Aniruddha Pradyumna Kandadai, aged 8, studies in a French Public School. That hasn’t kept him from exploring his cultural roots. 

His love for the Sanskrit language led him to make Amarakosha Doodle videos on YouTube. Now, his short explainers are published on the Carnatic Conservatory of Paris channel every Friday. These videos communicate the relevance of Sanskrit to the modern world.

The Amarakosha is a Sanskrit thesaurus written by the ancient Indian scholar and poet Amarasimha. 

It all started when classes moved online and Aniruddha’s curious mind wanted to try something new. Inspired by his mother’s work on Bhagavad Gita Doodles, he started creating Amarakosha videos voluntarily.

Aniruddha’s mother, Bhawna Pradyumn recalls an interaction where he was fascinated by the stories hidden in Sanskrit words. For instance, when you go back to the roots of “Mandakini,” you find an entire tale about river Ganga. 

Aniruddha can read and write seven other languages, including Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, Hindi, English, French, and Russian. In January 2021, he won the second prize in Konnakol (0-12 years category) in the The Hindu Margazhi Classical Music Competition. He also enjoys playing chess and coding alongside his school activities. With the Amarakosha Doodles, he found another meaningful hobby!

The Parenting Perspective

“I believe in encouraging children to be inquisitive and free in exploring their interests. Since Anirudha feels passionately about the Sanskrit language, he comes up with the story concepts himself. We have basic doodle software and I help him with finding open-source visuals for his videos, but his thinking and creativity are driven by his interest. It is definitely a time of bonding for us.”

– Bhavana Pradyumna