Sanskrit Wikipedia

Sanskrit Wikipedia (Sanskrit: संस्कृत विकिपीडिया; IAST: Saṃskṛta Vikipīḍiyā) (also known as sawiki) is the Sanskrit edition of Wikipedia, a free, web-based, collaborative, multilingual encyclopedia project supported by the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation. Its five thousand articles have been written collaboratively by volunteers around the world, with major concentration of contributors in India and Nepal.

Favicon of Wikipedia Sanskrit Wikipedia
संस्कृत विकिपीडिया
Sanskrit Wikipedia logo
Screenshot
Screenshot of Sanskrit Wikipedia's Main Page in January 2005
Type of site
Internet encyclopedia project
Available inसंस्कृतम् (Sanskrit)
OwnerWikimedia Foundation
Created bySanskrit wiki community
URLsa.wikipedia.org
CommercialCharitable
RegistrationOptional
LaunchedDecember 2003 (2003-12)
Current statusOnline
Content license
Creative Commons Attribution/
Share-Alike 3.0 (most text also dual-licensed under GFDL)
Media licensing varies

Founded in December 2003, it reached five thousand articles by August 2011.[1][2][3][4]

The Sanskrit Wikipedia Community also participated in a project named Tell us about your Wikipedia,[5] and Community news from Sanskrit Wikipedia also came on WikiPatrika, a community-written and community-edited newspaper, covering stories, events and reports related to Wikipedia and the Wikimedia Foundation sister projects in India.[2]

As of 10 October 2023, it has 12,087 articles and is the 156th largest version of Wikipedia.[6] The Times of India considered that "Sanskrit was making a comeback, thanks to Wikipedia community"[7] Mother India considered the Sanskrit Wikipedia as a "wonderful learning tool"[8]

Early history

One of the earliest snapshots of the home page, dated 1 June 2004, can be seen at the earlier archives of Sanskrit Wikipedia.[9] The earliest article still available on Sanskrit Wikipedia's site is apparently Damana dīva, dated July 9, 2004, however the first article was made on March 21, 2004.[10][11]

The number of articles dropped from the 1,000-article mark to only 600 in August 2005 after nearly half were deleted; many of the deletions were due to the articles being in English.[12] The Sanskrit Wikipedia reached 9,405 articles as of December 12, 2013.

Collaboration with Samskrita Bharati
Samskrita Wikipedia Academy
Wikipedia Academy Volunteers

Sanskrit Wikipedia has a collaboration with Samskrita Bharati, a non-profit organisation working to revive Sanskrit.[2] The collaboration efforts started in the Wikipedia Academy organized in Bangalore on Jan 23, 2010. That Wikipedia Academy was also the first in India.

There were 11 Sanskrita Bharathi participants at the Academy. They were introduced to Wikipedia and contributing to Wikipedia content and were helped in this by a team of roughly 3 Wikipedians.

Later the first Sanskrit Wiki workshop was held in Sanskrit Bharati's office at Bangalore for an audience of 20 participants. The presentation was intended to give a basic working knowledge of Wikipedia and its interface.[2]

A second workshop was held at the same location on March 26, 2011 for another 15 participants from software companies and the Om Shantidham Gurukulam.[2]

Other collaborations

Through an initiative by Gujarat University's Department of Sanskrit, around 150 Sanskrit teachers from different colleges in Gujarat gathered in July 2012 to add materials to the Sanskrit Wikipedia through a two-day-long workshop held titled Sanskrit Wikipedia — Introduction and Expectations.[13]

Referenced
  1. "Who Says Sanskrit Is Dead? It's Rocking the Wiki World". Quint. October 27, 2016. Retrieved August 10, 2023.
  2. "WikiPatrika/2011-06/Community News/sa". Wikimedia India Chapter. June 9, 2011. Archived from the original on March 6, 2016. Retrieved September 22, 2011.
  3. "Wikimedia News". Meta, discussion about Wikimedia projects. August 6, 2011. Retrieved September 21, 2011.
  4. "Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2011-08-08/News and notes". Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. August 11, 2011. Retrieved September 21, 2011.
  5. "Tell us about Sanskrit Wikipedia". Meta, discussion about Wikimedia projects. May 20, 2011. Retrieved September 22, 2011.
  6. Meta contributors (August 28, 2016). "List of Wikipedias". Meta, discussion about Wikimedia projects. Retrieved August 28, 2016. {{cite web}}: |author= has generic name (help)
  7. The Times of India: Sanskrit makes a comeback, thanks to Wikipedia community
  8. The Mother India: Exploring Sanskrit Bharati’s Sanskrit Wikipedia (Internet Archive Copy)
  9. "Main Page". Wikipedia. June 1, 2004. Retrieved September 21, 2011.
  10. "दमन दीव" [Daman Diu] (in Sanskrit). Wikipedia. July 9, 2004. Retrieved September 21, 2011.
  11. "Wikipedia:Milestones 2004". Wikipedia. June 14, 2011. Retrieved September 22, 2011.
  12. "Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2005-08-22/News and notes". Wikipedia. June 7, 2010. Retrieved September 22, 2011.
  13. DNA India - Sanskrit Wikipedia in the offing: Gujarat teachers planning details
Sanskrit edition of Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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