Tuesday 30 April 2013

Why an Indian Must Learn a 'Dead Language' Called Sanskrit

"If I was asked what is the greatest treasure which India possesses and what is her greatest heritage, I would answer unhesitatingly that it is the Sanskrit language and literature and all that it contains. This is a magnificent inheritance, and so long as this endures and influences the life of our people, so long will the basic genius of India continue."
---  Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (Quoted from The Discovery of India)

Starting an article which will deal with the need of Sanskrit (संस्कृत) education with a quote of Pandit Nehru, I think a good idea. I am not saying (neither agreeing, nor denying) that he is the best person around the globe to comment on it. But I think, if I do so, at least, people would not label me as a 'biased' or communal person. Yes, today 'Sanskrit' is also a communal word  like 'Saffron'- the credit obviously goes to the some of the eminent columnists and journalists. (I often wonder how easily something can be tagged with 'communal' or 'secular' in today's India; but lets not go into that right now. Let us first focus on our core issue).

Rigveda in Devanagari Script
Rigveda in Devanagari (image via Wikipedia)
There are debates (probably more than enough to confuse anyone) on whether Sanskrit can be called a dead language or not. Many a scholar has given their own outlooks. And almost every opinion added a new dimension to the problem and made it more critical to solve.

 Prof. Sheldon Pollock was the famous one who tried to prove that Sanskrit is a dead language and tried to discover the reasons behind it in his paper "The Death of Sanskrit". He wrote on the very first paragraph of it: 

  "In the age of Hindu identity politics (Hindutva) inaugurated in the 1990s by the ascendancy of the Indian People's Party (Bharatiya Janata Party) and its ideological auxiliary, the World Hindu Council (Vishwa Hindu Parishad), Indian cultural and religious nationalism has been promulgating ever more distorted images of India's past. Few things are as central to this revisionism as Sanskrit, the dominant culture language of precolonial southern Asia outside the Persianate order. Hindutva propagandists have sought to show, for example, that Sanskrit was indigenous to India, and they purport to decipher Indus Valley seals to prove its presence two millennia before it actually came into existence. In a farcical repetition of Romantic myths of primevality, Sanskrit is considered—according to the characteristic hyperbole of the VHP—the source and sole preserver of world culture." 
He had identified four major reasons (or cases, to be specific) behind this 'death' - 
  • The disappearance of Sanskrit literature in Kashmir. 
  • The decreased use of it in sixteenth-century Vijayanagara.
  • The short-lived moment of modernity of Sanskrit at the Mughal court in mid-seventeenth-century Delhi. 
  • It's loss of importance completely in Bengal on the eve of colonialism.

He even compared this scenario with the death of Latin  - 
Both died slowly, and earliest as a vehicle of literary expression, while much longer retaining significance for learned discourse with its universalist claims. Both were subject to periodic renewals or forced rebirths, sometimes in connection with a politics of translocal aspiration... At the same time... both came to be ever more exclusively associated with narrow forms of religion and priestcraft, despite centuries of a secular aesthetic.
 [The complete paper can be downloaded for free from Columbia University Website. I may not agree with him, but I have to say, it is an interesting read] 

Obviously, there is a class of scholar who very strongly objected Prof. Pollock's view. The most noted criticism probably came from Prof. J. Hanneder. He explicitly wrote in his paper On "The Death of Sanskrit"  (published in Indo-Iranian Journal) 
On a more public level the statement that Sanskrit is a dead language is misleading, for Sanskrit is quite obviously not as dead as other dead languages and the fact that it is spoken, written and read will probably convince most people that it cannot be a dead language in the most common usage of the term. Pollock’s notion of the “death of Sanskrit” remains in this unclear realm between academia and public opinion when he says that “most observers would agree that, in some crucial way, Sanskrit is dead”

[This paper may seems to be more fascinating for someone, but unfortunately subscriber access to Indo-Iranian Journal is necessary to read this.]

