The Sanskrit department is one of the renowned departments among the 11 (eleven) departments of the Faculty of Arts which was started in 1921 with the establishment of Dhaka University. In the beginning it’s name was “Department of Sanskritic Studies and Sanskrit & Bengali”. There were six teachers among those Mahamahopadhyaya Haraprasad Shastri was the head of the department and Muhammad Shahidullah was the lecturer of Bengali. There were two streams of curriculum – Sanskritic Studies and Sanskrit & Bengali. Each stream had a different syllabus and degrees were awarded accordingly. In 1937, two separate departments, the Sanskrit Department and the Bengali Department were established, but after the partition of the country in 1947, there was a serious setback in the teaching of Sanskrit.

In the 1950-51 academic year, the name of the department was changed to Bengali and Sanskrit in association with Bengali for the progress of teaching Sanskrit. In the academic year 1970-1971, the department was known as “Sanskrit and Pali” department. The department was lastly established in 2007 as a separate department called “Sanskrit Department”.

Currently, the Department of Sanskrit offers a four-year B.A (Honours) course and one-year Master’s course. A four year semester system of teaching and letter grade system of evaluation have been introduced at the B.A Honours level from the academic year 2006-2007. Here are also M.phill and Ph.D programmes.

There is a “Professor Dilip Kumar Bhattacharyya Research Centre” attached with the department. From 1999 an annual research journal entitled “Prachyavidya Patrika” is being published by the department. The department also has a bi-monthly creative magazine in Sanskrit called ‘Mandakranta’. The department has a seminar library rich in notable books and journals. There is a rich computer lab in the department which was established with the help of the High Commission of India, Dhaka. Except these there is a “Cultural Club” and a “Debating Club” in the department as extra curriculum activities.

The website of the department contains necessary notices, information of the activities and functions, syllabus, publications etc. and consequently plays very important role to disseminate the past of the department as well as present activities. I appeal that curriculum activities of the department will be further promoted in joint efforts by teachers and students of the department. In this purpose, this website will play a collaborative role. Thanks from the core of my heart to the devotion of teachers, students, researchers, stuff, the university authority, our friends and partners in various sectors and very special thanks to those who properly maintain the site.

Dr. Mayna Talukdar
Professor & Chairman
Department of Sanskrit, University of Dhaka, Dhaka