Department of Sanskrit

The Sanskrit department, the oldest in the Vidyapeeth, has witnessed a steady growth over the last fifty years firmly establishing it as a matured institution.

The Sanskrit department is the first department of the Tilak Maharashtra Vidyapeeth. The Vidyapeeth started an independent Sanskrit College named ‘Balmukund Sanskrit Mahavidyalaya’ on 2nd December 1948. Shri Balasaheb Kher, the then Chief Minister of Bombay State and the Chancellor of Tilak Maharashtra Vidyapeeth and Shri. Dadasaheb Mavalankar, the first speaker of the Lok Sabha, played a vital role in establishing this college.

The committee consisting of three members, namely, Swami Kevalanand, Prof. K. V. Abhyankar and Prof. C. G. Kashikar planned and formatted the various courses and syllabi of the Mahavidyalaya. In the beginning, there was a compulsory combined course, consisting of the Sanskrit language and literature, Veda, grammar etc. and later on there were optional subjects like the Vedic studies and various systems of Indian philosophy. The courses were fortified with its firm base in the traditional method of Sanskrit teaching. Later on, the western methods of education having historical and critical perspective were also incorporated while retaining all the merits of the traditional method. This has been one of the strong points of this department and has become its distinctive characteristic.