The BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha strives to sustian Indian culture by promoting the use of Sanskrit, Hindi, Gujarati, and other Indian languages. It has also encouraged the study of literary masterpieces in these languages. The organization hosts weekly literature classes to teach Gujarati and Sanskrit at many of its centers around the world. These classes teach youths to read, write, and speak in their mother tongue. Many of them attain a level of proficiency to study and analyze literary texts. BAPS also funds and supports the research and writing of various scholars through its research institute, the Akshardham Center for Applied Research in Social Harmony . As part of its initiatives to promote the usage of ethnic languages, the organization publishes a variety of literary works, periodicals, and books through its publishing house, Aksharpith. These publications are subsidized and provided at an affordable price in a number of languages. In addition, the BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha organizes literacy campaigns throughout rural India.
The BAPS Swaminarayn Sanstha’s language and literary activities draw insipiration from those organized over 200 years ago by Bhagwan Swaminarayan. Bhagwan Swaminarayan was a strong patron of literature and ethnic languages. During His time, the ashta kavis, or the eight great poets, wrote over 500,000 bhajans, or devotional poems, in Sanskrit, Hindi, Gujarati, Vraj, Urdu, and Punjabi. These literary masterpieces by Brahmanand Swami, Premanand Swami, and others influenced the works of many literary scholars and thinkers in the generations that followed, including Nanalal Kavi, Rabindranath Tagore, and Mahatma Gandhi. The largest literary prose work in Hindi, Haricharitramrut Sagar , was created by one of Bhagwan Swaminarayan’s disciples, Adharanand Swami. Moreover, Bhagwan Swaminarayan organized literacy campaigns for women and children and raised literary awareness through the use of religious scriptures and epics.