Again, noted scholar (UC Berkeley alum) and President medal winner Ram Karan Sharma also thinks that it is quite unjustified to label Sanskrit as a dead language. He said during a national convention on "Sanskrit language, literature and education" organised by Bihar Sanskrit Shiksha Board

 "...not withstanding the fact that Sanskrit has been used from time immemorial, even now Bihar's languages and dialects are using Sanskritic derivatives, like "eso" in Bhojpuri comes from the Sanskrit word "aishmah" and "chichiana" (again Bhojpuri) from the Sanskrit word "shishyanan" referring to fire, although few people can correlate the two easily. This can be found in all Indian languages."

 But discussing on which opinion is to be voted up, is the last thing that I want to do with this piece of post (As I believe, a blog is hardly a suitable place to criticize some peer-reviewed content). I have put the points and counter-points only to prove that there is still huge scope of discussion in this question. For the sake of further discussion here, let me agree with intellectuals like Prof. Pollock up to this point i.e. they have done an absolutely right job by labeling Sanskrit as 'dead language'. 

But, if we explore Prof. Pollock's article some more, we would see, during his venture to discover the reasons of that death, he has gone beyond this. His points are - 

1.  Sanskrit is dead as it is hardly used today.

2. After the period of Zain-ul-Abidin creation of original literary verse in Sanskrit became rare. It was reduced to reinscription and restatements of ideas already explored, and any creativity in Sanskrit was restricted to hymns. It indicates the 'brain-death' of Sanskrit. In his words,
What was lost was something more elusive but more central to the life of a culture: the ability to create new literature.
3. Sanskrit is a out-of-date language which cannot go with today's world. Or even it is used, that would be limited to literary verses and nothing else). He tried to provide logic behind this also. For example, in one place, he wrote - 
During the course of this vernacular millennium, as I have called it, Sanskrit, the idiom of a cosmopolitan literature, gradually died, in part because cosmopolitan talk made less and less sense in an increasingly regionalized world. 
Now my main objection is here. From now onward, we will try to find out why we cannot be satisfied with his third argument, why we have to revive Sanskrit even if we consider it as a 'dead language' and why Sanskrit is a MUST, even in this twenty first century. 


advantages of sanskrit language


Brain Exercise - Advantage of Devanagari Script:


 The first point which gives Sanskrit an edge over many other languages is its script. Usually Sanskrit is written in Devanagari. A recent research by the scientists of National Brain Research Centre (NBRC) have discovered that reading Devanagari involves more areas of human brain than Roman Scripts (please note, English uses a roman script). That means learning Sanskrit is a good exercise for human brain.According to them, In Devanagari, consonants are written in a linear left-to-right order and vowel signs are positioned above, below or on either side of the consonants. As a result, the vowel precedes the consonant in writing certain words but follows it in speech making it a unique script. "Our results suggest bilateral activation-participation from both left and right hemispheres of the brain-for reading phrases in Devanagari", they concluded [Source: India Today Report].



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Knowledge of Sanskrit Helps One in Learning English: 


It is now seen that knowledge in Sanskrit accelerates the learning of English (Please note, though we had strongly advocated for vernacular as the medium of instruction in school level previously, we never deny the importance of English at a time when we are residing in a global village). This news may astonish someone on the first glance. But, we need to keep in mind that  it has a perfect grammar and nicely-built structure. Once KWH Schlegel, an eminent German critic, said (in his book History of Literature, p. 117) -"Justly it is called Sanskrit, i.e. perfected, finished.....The Sanskrit combines these various qualities, possessed separately by other tongues: Grecian copiousness, deep-toned Roman force, the divine afflatus characterizing the Hebrew tongue."

 Probably, that's why if someone learn Sanskrit properly, he can learn English quickly. Ficino School in Mt Eden area of Auckland (a school in New Zealand) has experimented with it and found that Sanskrit provides a roadmap for understanding English. Besides giving a clear view of the structure of language, it also heightens "their awareness of the process of speech, creating a greater understanding of and ability to, enunciate words clearly."

