Uttarakhand plans Sanskrit push for 2027 Kumbh, Vedas and Upanishads for children

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami has directed officials to prepare a full Sanskrit action plan for the Haridwar Kumbh in 2027 and to introduce school children to the Vedas, Upanishads, Puranas and other Sanskrit literature through simple, age-appropriate methods. He gave the instructions at a review meeting of the state's Sanskrit Education Department held at his residence in the week beginning October 5, 2026. Sanskrit Education Secretary Deepak Kumar told the meeting that one Model Sanskrit Village has been inaugurated in each of the state's 13 districts and that work to set up a state Sanskrit Commission has moved forward. Dhami said funds would not be a constraint for the preservation and promotion of Sanskrit.

Uttarakhand has for some years promoted Sanskrit through its Sanskrit Education Department, a Sanskrit university and an academy. What this review adds is a push to move the language out of classrooms and libraries into daily public life: in villages, at pilgrimage sites and around one of the world's largest religious gatherings.

The school element is the most significant for families. Introducing the Vedas, Upanishads and Puranas to children can open a door to India's oldest bodies of thought, from ideas about the self and ethics in the Upanishads to the stories and cosmology of the Puranas. The instruction that it be age-appropriate and interest-based matters: these are vast and difficult texts, and how they are taught, as literature, philosophy and history to be understood and discussed, will decide whether children engage or simply memorise. The meeting did not announce a syllabus, the classes it will cover or a start date, so those details are still to come.

The Kumbh plan uses a moment when very large numbers of pilgrims gather. Displaying shlokas with plain-language meanings at the Char Dham and other sites could give visitors a short, accessible encounter with the texts behind the places they visit. The Model Sanskrit Villages, where residents are encouraged to use the language in everyday talk, are an attempt to keep Sanskrit a living, spoken language rather than only a scholarly one.

A permanent Sanskrit Commission would give these efforts an institution with continuity beyond a single government's term. Its membership, powers and budget have not yet been made public.

Short-term: Departments will draw up the Kumbh action plan and prepare shloka displays at shrines, while Model Sanskrit Villages hold regular speaking events.

Long-term: If the school component is designed well, Uttarakhand's children could grow up with a working familiarity with core Sanskrit texts, and a Sanskrit Commission could give the language lasting institutional support.

Who is affected: School students and teachers in Uttarakhand, Sanskrit scholars and pathshalas, residents of Model Sanskrit Villages, and pilgrims visiting Haridwar and the Char Dham.

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