Source: The Indian Express, November 17, 2000
VADODARA, INDIA: Increasing popularity of the ancient Indian disciplines like vastushastra (architecture), ankjyotish (numerology), hastrekha (palmistry) and ayurveda (medicine) have come to the rescue of Baroda Sanskrit Mahavidyalaya where enrollments had declined over the past decades. As a result of offering these courses, the college’s enrollment has begun to increase. The very name, Sanskrit Mahavidyalaya, creates the impression of a college where only Sanskrit is taught, but the new courses offered cleared up the misconception. The college now plans to start other disciplines like vyavharic ayurveda (practical ayurveda), samudrik shastra (body reading), karmakanda (religious rituals), ankjyotish (numerology) and conversational Sanskrit. Principal H.M. Pandey pointed out that people were going back to learning what was written in ancient scriptures. “Most of the students join these courses as there is demand for experts in these fields, both within the country and abroad,” he said. Graduates are given the title of shastri. According to the teachers some who have taken these courses and graduated are now working in foreign countries. Others have been busy with assignments in the city or their hometowns. If these claims are anything to go by, the students are doing fairly well. And the ancient Hindu arts are being preserved in the process.