We can shift our look from southern hemisphere to northern, but scenario doesn't change at all. As St. James School (a school at London where Sanskrit is compulsory at the age of 11) teacher tells, apart from the fact that the children are immensely benefited afterwards in learning English , the  most note-worthy point is they ENJOY learning Sanskrit. Though I have not experimented with a pool of students, still from my personal experience, I can bet, not only for English, but the learning curve for Bengali or Hindi would be easy for a child if he learn Sanskrit first.

One Step Towards Spiritual Upliftment: 


The advantage of learning Sanskrit is obviously not limited to the advantage of learning English. In fact, it is a bold step towards becoming a 'perfect man'. Quoting Rutger Kortenhorst, a Sanskrit teacher in the John Scottus School in Dublin, we can advice any parent:
"The qualities of Sanskrit will become the qualities of your child- that is the mind and heart of your child will become beautiful, precise and reliableSanskrit automatically teaches your child and anybody else studying it to pay FINE attention due to its uncanny precision. When the precision is there the experience is, that it feels uplifting. It makes you happy. It is not difficult even for a beginner to experience this. All you have to do is fine-tune your attention and like music you are drawn in and uplifted. This precision of attention serves all subjects, areas and activities of life both while in school and for the rest of life." (Courtesy: Dr. Anuradha Chaudry).


Practical Advantages: 


If someone does not know Sanskrit, he is obviously missing something. He cannot get the clear perspective of Vedas, Geeta, Upanishads, Ramayana, Mahabharata, Arthashashtra and many other books, which are till regarded as the finest piece by a large portion of our society (Translated versions almost always create a wall behind the reader and the original book).

Even to be a master of subjects like Ayurvedic Medicine, Yoga, Indian philosophy, Vedic Mathematics or Astrology, one need to know Sanskrit to some extent.


Sanskrit - the Best Language for Computer:


 Yes, one can be astonished, but this is probably true. In near future NASA is going to use Sanskrit as a computer Language.
NASA to use Sanskrit as Computer Language
NASA is Going to use Sanskrit as Computer Language

NASA scientist Rick Briggs discussed why Sanskrit is one of the best language for use in computer long ago (in 1985) in his paper Knowledge Representation in Sanskrit and Artificial Intelligence. According to him, Sanskrit is the natural language in which a message can be sent by the computer in the least number   of words. Three excerpts from that paper, I find particularly worth-mentioning.
            


*
There is at least one language, Sanskrit, which for the duration of almost 1000 years was a living spoken language with a considerable literature of its own Besides works of literary value, there was a long philosophical and grammatical tradition that has continued to exist with undiminished vigor until the present century. Among the accomplishments of the grammarians can be reckoned a method for paraphrasing Sanskrit in a manner that is identical not only in essence but in with current work in Artificial Intelligence...a natural language can serve as an artificial language also, and that much work in AI has been reinventing a wheel millenia old.


**...The reasoning of these authors is couched in a style of language that had been developed especially to formulate logical relations with scientific precision. It is a terse, very condensed form of Sanskrit, which paradoxically at times becomes so abstruse that a commentary is necessary to clarify it.


***It should be pointed out that these Sanskrit Grammatical Scientists actually wrote and talked this way. The domain for this type of language was the equivalent of today's technical journals. In their ancient journals and in verbal communication with each other they used this specific, unambiguous form of Sanskrit in a remarkably concise way.


Sanskrit as a Career Option: 


Sanskrit is recognized as 'mother of all languages' throughout the greater portion of the world. Even if you aiming for a bright career only, Sanskrit can provide it, till today. Harvard to Cambridge, Oxford to Trinity college Dublin - you can end up with a faculty post in some highly ranked universities.


