''Sudharma'' () is the daily newspaper printed in

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. The paper is published from the city of

Mysore Mysore ( ), officially Mysuru (), is a city in the southern Indian state of Karnataka. It is the headquarters of Mysore district and Mysore division. As the traditional seat of the Wadiyar dynasty, the city functioned as the capital of the ...

in the

Indian state India is a federal union comprising 28 states and 8 union territories, for a total of 36 subnational entities. The states and union territories are further subdivided into 800 districts and smaller administrative divisions by the respe ...

Karnataka Karnataka ( ) is a States and union territories of India, state in the southwestern region of India. It was Unification of Karnataka, formed as Mysore State on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, States Re ...

. Established in 1970, the paper is mainly distributed via mail, a method that its founder resorted to when news vendors refused to stock his paper. As of 2018, the newspaper was struggling to survive due to a paucity of funds.

History

Sanskrit scholar Kalale Nadadur Varadaraja Iyengar launched the paper intending to propagate the language. He was also a publisher of Sanskrit books, and the Sanskrit movable types that were sometimes lying idle with him were another motivation for starting the newspaper. When discussing his publishing venture in public he was met with scorn from critics, who predicted the newspaper's failure. Many people believed that the Sanskrit language had an insufficient vocabulary to cover contemporary day-to-day activities and developments. He was, however, supported in his venture by Agaram Rangaiah, who was an editor of a

Kannada Kannada () is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly in the state of Karnataka in southwestern India, and spoken by a minority of the population in all neighbouring states. It has 44 million native speakers, and is additionally a ...

newspaper, and also by P. Nagachar, who was a former Joint Director of Information. Ignoring the skeptics, Varadaraja Iyengar published the first issue of ''Sudharma'' on July 14, 1970, from a location called 'Ganapathi Totti' in Maharaja's Sanskrit College. He was also instrumental in starting a Sanskrit news bulletin on

All India Radio All India Radio (AIR), also known as Akashvani (), is India's state-owned public broadcasting, public radio broadcaster. Founded in 1936, it operates under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (India), Ministry of Information and Broa ...

by convincing I. K. Gujral, the then Minister of Information and Broadcasting in the

Government of India The Government of India (ISO 15919, ISO: Bhārata Sarakāra, legally the Union Government or Union of India or the Central Government) is the national authority of the Republic of India, located in South Asia, consisting of States and union t ...

. Varadaraja Iyengar died in 1990. The paper is published out of a press in the Ramachandra Agrahara locality of Mysore.

Circulation

The majority of subscribers are Sanskrit scholars and students. The paper has a daily circulation of about 3,500 copies, with an annual subscription fee of ₹600 ($8.09) for ordinary post and ₹1,200 ($16.18) for registered post. In addition to domestic circulation via post to academic institutions, public libraries, and to readers throughout India, the paper is also subscribed to by readers in countries like Japan and the United States of America at an annual overseas subscription fee of $20.

Current scenario

Despite the lackluster financial performance of Sudharma, Sampath Kumar wants to continue publishing the newspaper, citing his passion for

journalism Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the "news of the day" and that informs society to at least some degree of accuracy. The word, a noun, applies to the journ ...

and the Sanskrit language. He has had to struggle to keep the publication afloat. The paper has also helped its readers to learn and improve their knowledge of the language. On 15 July 2011, the 42nd anniversary of the paper's publication was celebrated in Mysore. A unique feature of the celebration was that all speeches were in

, which is a rarity, and two Sanskrit scholars were honored on that occasion. This newspaper is available online as well. The editor Sri K. V. Sampath Kumar and his wife Smt. Jayalakshmi KS was selected for the prestigious Padma Shri award for their contribution to journalism (under the category of Literature and Education) by the Government of India in 2020.

ePaper and subscription

Sudharma was the first

daily e-paper in the world. Additionally, its print edition features a Sanskrit

crossword puzzle A crossword (or crossword puzzle) is a word game consisting of a grid of black and white squares, into which solvers enter words or phrases ("entries") crossing each other horizontally ("across") and vertically ("down") according to a set of cl ...

and similar novelties.

Notes

External links

* {{Padma Shri Award Recipients in Literature & Education Culture of Karnataka Daily newspapers published in India Mass media in Sanskrit 1970 establishments in Mysore State Newspapers established in 1970 Mass media in Mysore