Samskrita Bharati (Sanskrit: संस्कृतभारती, romanized: Saṁskr̥tabhāratī, pronounced [sɐmskɹ̩tɐ bʱaːɾɐtiː]) is a non-profit organisation working to revive Sanskrit. Sanskrit was a pan-Indian language in the Vedic and classical period but lost its place to its derivative regional dialects in modern India. Samskrita Bharati has its headquarters in New Delhi. According to their own figures, repeated often in their promotional literature, by 1998, 2.9 million people had attended the conversation camps Mission and motivations The basic mission of this organisation is to democratise and popularise Sanskrit by encouraging the use of simple Sanskrit in everyday conversational contexts. More recently, the organisation has started to focus on the maintenance of the "mother-tongue-ness" (Sanskrit: मातृभाषात्वम्, romanized: mātr̥bhāṣātvam) of Sanskrit by means of Sanskrit households. Additionally, the primary impetus is on direct Sanskrit language instruction through Sanskrit itself as the medium of instruction. Motivation As its founder says, "Sanskrit is the best tool to remove the five types of social differences; linguistic, class, caste, sect and the north vs south division." A basic goal is to create a nation of Sanskrit speakers, (re)creating a national unity for India through common linguistic practice. Another one of the main premises of the movement is to allow direct access to the vast storehouse of the Sanskrit textual tradition Pedagogical principles The organisation's pedagogical philosophy is based on the idea that listening and speaking must precede reading and writing. Rejecting both Western-style grammatical instruction (or more recent innovations) and Indian traditions of Sanskrit instruction emphasising systematic memorisation, Samskrita Bharati instead has focused its energies on immersion through conversation. A common aphorism used in their literature is: "Speak in Samskrit, not about Samskrit."