Mode of Hindu Survival: 


Sanskrit and only Sanskrit is the language which should bubbles up in our mind  even if we merely think about Hindu Survival. Probably, it is needless to mention that if Hindus want to revive their past glory, the first thing which comes into mind is the unification of Hindus. And if Hindus really want to think that "Our sole identity is we are Hindu", they need some common points. Only religion and some rituals cannot satisfy the criteria. And the first common platform where all Hindus have to arrive is the Language (If someone consider Bangladesh Liberation War, he would get a clear perspective on how language matters). And this language cannot be anything but Sanskrit.

One may question - Why not Hindi, Bengali, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu or something like that. The answer lies in the question itself. Which one you would choose? Apparently the best option is obviously Hindi (with may be Bengali with a ~83 million native speakers).

 First we remember that day, when Dr. Rajendra Prasad, cast the deciding vote in favor of Hindi (as the link language) in the Constituent Assembly , to the detriment of the other candidate, Sanskrit. But if we see at the national and international picture, we can easily identify that Hindi is NOT well-accepted in a large portion of Hindus. Till today, the greater portion of educated speakers of Bengali, Telugu or Tamil consider Hindi as a vulgar language. That's why most of the Hindu children whose mother-tongue is not Hindi, didn't go for Hindi education. And they also question - Why should I learn Hindi? Is it better than my mother-tongue? 

The case is worst for mixed families (pretty common practice today if someone considers the NRI families). Their child often don't know any Indian Language. They learn English only, which is basically a Foreign Language. If we want to introduce another languages, unmistakably it would be a massive failure. But Sanskrit may not be. 

The greater portion of Hindus still have enough sympathy for Sanskrit. And, for almost all Hindus, learning Sanskrit is a difficult or easy job to the same extent. Dr. Koenraad Elst rightly said in his article "Hindu Survival: What Is to Be Done"
 Still Sanskrit is the only chance the lovers of India have. Hindi failed, and English will only weaken Indian unity, apart  from being an utterly undignified choice of link language.



In fact, if you extend our discussion a bit, we can discover that Sanskrit is not only a way of Hindu Survival, rather it is the best option for national language. Let me quote 
Naziruddin Ahmed, a Muslim League leader, who openly advocated for Sanskrit - 

“I offer you a language which is the grandest and the greatest, and it is impartially difficult, equally difficult for all to learn."

 [Source: Constituent Assembly Debates 1334, quoted in Ramaswamy, 354-355, via 
International Forum for India's Heritage]

There are many strong arguments in favor of  Sanskrit. And I think, most of them are nicely discussed in a chapter of 'The Wonder That was Sanskrit' book. In a paperProf. Makarand Paranjape (Professor of English at JNU) also finely tried to establish the case of Sanskrit as India's national Language. I have tried to sum-up the arguments:


  • Only a language that is native to a country, that is, a language that has taken birth and developed in a particular country, can be the national language of that country. English, though wide-spread, doesn't satisfy this criteria.


  • India's national language has to be one which is not regional. Sanskrit is alone non-regional. No province or state or people can claim it as its own.

  •  Though Sanskrit has no regional identity, still it had served as a link-language. English cannot be the binding force between well-educated and illiterate India. Again, Hindi also can create mere division. Between native and non-native Hindi speakers. 
  • Again, in contradistinction to English, Sanskrit is the “mother” of most Indian tongues. All these including Tamil have a large percentage of words derived from Sanskrit. Sanskrit through the well known processes of Tatsam (words borrowed as they are from Sanskrit) and Tadbhava (words derived from Sanskrit but modified), it is estimated that almost 70% of the words of most modern Indian languages are from Sanskrit. That is why it is possible for people in India from different parts of India to understand each other even if they speak different languages. After all, there is a common vocabulary not to speak of a great deal of similarities in syntax. 
  • Sanskrit is change with the times, and it can produce an infinite variety of new words. Again these words can enrich the vocabulary of modern Indian languages.  

