A crusader of Sanskrit education

Chandrakant Paudel’s frustration at the inertia of progress is something felt by many in the rural parts of Nepal.

The other day I saw the news on Facebook of Chandrakant Paudel’s arrest by the Baglung district administration in the midwestern hill district of Nepal. The young man, educated in Sanskrit schools and college, including in Kathmandu, and descendant of a priestly Brahmin family, had campaigned for some time to have the Dalit children admitted in the local Shree Muktinath Ved Vidyashram Sanskrit seminary established by his grandfather. His argument was that the seminary must admit Dalit and indigenous children because everyone had the right to Sanskrit education in our times.