Guest guest Posted March 9, 2002 Report Share Posted March 9, 2002 Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada! Many times Srila Prabhupada said that Sanskrit is the mother of all languages. ---------------------------- Prabhupada: Sanskrit. Sanskrit is a language which is mother of all languages. Sanskrit, S-a-n-s-k-r-i-t, Sanskrit language. So this is the original language of this..., not only of this planet. In other planets also, this language is spoken. So the names are in Sanskrit. They do not belong to any community or any section. It is universal. >>> Ref. VedaBase => Interview -- February 1, 1968, Los Angeles ---------------------------- However, the following was written by some Shyam Rao on the Web (http://www.dalitstan.org/books/a_sans/a_sans_i.html) under the title, "The Anti-Sanskrit Scripture". ---------------------------- The main pillar of the Sanskrit-centric ideology is the Mother Sanskrit Theory. This hypothesis, which was never proven, postulates that Sanskrit is the Mother of all Indian languages. It is essentially a colonial theory, a hangover from the age of Anglo-Brahmin colonialism. The close collaboration between the Brahmins and the British invaders meant that the British saw India through Brahmin eyes, and Brahmin theories of history and linguistics infected European science. In this, Sanskritisation is merely another manifestation of the destructive aspects of Brahmanism at work. The harm that this theory has done to Indian culture is immense, for it sees all Indian vernaculars as merely degraded forms of Sanskrit. It hence logically follows that all regional Indian languages, which are in fact each separate languages in their own right, are considered as unnecessary blocks to the proper learning of Sanskrit. For decades this theory has been taught in schools, yet it is entirely without foundation, and has been discarded by international linguists. (...). ---------------------------- My question is whether there is any other proof besides the words of Srila Prabhupada (who quotes some professors -- see below*) that Sanskrit is indeed the mother of all languages. Are there some studies available from scholars inside or outside ISKCON that firmly establish the validity of the "Mother Sanskrit Theory"? Thank you very much in advance. Hare Krishna. Your humble servant, Rogier. * Srila Prabhupada quoting professors: ---------------------------- "Prabhupada: Latin is from Sanskrit. Yes. Latin is from Sanskrit. Professor Rowe and Webb of Presidency College in Calcutta, they have got a grammar. They have said the Sanskrit language is mother of all languages. They were big English scholar, professor, Mr. Rowe and Webb. >>> Ref. VedaBase => Room Conversation With Allen Ginsberg -- May 12, 1969, Columbus, Ohio ---------------------------- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 10, 2002 Report Share Posted March 10, 2002 On Sat, 9 Mar 2002, (Bhakta) Rogier Vrieling (Med.BBT Dutch) wrote: > ---------------------------- > Prabhupada: Sanskrit. Sanskrit is a language which is mother of all > languages. Sanskrit, S-a-n-s-k-r-i-t, Sanskrit language. So this is the > original language of this..., not only of this planet. In other planets > also, this language is spoken. So the names are in Sanskrit. They do not > belong to any community or any section. It is universal. > >>> Ref. VedaBase => Interview -- February 1, 1968, Los Angeles > ---------------------------- Around the time of Indian Independence, there was a serious push to emphasize Sanskrit as the national language instead of Hindi. It's true that Sanskrit has traditional literature in every region of India, unlike Hindi. According to Suniti Kumar Chaterjee, when charged with drawing up a constitution before the first general election in free India, a constituent assembly of 150 INC members decided in 10/49 that Hindi, in Nagari script, would be the new national language--by a majority of only one vote. Even Nazirussin Ahmad, and others such as Laksmikanta Maitra, argued strongly in favor of Sanskrit. But they lost by a single vote. The end result--possibly due in part to the fact that South Indians in particular resented having the rather alien Hindi in effect pushed upon them--is that English has now become the defacto status language of India. > My question is whether there is any other proof besides the words of > Srila Prabhupada (who quotes some professors -- see below*) that > Sanskrit is indeed the mother of all languages. Are there some studies > available from scholars inside or outside ISKCON that firmly establish > the validity of the "Mother Sanskrit Theory"? However, this really depends on what we're willing to accept as "proof," doesn't it? Except for sruti-pramana, proof is always limited to a particular audience (cf., Srimad-bhagavatam, 11.22.34); there are definitely poeple who will never accept even the most reasonable conclusions, because they are unreasonable people. At the same time, this very statement illustrates the overwhelming extent to which "reason" is now postulated as the measure of all things in our society. We don't necessarily have to question this (although I think it would be a good idea if we did so more often), but we should at least be aware of it, especially because it has probably already socialized us. > * Srila Prabhupada quoting professors: > "Prabhupada: Latin is from Sanskrit. Yes. Latin is from Sanskrit. Professor > Rowe and Webb of Presidency College in Calcutta, they have got a grammar. > They have said the Sanskrit language is mother of all languages. They were > big English scholar, professor, Mr. Rowe and Webb. > >>> Ref. VedaBase => Room Conversation With Allen Ginsberg -- May 12, 1969, > Columbus, Ohio Srila Prabhupada wouldn't ultimately disagree with the assertion that whatever one quotes from these scholars can only be as authoritative as they were. I don't recall ever hearing Srila Prabhupada discuss any sort of "mother Sanskrit theory," but I would take it seriously if he says Sanskrit is the mother of all languages. You might be barking up the wrong tree. Why not see what the Vedic literatures themselves have to say about this? I haven't researched it at all, but what Srila Prabhupada said also seems to be implied (at least) in the Bhagavatam (3.12). MDd Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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