Sanskrit: the mother of all languages

[Guest guest]

> 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"?

 

I have never seen any contemporary academic support for the "Mother Sanskrit

Theory." It was, however, not only Sanskrit that has been claimed to be the

original language from which all others were derived:

 

"Namis€dhu commenting on Rudra˜a's K€vy€laˆk€ra (2.12), derives the word

Pr€krit from 'prakti' in the sense of natural speech free from the rules of

grammarians, or from 'pr€k kta,' 'created of old!' because, says he, the

Pr€krit of the šra canon, Ardha-M€gadh… is the language of the gods.

šrisavayaŠe siddham dev€naˆ Addham€gah€ v€Š…. Obviously Namis€dhu was a

Jain. The Jains indeed supposed that Ardha-M€gadh…, the language in which

Mah€v…ra preached, was the original language from which all others were

derived." (Alfred C. Woolner, Introduction to Prakrit, Delhi 1928)

 

ek