A study published in the journal Scientific American has concluded that rigorous memorizing and chanting of verses from the ancient Hindu scriptures in the Sanskrit language helps a person's memory by increasing the size of the brain's regions that are associated with cognitive functions. Dr. James Hartzell of the University of Trento and his colleagues from Italy teamed up with Dr. Tanmay Nath and Dr. Nandini Chatterjee Singh of India's National Brain Research Centre (NBRC) to conduct the study on 42 volunteers trained in vigorously chanting the Shukla Yajurveda - one of most ancient Hindu religious text in Sanskrit. Brain mapping images of the volunteers revealed that grey matter was denser and the cortex was thicker in them in comparison to other volunteers who did not memorize Sanskrit chants. The phenomenon has been termed "Sanskrit Effect." Experts say that though the findings are factual, the lack of connection between Sanskrit and the common Indian remains the main barrier to