The Hindu Book Review - The Wonder That is Sanskrit!

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Date:11/02/2003 URL:

http://www.thehindu.com/thehindu/br/br/2003/02/11/stories/200302110008

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Oldest living language

 

THE WONDER THAT IS SANSKRIT: Sampad and Vijay; Published by Sri

Aurobindo Society in association with Mapin Publishing, 31, Somnath

Road, Usmanpura, Ahmedabad-380013. Price not specified.

 

 

SANSKRIT, THE oldest surviving member of the Indo-European family of

language, has been, is, and will be a source of infinite wonder for

scholars and laymen alike. Acknowledged by Sir William Jones as

being "more perfect than Greek, more copious than Latin and more

exquisitively refined than either", Sanskrit occupies the pride of

place in our cultural life.

 

Its prestige, sway and authority among other languages of the world

are quite unique and undeniable. It is the mother of almost all the

North Indian languages.

 

Although the Dravidian family of languages, comprising Tamil, Telugu,

Kannada and Malayalam, is not a derivative of Sanskrit, still any

impartial observer cannot deny the profound influence of Sanskrit on

these languages. Even Tamil, which maintains a more independent stand

than her sister languages, admits an inflow of Sanskrit words.

Senavaraiyar, the Tamil grammarian, says that Sanskrit belongs to the

entire country and not to any particular region.

 

Eminent scholars testifying to the glory of Sanskrit language and

pointing out the way in which it has permeated our national life down

the centuries have written several books, monographs and essays. The

Vedas, Upanishads, epics, law texts, Puranas, literary works, works

on medicine, astronomy, astrology, and mathematics are all written in

Sanskrit.

 

While one is justified in glorifying one's mother tongue as the best

medium for instruction at the initial level, none can deny the need

to study Sanskrit for acquiring greater grounding in the mother

tongue.

 

The authors have tried to identify the grounds on which Sanskrit

language has become so great.

 

In 10 well-documented chapters, they have provided a panoramic view

of the great language. They have examined Sanskrit language in terms

of its purpose and content, the role of its grammar and phonetics,

and the challenges it faces. They have also tried to answer the

misplaced criticism of self-styled scholars that Sanskrit is a "dead"

language.

 

It is worthwhile to quote in this context the great savant, Dr. V.

Raghavan, who refers to this dead language slogan as a "cheap howl"

and says: "It is unreasonable to call Sanskrit a dead language. It is

so, only as much as archaic Hindi is, or Sangam Tamil is. Sanskrit is

all pervasive in the whole literature and thought of the country, and

forms their very basis and core. In Sanskrit lies the key to the

culture of the entire East and Far East, and in its intense

cultivation lies the means to the recovery of the old cultural

hegemony of India." With its unbroken literary history for 4000

years, Sanskrit is still spoken fluently and understood widely by a

large section of people in India and abroad.

 

Swami Vivekananda said that instead of blaming the so-called "high"

in society for the condition of the "low", our educators would do

well in raising the "low" by making them learn Sanskrit.

 

He observed: "Even the great Buddha made one false step when he

stopped Sanskrit language from being studied by the masses. He wanted

rapid and immediate results and translated and preached in the

language of the day, Pali. That was great; it spread the ideas

quickly and made them reach far and wide. But along with that

Sanskrit ought to have spread. Knowledge came, but the prestige was

not there; culture was not there. It is culture that withstands

shocks, not a simple mass of knowledge." It is thus imperative that

Sanskrit is the most effective means of preserving, consolidating and

strengthening our cultural values.

 

The present book will go a long way in creating a sense of awareness

in some, appreciation in others and a deep sense of wonder in many

others about the great treasure we in India have inherited from our

sages, viz., Sanskrit.

 

M. NARASIMHACHARY

 

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