New Delhi, Jan 5 (IANS) Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Thursday said his government was committed to promote Sanskrit, a “misunderstood language”, which is “the spirit of India”.

“Sanskrit is the spirit of India. The government is committed to the promotion and development of Sanskrit,” Manmohan Singh said, addressing the 15th World Sanskrit Conference here.

He said the Sanskrit, recognized as one of the oldest living languages of the world, “is often misunderstood as only a language of religious hymns and rituals”.

This, he said, “does injustice to the great genius of this language and betrays ignorance of the work of great writers, thinkers, sages and scientists like Kautilya, Charaka, Sushruta, Aryabhata, Varahamihira, Brahmagupta, Bhaskaracharya”.

He said that the ancient language has a treasure of knowledge of mathematics, medicines, botany, chemistry, arts and humanities

“If we provide the missing links and establish the required inter-disciplinary approaches, the wisdom of Sanskrit has the potential of enriching the present day knowledge systems and Indian languages immensely.”

He said three government institutions — Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan, Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri Rashtriya Sanskrit Vidyapeeth and Rashtriya Sanskrit Vidyapeeth — were actively engaged in promoting Sanskrit.

“Financial assistance is also provided for the production of Sanskrit literature including newspapers and journals, and reprinting of rare books. In the course of time, we will further strengthen our efforts for the promotion, development and enrichment of Sanskrit.”

The prime minister said the language has been the source of values and ideals that have sustained India through the ages.