Sudharma: Difference between revisions

'''''Sudharma''''' ({{lang-sa|सुधर्मा}}) is the older and one of the two daily [[newspaper]]s published in [[Sanskrit]] in [[India]],<ref name="only">{{cite news|url=http://www.hindu.com/2007/07/21/stories/2007072158620300.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080603165014/http://www.hindu.com/2007/07/21/stories/2007072158620300.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=2008-06-03|author=Muralidhara Khajane|title=Keeping Sanskrit alive|access-date=2007-08-16|location=Chennai, India|work=[[The Hindu]]|date=2007-07-21}}</ref> the other daily being Vishwasya Vruttantam.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.vishvasyavrutantam.com/|title=Vishvasya Vrutantam - Daily Sanskrit Newspaper.|last=newspaper|first=Vishvasya Vrutantam : Online Daily Sanskrit|website=Vishvasya Vrutantam|language=en|access-date=2020-01-29}}</ref> The paper is published from the city of [[Mysore]] in the [[States of India|Indian state]] of [[Karnataka]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/sanskrit-a-love-story/story-LzXlAU3qE54Z5waDXaAsKO.html|title=Language and love: The story of India's oldest surviving Sanskrit newspaper|date=2017-11-11}}</ref> Established in the year 1970, the circulation of the paper is mainly through post, a method that its founder resorted to when news vendors refused to stock his paper.

Kalale Nadadur Varadaraja Iyengar, a Sanskrit scholar, launched the paper in 1970 with a goal of propagating the language. He was also a publisher of Sanskrit books, and the Sanskrit movable types that were sometimes lying idle with him were another motivation for starting the newspaper.<ref name="only"/> When he discussed his venture with others, he had to face the wrath of skeptics who warned him of his 'misadventure' and predicted the newspaper's doom,<ref name="doo">{{citation |url=http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?NewsID=1110041|title=Sanskrit daily celebrates 42 nd anniversary|work=Online Edition of DnaIndia.com |date=2007-07-15}}</ref> because not many people believed that the Sanskrit language had a vocabulary sufficient to cover contemporary and complex day-to-day activities and developments.<ref name="doo"/> He was, however, supported in his venture by Agaram Rangaiah, who was an editor of a [[Kannada]] newspaper and also by P. Nagachar, who was a former Joint Director of Information. Ignoring the skeptics, Varadaraja Iyengar published the first issue of ''Sudharma'' on July 14, 1970, from a location called 'Ganapathi Totti' in Maharaja's Sanskrit College. He was also instrumental in starting a Sanskrit news bulletin on [[All India Radio]] by convincing [[I. K. Gujral]], the then Minister of Information and Broadcasting in the [[Government of India]]. Varadaraja Iyengar died in 1990. The paper is published out of a press in the Ramachandra Agrahara locality of Mysore.

The majority of the subscribers of the newspaper are Sanskrit scholars and students. The paper has a daily circulation of about 3500 copies. It has an annual subscription fee of Rs. 500 (about $7.50) and is circulated via post to academic institutions, public libraries and to readers throughout India. The paper is also subscribed to by readers in countries like Japan and the United States of America with an annual overseas subscription fee of $50.<ref>{{cite web |title=Subscription instructions |url=http://sudharmasanskritdaily.in/donate/ |website=Sudharma official website |publisher=Sudharma |access-date=9 October 2018}}</ref>

The profit gained by circulating the newspaper is negligible but Sampath Kumar wants to continue publishing the newspaper because of his passion for [[journalism]] and the Sanskrit language. He has had to struggle to keep the publication afloat.<ref name="only1">{{cite news|url=http://www.hindu.com/2006/07/03/stories/2006070310150500.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121107021001/http://www.hindu.com/2006/07/03/stories/2006070310150500.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=2012-11-07|author=Sharath S. Srivatsa|title= Fighting against odds to keep the daily afloat|access-date=2007-08-16|location=Chennai, India|work=[[The Hindu]]|date=2006-07-03}}</ref> The paper has also helped its readers to learn and improve their knowledge of the language. On 15 July 2011, the 42nd anniversary of the paper's publication was celebrated in Mysore.<ref name="doo"/> A unique feature of the celebration was that all speeches were in [[Sanskrit]], which is a rarity, and two Sanskrit scholars were honored on that occasion.  

The current editors Sri K.V.Sampathkumar and his wife Smt. Jayalakshmi KS are selected for the prestigious Padma Shri award for their contribution to journalism (under the category Literature and Education) by the Government of India in 2020.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mysuru/editors-of-mysuru-based-sanskrit-daily-selected-for-padma-shri/articleshow/73618308.cms|title=Editors of Mysuru-based Sanskrit daily selected for Padma Shri {{!}} Mysuru News - Times of India|last=Jan 25|first=Shrinivasa M. {{!}} TNN {{!}} Updated|last2=2020|website=The Times of India|language=en|access-date=2020-01-26|last3=Ist|first3=22:17}}</ref>