She was speaking at the launch of the Sanskrit Heritage Model and Platform, developed by the Madras Sanskrit College and Articul8 AI, at the Madras Sanskrit College in Chennai.
The platform combines the college’s Sanskrit scholarship with Articul8’s generative AI technology. It is designed to work with Sanskrit texts and make the knowledge contained in them more accessible, while enabling users to verify and trace information to its sources.
Finance Minister said that AI can make Sanskrit knowledge and literature more accessible.
“The biggest strength which is in our DNA should not be lost. And that tradition should go along with the technology which can take it into 21st and 22nd century and further,” Sitharaman said.
Sitharaman added that Sanskrit’s highly structured grammar could offer an advantage in the AI era. However, the technology should go beyond teaching the language and help people appreciate its literary richness, she noted.
Referring to the extensive analysis available on Shakespeare’s works, she suggested that AI could similarly help users explore the works of Sanskrit writers such as Kalidasa, including his comparisons, literary expressions and the beauty of the language.
“If that language has to be tempting enough for people to learn, these are the kind of spice you need today,” the Minister said.
She also highlighted the historical spread of Sanskrit outside India, citing experiences in Croatia and the Philippines. Technology could help identify where Sanskrit had spread, the extent of its influence and the period during which it remained active, she said.
“The scope of technology being what it is, it can tread a vast set of resources,” she noted.
Sitharaman emphasised that such technology could help bring Sanskrit’s global influence and knowledge traditions to a wider audience.
The minister also stressed that the traditional precision with which Sanskrit was learnt and transmitted over centuries should be retained.
She pointed out that preserving this strength was important not only for Sanskrit but also for India’s broader knowledge heritage.
“This is where the richness, the complexity, and above all the strength of taking it further to a large extent centuries and even a millennium probably we carried it in our memory by learning with perfection, without error, and carry this forward,” she said.
The Sanskrit Heritage Model brings together multiple AI models, a Sanskrit language engine and a verification layer. The project is being developed with testing and feedback from Sanskrit scholars.
Madras Sanskrit College, established in 1906, is a longstanding institution dedicated to Sanskrit education and scholarship, while Articul8 AI is an enterprise domain-specific generative AI company. The initiative brings the institution’s Sanskrit scholarship together with Articul8’s AI capabilities to develop technology specifically for Sanskrit and its knowledge resources.
Sitharaman also appreciated the decision taken by the institution to become independent and offered her support for its future efforts.
