Charge is that knowledge of Sanskrit was mandatory for learning Medicine in Tamil Nadu and the Justice Party ended this.This is an extract from a Govt. Education report of 1914. Please see the student data- 30 Native Christians, 2 Muslims, 1 Parsi and 56 Non Brahmin Hindus besides the 73 Brahmins in the class.

Were all of them proficient in Sanskrit? Were Christians, Muslims and Parsis forced to learn Sanskrit? In fact most Brahmins were also not proficient in Sanskrit. Is there a G.O that said Sanskrit was compulsory?

Is there a G.O issued by Justice Party Govt. later that said Sanskrit was no longer compulsory? Could it have been that Sanskrit knowledge was mandatory for admission to Ayurveda college and this was twisted to Medical College by D-stockists?

Sole evidence quoted by stockists is a line in a book by K.A.P. Viswanathan that states that Justice party did away with the requirement of Sanskrit knowledge to do Medicine. No evidence is provided even in that book. Yesterday a ruling party Minister P Thiaga Rajan put out the same charge that knowledge of Sanskrit was once compulsory for joining Medicine.

A lie repeated often enough becomes the truth. That appears to be the case here. I will have no hesitation in apologizing if the evidence is put out that the 30 Native Christians, 2 Muslims, 56 non-Brahmins and 73 Brahmin students including some women, in 1914, in Medical College were all proficient in Sanskrit before they were granted admission.

Thank you Ananthakrishnan Pakshirajan for having provided extract from the report on Public Instruction of Madras Presidency 1914 & providing clarity on the matter 1904 document. Also Mr. Ananthakrishnan Pakshirajan is known by his pen name P.A. Krishnan.

For those who want the link, here it is.

(This article has been compiled from the tweet thread originally tweeted by Sumanth Raman (@sumanthraman) on November 21, 2022.)