Covid protocol announced in Sanskrit at Varanasi airport

CHENNAI: The announcement of Covid guidelines in Sanskrit has drawn mixed reactions from the people, on social media. While a few had taken this as a step to preserve the place’s heritage, a few others find it cryptic to make announcements in a dead language.

The official Twitter account of Lal Bahadur Shastri International Airport of Varanasi, tweeted, which translates: “From today onwards announcement of Covid safety protocol is also being done in Sanskrit language, then Hindi, then English. Due to Kashi being the back place of Sanskrit language, this effort is being made so that the traveller knows that they have reached the land of culture and Sanskrit language.”

अब #भाविप्रा वाराणसी विमानतल पर अंग्रेजी और हिंदी के बाद संस्कृत में भी कोविड मानदंडों की घोषणा की जा रही है|

हमारे सम्मानित यात्रियों को विमानतल पर
आते ही महसूस हो जाएगा कि वे काशी - संस्कृत भाषा के पीठ स्थान में प्रवेश कर चुके हैं|@AAI_Official @aaiRedNR pic.twitter.com/E0RcD3LfSS

— VARANASI AIRPORT (@AAIVNSAIRPORT) June 17, 2022

While few people posted that it was a great move and all, Classical singer TM Krishna wrote with laughing emojis, “The insanity of this beyond description!”. He then added, “Let us also include Pali and Prakrit. Sarnath is the place where Buddha his first sermon and Ashoka built his most iconic pillar! Both languages have a large corpus of material! The sheer stupidity of making a public health safety announcement in Sanskrit!”.

😂😂😂 the insanity of this beyond description! https://t.co/iLM2GXm1Vt

— T M Krishna (@tmkrishna) June 18, 2022

This unanimous effort has been made by Airports Authority of India and Banaras Hindu University. This is criticised as it lacks the basic clarity of communication as the Covid protocols will be first announced in Sanskrit.

Jhiri village in Madhya Pradesh has established a unique identity in the country as every living person talks only in Sanskrit. The people have fully taken up the language and now, Sanskrit is the spoken and written language for the entire village.