up the Aryan-Dravidian theory.

The Dravidian Stockists posted an image from KAP Vishwanathan’s book “Enathu Nanbargal (My Friends)” to claim that Sanskrit was compulsory to study medicine.

But this seems to be the only original source based on which the Dravidian Stockists have been peddling their claim. This claim made in KAP Vishwanathan’s book doesn’t provide any evidence to back the claim.

On the other hand, the Chapter on Instruction in the Report On The Administration Of Madras Presidency (1904-1905) notes that there were 184 students studying medicine at the time, including 22 Europeans, 30 Native Christians, 2 Muhammadans, 73 Brahmans, 56 non-Brahman Hindus, and one Parsi.

This report was earlier brought to light by noted author Ananthakrishnan Pakshirajan, which was shared by Sumanth Raman as well.

In a series of tweets, Sumanth questioned if whether the 22 Europeans, 30 native Christians, 2 Muslims, and a Parsi were required to know Sanskrit before joining medicine.

Many other social media users asked PTR a logical question: would the then-British government require native English speakers to know Sanskrit in order to study medicine in Madras Presidency?

Sumanth Raman also asked if the Justice Party’s GO, which stated that knowing Sanskrit is not compulsory, could be released now, and said that the book by KAP Vishwanathan, from which Dravidian stockists claim that knowing Sanskrit is compulsory, also lacks evidence.

He went on to say that if a lie is repeated enough times, it eventually becomes true and that he is willing to apologize if D Stockist provides any evidence that the 22 Europeans, 30 Native Christians, 2 Muslims, 56 non-Brahmins, and 73 Brahmin students were all proficient in Sanskrit before being admitted to the MBBS degree.

Whether Sanskrit was compulsory back in the day to study medicine is not yet clear.

What becomes clear is that higher education especially medical education wasn’t monopolized by Brahmins contrary to the claims made by Dravidian Stockists.

Click here to subscribe to The Commune on Telegram and get the best stories of the day delivered to you personally.