[world-vedic] Sanskrit Dictionary Grows

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>[world-vedic] Sanskrit Dictionary Grows >Mon, 28 Jul 2003

22:44:44 -0000 > > >Fifty-five years down, decades to go: a Sanskrit dictionary

grows in >India > > >By Tim Sullivan >ASSOCIATED PRESS >9:25 a.m., July 26, 2003

> >PUNE, India – For three generations, they have compiled and argued, >agonized

and transcribed – toiling in monastic tedium to turn an >intricate 44-letter

language into six volumes, so far, of word after >long-forgotten word. > >They

have delved into the grammatical roots of "antahpravesakama" >and debated the

pun hidden in "anangada." They've done a brain- >numbingly complete dissection

of "anekakrta." > >Now, 55 years after a group of scholars began composing the

>authoritative dictionary of Sanskrit, the long-dead language of >India's

ancient glory, they are almost done – with the first letter. > >"Sanskrit,"

sighed Vinayaka Bhatta, chief editor of Deccan College's >dictionary project,

"is not easy to translate." > >No kidding. > >The project has consumed the

skills of more than two dozen scholars >(so far), cataloged 9 million citations

of Sanskrit terms and given >the most thorough of definitions to thousands of

words. > >All this in a language glutted with puns, metaphors and multiple

>meanings that hasn't been spoken – barring religious rituals and a >handful of

academics – for centuries. > >The low estimate to completing the project? At

least another 50 >years. > >That, they'll tell you in Pune, isn't really that

long. > >"Some people say Sanskrit has no value," said Vinaya Kshirsagar, a

>grammarian and 18-year dictionary veteran. "But you have to take >care of your

culture and your civilization." > >It's difficult to overestimate the importance

of Sanskrit in this >part of the world. > >Like Latin in the medieval West,

Sanskrit in ancient India was the >language of the elite, largely limited to

scholars, royalty and >priests. The works they wrote, on everything from

astronomy to the >lives of Hindu deities, helped mold centuries of intellectual

life >and remained in wide use until about 1100 A.D. > >"In those days, it was

everything," said Bhatta. > >These days, it can seem that the dictionary is

everything. The >project sends learned people – scholars with strings of

graduate >degrees and the authorship of dense books – floundering for words. >

>"The project is huge," said Bhatta, who has spent 22 years, well >over a third

of his life, working on the dictionary. After a pause, >he continued: "It is

really huuuuge." > >Finally: "It's a very huge amount," said Bhatta, 55, waving

his >hands around the main workroom, where a hot breeze was blowing >through the

windows, churned lightly by a pair of ceiling fans. > >Today India's 1.02

billion people have 18 official languages, >including English. Hindi is the

most widely spoken, but the >dictionary is a Sanskrit-English production,

attesting to the >abiding power of English as a lingua franca of the Indian

elite. > >The modern world has largely missed the dictionary project. It is

>tucked into a drab 20th-century building toward the back of the >campus of

Pune's Deccan College, long known for its Sanskrit >studies. The 16 scholars

mostly work at chipped wooden tables in a >large room lined with dusty metal

bookshelves. The only decoration >is a calendar from Guru Nanak, a local tire

dealer. > >In the scholars' world – largely limited to the workroom and >the

"scriptorium," where the 9 million citations are filed in metal >drawers –

technology often amounts to a pencil stub and a >paperweight. > >Perhaps word

processors, or access to the Internet's many Sanskrit >resources, would speed

things up? > >"We're hoping for computers in one or two years," said

Kshirsagar, >not sounding very hopeful. > >The work is mostly done alone, and

in silence. > >That's fine with the staff. They are experts in some of

academia's >most arcane fields, and have long grown accustomed to quiet

>intellectual victories. > >Slowly, though, the outside world is pressing in. >

>Officials say political pressure is growing to finish the project. >With

funding far below what it was in earlier days, only half as >many people work

on it as in the early 1980s. > >So there's an air of quiet anxiety amid the

beat-up tables and the >dusty leather-bound volumes. > >"We have to go at the

speed of the world if we still want to exist," >said Kshirsagar, who reckons it

takes about 15 days to prepare a >word for dictionary entry. > >Earlier on,

there was no need for speed. The project was launched in >1948, a year after

India's independence. In those days, the former >British colony was desperate

to highlight its history and prove it >was more than a poverty-ravaged

colossus. While Sanskrit died out as >a spoken tongue centuries ago, it's still

an official Indian >language. > >For most Indians, that means nothing. Sanskrit

is as far from daily >speech in India as Middle English is from Middle America.

> >The language is agonizingly complex and after 40 years of studies >even

Bhatta can seldom just open a book and understand it. > >As an example, he

randomly picks the word "antahpravesakama" from a >volume in progress. For a

few minutes, he discusses – in English – >possible translations with an elderly

colleague before settling >on: "desiring to enter inside." > >The real meaning

is more poetic, in this case referring to the >conception of "the one who has

1,000 eyes" – the god Indra. > >For every word there are many definitions, and

for every definition >there are often many more allegorical meanings. >

>There's "anangada," a favorite of Kshirsagar's, who likes how it can >refer to

either an upper arm bracelet or a hero in the Hindu >literary masterpiece, the

Ramayana. > >And there's "anekakrta," which is basically translated as

"composed >or obtained by many," but which Bhatta gleefully points out has 15

>other definitions. > >Bhatta is the soul of the dictionary project. Initially

a reluctant >student of the Sanskrit – his father ordered him to study it – he

>has grown to love the language. > >Today, he speaks of the Sanskrit dictionary

with infectious >excitement: the challenge of each word, the seemingly

overwhelming >project, the connections to ancient India. > >With Bhatta, the

monotony of lexicography becomes the joy of >academic discovery. > >"Sanskrit,"

he said, "has so many shades." > > > > > > Help STOP SPAM with the new MSN 8

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