Buddhism and the Indian Languages

We have adverted to the Buddha's insistence that everyone should be permitted to learn the Dharma in his own language because it has a special significance for us in these days. During the current year, in which we celebrate the 2500th anniversary of the Lord Buddha's Maha Parinirvana, a number of organisations and institutions in various Buddhist lands will be making efforts for the wider dissemination of Buddhism in India, the original home of the Dharma. In the absence of trained personnel, whether members of the Sangha or laymen, these efforts will, for the present, necessarily be largely confined to the distribution of Buddhist literature, either free or nominally priced.

So far, whatever literature has reached us here in India has been in English. For this there is still a great, indeed growing, demand. But if we are to reach the Indian masses, millions of whom are now for the first time in centuries becoming conscious that in Buddhism is a force that can elevate and enrich their lives as can no other teaching, - and if we are to be true to the Buddha's own injunction -, it is imperative that the whole of India be literally flooded with simple and attractively written books, pamphlets and leaflets in Hindi, Bengali, Nepali, Marathi, Gujerati, Punjabi, Tamil, Telegu, Malayam and Kannada. The gift of the Dharma, as we need hardly remind our readers, excels all other gifts. But it must be made in a way which will really go home to the business and bosoms of those for whom that supreme gift is intended. What better way of reaching a man's heart, what more admirable way of teaching him the mighty truths of Buddhism, than through the medium of his own mother tongue, with which are interwoven so many of his tenderest associations, his noblest hopes, his sublimest aspirations?

We therefore appeal to our friends in every corner of the Buddhist world to inaugurate, as part of their Jayanti programme, a movement to have as much Buddhist literature translated into as many Indian languages as possible. In India itself steps have already been taken in this direction, and some of the most important portions of the Scriptures have been in print in Hindi, Bengali and other languages for the past several years. But to produce in the fourteen major languages of India enough Buddhist literature to reach its three hundred and forty million inhabitants is obviously far beyond the capacity of any single institution of any single country. Christians boast that the Bible is available in more than a thousand languages and dialects; usually it is distributed free. It should be a matter of shame to the entire Buddhist world that not even a small but justly celebrated text like the Dhammapada can be read in all the languages of India.

We suggest that every Buddhist country should finance Buddhist publications in as many Indian languages as possible. Ceylon, for instance, could easily undertake the publication of Buddhist texts in Tamil. Burma could be responsible for the production of Hindi Buddhist literature. And so on. In those countries where facilities for printing books in the Indian languages do not exist funds could be raised for the purpose and sent to India. Eventually it should be possible for organistions like the Union of Burma Buddha Sasana Council, the Buddhist Council of Ceylon, the World Fellowship of Buddhists, and the Buddhist Association of Thailand, to maintain their own publishing houses in India. Only when, in this way, streams of Buddhist literature inundate the thirsty soil of India, will we have fulfilled the Buddha's exhortation not only to preach the Dharma but to preach it to every man in his own language.