Help Pradnya Produce India's First Series of Animated Sanskrit Rhymes

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Updates (24)

Every student in India makes a tough choice in class 5th or 8th - To choose or not to choose Sanskrit as second or third language. In most of the schools and colleges, Sanskrit is taught by a grammar-translation method which is the main reason why Sanskrit appears difficult and discourages students from learning it. In grammar-translation method, students learn the grammatical rules first and then the usage.

Memorizing Rules Is No Language Taught

Merely knowing the moves of every piece in chess will be of no help unless you apply it to counter the opponent's moves. Memorizing grammar rules in any language without knowing the usage is a tedious task, especially when you are new to it.

But what if we told you that one woman in Bangalore is single-handedly making Sanskrit a more approachable choice. Pradnya Jere Anjal is using rhymes and animations as her chosen weapons to break down the daunting image of Sanskrit.

For This Gold Medallist, Masters Was Just A Step Closer To A Doctorate.

Young Pradnya always knew she would pursue Arts for the sheer love she had for Sanskrit. "I still remember the Sanskrit song my teacher taught me in school. With a simple but catchy tune, she made it into a fun song with hand actions than just reading it out loud."

It was very clear to Pradnya that learning a language needs two things. First, to have a 'usage-first, grammar-next' approach and second, to make it a fun process. Her curiosity and love for the language pushed her to do an MA in Sanskrit. It was no surprise to her family when she won a gold medal for it. But for Pradnya, a Masters was just a start to pursue her Ph.D. Today, her LinkedIn profile has a 'Dr.' to her name.

An Instructional Designer Feeding Her Fetish for Teaching.

In early days of her career, it was clear to Pradnya that she wanted to teach. But regular blackboard teaching did not excite her enough. With a strong urge to break through the traditional teaching techniques, Pradnya trained herself to become an Instructional Designer and worked for MNC's like Wipro, Bosch and a couple startups. She also freelanced to create e-learning content for HCL.

Quitting Her Job To Become A ‘Mompreneur’.

Pradnya’s love for Sanskrit was not getting enough space in her everyday schedule. The idea of making Sanskrit more enjoyable to learn had become a weekend project.

Then one day, her daughter came home from school humming a rhyme mentioning Kannada alphabets and it all came back to Pradnya, reminding her of the very incident that got her into loving Sanskrit. What better way to teach a language than with rhymes! Pradnya took it a step further and brought in her Instructional Designer experience.

“I started working on the rhymes. While writing all 15 of them, I had such a clear visual of them. I knew animating them will definitely make learning more enjoyable and engaging.”

Soon she quit her job and decided to make these 15 rhymes a reality. Today, Pradnya’s first Sanskrit animated rhyme has over 70,000 views on YouTube. The responses she has been receiving from parents and teachers only proves how useful this video has been.

Pradnya now wants to produce the remaining 14 rhymes of the series. Using popular tunes such as ones of Jingle Bells and Old McDonald will not only make it appealing but enjoyable for learners across ages. But she needs your support to make this a reality.

How Can You Help?

If you were a Sanskrit student, you know rhymes like these would have made your learning less tedious and dry. For every student and parent contemplating to learn Sanskrit or not, this Mompreneur's work will be a game changer.

Support her to produce these rhymes and make it accessible to anyone and everyone who wants to learn Sanskrit.

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15th June 2020

Dear All,
I'm so happy to announce that Sanskrit nursery rhymes are now available as audio album on all major platforms like iTunes, Amazon Music, Google Music Store, Hungama, Pandora, Saavn, Sound Exchange, Spotify and YouTube Music. Thank you so much.
-Pradnya

12th April 2020

Dear All,

It's been long time that I haven't posted an update about my work. A few months back, I have registered a proprietorship firm named Vedika EdTech to create more resources for Sanskrit learners. The YouTube channel www.youtube.com/c/vedika is getting a very good response. I have stopped the campaign because the money raised was sufficient for first 15 rhymes. But I have decided to continue the work.

You might have seen three additional Sanskrit rhymes available on the YouTube channel in the playlist Tunes of English Origin. I hope the audience will like the re-creation of popular English rhymes with Indian touch.

I am also happy to release Vedika's first e-learning course संस्कृतग्रामं गच्छाम - Introductory Level. This course is available on learn.vedika.online. This course will be useful for those who want to get introduced to Sanskrit language.

My sincere thanks to you for your timely support and encouragement. I wish you all a good health and happiness.

-Pradnya Shireesh Anjal
pradnya@vedika.online
+91- 9742854096

8th November 2019

Dear All,
I have released Vedika EdTech's new Sanskrit rhyme after a long break.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUi4DHDP2J0
This small rhyme is really special. Written by Ms. Viji Chandran and Ms. Bhargavi Vardhan, the song is based on the famous 'Johny, Johny, Yes Papa'. But, it's a dialogue between our own little Krishna and Mother Yashoda. I'm working on two more songs based on English rhymes and also a full fledged e-learning course to learn Sanskrit. Thank you so much for your support.
-Pradnya Anjal