Lecture by: Prof. M.A. Lakshmithathachar

Chairperson: Dr. Om Vikas,Senior Director, Department if Information technology,Government of India

Theme: Sanskrit and Information technolgy

Date: October 27, 2005
Time: 6:30 p.m.
Venue: Conference Room III, India International Centre Annexe, 40, Max Muller Marg, New Delhi - 110003

Brief:Prof. M. A. Lakshmithathachar is the founding director of the Veda Vijnana Vikasa Pratishthanam. He was also Former Director of the Academy of Sanskrit Research at Melkote for 25 years and at present is Director of the Samskriti Foundation .

His lecture elucidated the pioneering work being done to develop innovative technology to further the ties between IT and culture. Through the recitation of various Sanskrit verses he further elaborated on the Importance of Sanskrit Language in the development of Language Technology. The Lexicography in Sanskrit, its grammar and phonetics were highlighted and Its contribution in the fields of Philosophy, Science and Technology was stated with examples.

Prof. lakshmithathachar further espoused that Sanskrit and Information Technology could be both complimentary and supplementary to each other. He listed the ways in which IT could be utilized in the field of Sanskrit through Programs to get Verbal forms, Programs on 'Amarakosha', 'Tarkasangraha' Teaching Package and in the field of Manuscriptology.

Similarly, Sanskrit can be useful for the development of Information Technology through various ways. Developing tools for information retrieval, Knowledge Structuring, Knowledge Engineering, Speech Technology, Artificial Intelligence, robotics, Machine Translation and Compression Techniques were some of the areas mentioned. His talk led to some insightful discussion and invigorating thoughts.