It’s Ours Too: Lahore University Launches Sanskrit Course

For the first time since Partition, a university in Pakistan is teaching Sanskrit. Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) has introduced a four-credit Sanskrit course, marking a historic revival of the classical language in the country. The move signals a growing interest in reconnecting with ancient texts and a broader civilizational kinship across borders.

Leading this revival is Shahid Rasheed, a Lahore-based engineer-turned-sociology professor, who has turned his passion for Sanskrit into pedagogy. Rasheed credits a long journey of self-study, including online resources and guidance from scholars abroad, as pivotal to bringing Sanskrit back to a Pakistani campus. He traces his ancestry to Karnal in Haryana, with a grandmother from Sheikhpura in Uttar Pradesh, underscoring a personal link to the shared civilizational landscape that transcends borders.

Beyond the initial course, LUMS plans to broaden the curriculum to include studies on the Mahabharata and the Bhagavad Gita, inviting local and regional scholars to contribute. Educators argue that Sanskrit’s regional relevance can help foster local scholarship and deepen understanding of South Asia’s literary and philosophical heritage. The initiative is seen as a bridge-building effort in a Muslim-majority nation, highlighting how classical languages can enrich academic discourse and cultural exchange.

As students enroll and debates begin about pedagogy, experts say the project could stimulate cross-cultural dialogue and revive interest in traditional studies that have long been dominated by foreign researchers. If successful, the Sanskrit program at LUMS could inspire similar efforts across universities in Pakistan and the wider region, integrating ancient wisdom with contemporary scholarship.

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