Fw: [Kalidasa] IMPORTANCE OF STUDYING SANSKRIT

[Guest guest]

Dear BhakthAs :

 

As a member of the Kalidasa group , I recieved

this informative essay on the Vaibhavam

of our "Deva BhAshai" , Sanskrit.

 

I am sure that you will enjoy this essay .

 

V.Sadagopan

 

 

- Bhattathiri

Kalidasa

Tuesday, January 06, 2004 10:01 AM

[Kalidasa] IMPORTANCE OF STUDYING SANSKRIT

WE ARE FORTUNATE TO HAVE SUCH A FORUM. The study of languages is

always fascinating. For this reason alone, one can study or learn

Sanskrit. The members of the Samskritapriyah group are more than

fascinated by this language. They come from different disciplines and

have had a long lasting association with Sanskrit. This group,

comprising scientists, linguistic scholars, computer scientists,

Indologists and above all, well respected Sanskrit scholars, feels

convinced that there are aspects to Sanskrit not yet seen or observed

in other languages. While the lessons are the primary means to

learning the language, the information presented alongside will more

than arouse the curiosity of the reader. It must be emphasized that

the views expressed here are not intended to start a big debate on

the language itself. The group has carefully studied the information

presented here, for validity, correctness and authenticity. As a

consequence, the information should appeal to the scientific mind.

DISCLAIMER: The Views expressed here are specific to the

Samskritapriyah group and the Samskrit Education Society, Chennai.

IIT Madras, has only made available the web pages as a courtesy to

the group.

Sanskrit, earliest of the ancient languages. There is sufficient

evidence available today to say that Sanskrit is the oldest language

of the world. Among the current languages which possess a hoary

antiquity like Latin or Greek, Sanskrit is the only language which

has retained its pristine purity. It has maintained its structure and

vocabulary even today as it was in the past. The oldest literature of

the world, the Vedas, the Puranas and the Ithihasas which relate to

the Indian subcontinent, are still available in the same form as they

were known from the very beginning. There are many many scholars in

India who can interpret them today, much the same way great scholars

of India did years ago. Such interpretation comes not by merely

studying earlier known interpretations but through a steady process

of assimilation of knowledge linking a variety of disciplines via

Sanskrit. Sanskrit is as modern as any language can be Sanskrit is

very much a spoken language today. Even now, as we enter the twenty

first century, Sanskrit is spoken by an increasing number of people,

thankfully many of them young. Among the learned in India, it

continues to be a bridge across different states where people, in

spite of their own mother tongue, use it to exchange scholarly and

even general information relating to the traditions of the country.

The News service offered by the Government of India through

television and radio continues to feature daily Sanskrit program

catering to local as well as international news. The grammar of

Sanskrit has attracted scholars world over. It is very precise and

upto date and remains well defined even today. Of late, several

persons have expressed the opinion that Sanskrit is the best language

for use with computers. The Samskritapriyah group does not

to this view however. Sanskrit is a Scientist's paradise Sanskrit,

the vocabulary of which is derived from root syllables, is ideal for

coining new scientific and technological terms. The need to borrow

words or special scientific terms does not arise. From the very

beginning, scientific principles have been hidden in the verses found

in the Vedas, Upanishads and the great epics of India. Concepts and

principles seen in present day mathematics and astronomy, are all

hidden in the compositions and treatises of many early scholars of

the country. Some of these principles and concepts will be shown in

the information section that will accompany the lessons. Linguistics

The precise and extremely well defined structure of Sanskrit, coupled

with its antiquity offers a number of areas in linguistics research

including Computational Linguistics. Also, Sanskrit distinguishes

itself in that it is the only known language which has a built-in

scheme for pronunciation, word formation and grammar. Sanskrit, a

language for Humanity Sanskrit is a language for humanity and not

merely a means for communication within a society. The oldest

surviving literature of the world, viz. the Vedas, encompass

knowledge in virtually every sphere of human activity. The fact that

many profound principles relating to human existence were given

expression through Sanskrit, continue to amaze those who study

Sanskrit. A Sanskrit Scholar understands the world better than most

others. Sanskrit perfectly depicted (and continues to depict) the

social order of the day and offers clues to historical developments

within the Society. The language has been used effectively describe

the virtuous and the not so virtuous qualities of great men, women,

kings and queens, the philosophers and Saints of the country.

