Acharya Mahaprajna
When I think of the early days of my life I recall that I knew only one language i.e. Marwari (a dialect of the western Rajasthan) till I grew ten years old. It was a colloquial dialect. I hadn’t even heard of the Hindi language. When I became a muni (ascetic) at the age of ten I began to study Sanskrit. Then I studied Prakrit. The seeds of Prakrit were sown when I was in Udaipur at that time. I remember that after being free from our daily chores we returned to our place. Acharya Kalugani was staying in Panchayti Nohara. As soon as Muni Tulsi and me went to the revered Gurudev Kalugani, he asked, “ Have you studied the eighth lesson?”
I replied, “No, I haven’t yet studied it.”
Acharya Kalugani asked me to begin it immediately and he taught me Prakrit. I studied Hindi much later. These days I write in Hindi. Earlier I used to write either in Sanskrit or Prakrit. Even if two sentences had to be written I chose to write in Sanskrit. I didn’t know Hindi at all. After some years I began to write in Hindi.
Our new monks and nuns know Hindi very well. Some of them can also speak English to some extent but not much headway has been made in the study of Sanskrit and Prakrit. We have to think over it. It is now the duty of Yuvacharya Mahashraman (successor to Acharya Mahapragya) to see that the wealth of ancient wisdom that has come to us is preserved. It is essential to become Rohini, but at least we must become preservers. We must ensure that this heritage in preserved.