Philosophy, Theology and Sanskrit Sanskrit abounds in Philosophy and

Theology related issues. There are so many words one encounters

within Sanskrit that convey subtly differing meanings of a concept

that admits of only one interpretation when studied with other

languages. The language thus has the ability to offer links between

concepts using just the words. Sanskrit for your emotions The

connoisseurs of the Sanskrit language know that it is the language of

the heart. Whatever be the emotion one wishes to display, be it

devotion, love, affection, fear, threat, anger, compassion,

benevolence, admiration, surprise and the like, the most appropriate

words of Sanskrit can flow like a gushing stream. Some Unique

Characteristics of the language Sanskrit is co-original with the

Vedas.. The vedas cannot be studied without the Vedangas, which are

six in number. The first three deal with the spoken aspects of the

language. The first of these three, namely Siksha, tells us how to

pronounce the letters of the aksharas. Siksha divides the letters

into three classes- Swaras, Vyanjanas and Oushmanas. Depending on the

effort (Prayatna), place of origin in the body (Sthana), the force

used (bala) and the duration of time (Kala), the letters differ from

each other in their auditory quality and meaning. Vyakarna, known as

the grammar of Sanskrit, is the second Vedanga which describes

meaningful word formations. This is usually referred to as Sphota or

meaningful sound. The third Vedanga, Niruktam, describes certain

fundamental root words used in the Vedas. Classification of words

into groups of synonyms is an example. For instance, approximately a

hundred and twenty synonyms for water are given in Nirukta. The

fourth Vedanga, Chandas, describes the formation of sentences in

metrical form. Unlike English which used a very limited number of

metres (basically four), Sanskrit offers about two dozen Vedic metres

and innumerable conventional metres. The remaining two Vedangas,

Kalpa and Jyothisha deal with space and time. The letters of

Sanskrit Sanskrit comprises fifty one letters or aksharas. In other

languages, we refer to the letters of the alphabet of the language.

We know that the word alphabet is derived from the names of the first

two letters of Greek. The term alphabet has no other meaning except to

denote the set of letters in the language. In contrast, the word

"akshara" in Sanskrit denotes something fundamental and significant.

One of the direct meanings of the word is that it denotes the set of

letters of Sanskrit from the first to the last. The word also means

that the sound of the letter does not ever get destroyed and thus

signifies the eternal quality of the sound of the letters. The

consequence of this meaning is that the sound of a word is

essentially the sounds of the aksharas in the word, a concept which

will help simplify text to speech applications with computers. There

are two aspects of non destruction in the above explanation. The first

one refers to the phonetic characteristics of the language, i.e., in

any word, the aksharas retain their sound. The second aspect of non

destruction, amazingly, is that the aksharas retain their individual

meanings as well! To give an example, the word "guru" consisting of

the aksharas "gu" and "ru" stands for a teacher- one who dispels

darkness (ignorance) of the the mind (person). "gu" means darkness

and "ru" means the act of removal. Now, aren't we beginning to see

something very interesting? The popular Sanskrit language is based

on root syllables and words. Unlike the other languages of the world,

every word in Sanskrit is derived from a root. It is a well accepted

fact that all Indo-European languages have a common origin. On the

basis of the above mentioned fact that all the words of Sanskrit are

traceable to specific roots, a feature not seen in other languages,

one can presume that Sanskrit is most certainly the origin. Massive,

yet precise One can learn Sanskrit purely for the sake of the great

epics of India. The Ramayana has 24,000 verses fully in metre and the

Mahabharata qualifies as the world's largest epic with 100,000 verses.

The Mahabharata says, "what is here may be elsewhere, what is not here

is nowhere." The precision with which the verses convey information on

so many different aspects of life in a society, is a factor one must

reckon as the ultimate in composition. To visit your group on the web, go

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