A table on that paper simply nailed all Sanskrit-phobic childish arguments. It is really worth sharing [So, I took a screenshot of that and adding it here]

Sanskrit is not a dead language


In conclusion, we can say that it is Sanskrit which can be the common platform of communication. Through it, we can feel that we, Indians, irrespective of cast, creed or religion are brothers. And at the same time, we can take pride in our magnificent past culture. So, Sanskrit is not basically the best option, rather it is the ONLY option. In the current situation, where none has "national language of India" tag, Govt. of India should put it on Sanskrit. And of course, sooner is better.  



Now, considering the entire scenario, in my opinion, it would be a sin, if someone, being an Indian, doesn't learn Sanskrit or show enough audacity to to neglect it's importance. But, this is one of the common practices among a section of shameless Indians. But, that is a different story. And we will discuss that in detail in the next article.


45 comments:

  1. Nice article hm... Sanskrit as National Language of India is really a good Idea .Sound very strong on paper but very hard in reality .I mean How you gonna teach a language to 1.2 Billions peoples ?? we.are teaching English from last 66 years and still around 11.3 percent of our population can speak it properly .If Sanskrit became national language the first problem will come is how to use it for official purposes for like preparing official document and Official communication .It will just became a language to do translation and some translator will get job from it .Hindi is far more better option because lots of peoples know it .And we need to decrease feeling of regionalism and mentality to do slavery of English .Hindi is now widely spoken in India and with just little push it can became national language easily.I am Gujarati speaker but will prefer Hindi over Sanskrit any day .

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    1. Dear Anon,
      Thanks a lot for your comment. Now here goes my response:

      1. Regarding difficulty in learning: Learning of English is an "eat-the-frog" type job for most of the Indians, Very true. On the other hand, Hindi learning is far easier. Because, it has similarity with most of the Indian Languages (in your case, the analogy between Hindi and Gujarati make you comfortable with Hindi). Trust me, if any Indian start learning Sanskrit he would see, he can learn it much faster than English. The logic is same (Please remember, it the mother of all Indian Languages). Additionally Sanskrit has an unique advantage of being highly rule-oriented. So, I think it would not be a major problem.

      2. Regarding Hindi as national Language: Of course, Hindi would be probably a better than English. But, just one point - Large number of Indians (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_with_official_status_in_India#Eighth_Schedule_to_the_Constitution) simply hate Hindi. Go to Tamil Nadu, Karnataka or even West Bengal, the educated class, as well as the illiterate mass, consider Hindi as vulgar. But this is not the case for Sanskrit. Almost all Indians have a open or secret respect for it. Sanskrit simply knocks out Hindi in this respect.

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    2. If people can learn how to read and write Sanskrit, then automatically they will be able to read and write Hindi to most extent because both of them share the same script.

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    3. dear anon

      script is same but now proper hindi is not spoken in almost many part of the country because hindi got mixed up with urdu and got a new form which is not understandable by many people of the country,,,but sanskrit is still pure and divine as it was

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    4. very good quote

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  2. A very well written and well-researched article. Keep it up :)

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    Replies
    1. I have done graduate. After reading this article I am thinking why I was not taught Sanskrit language in my early days. I have missed a precious thing and in my local there's no good and well learned Sanskrit teacher so that I can learn. Students are not eager to learn Sanskrit as it is not taught in a manner so that they can understand and find interest in it. I always tried to encourage them to learn Sanskrit and its importance. I have a wish I don't like to die before mastering Sanskrit language. I want to be an ias officer but before appearing I will surely learn Sanskrit. Is there any Sanskrit scholar in North east region

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  3. Reasons put forth in this article emphasizing the need to learn Samskrutham language are true and can never be questioned!...Definitely it is not a dead language!!...It has survived many a millenniums and has an inbuilt mechanism for its survival!!...It has produced Rishies, Monks, Scientists and Politicians of highest repute whose works and valour would vouchafe the greatness of this language!!!...Because those people were greatly influenced by this great language of Hindustan!...'Samskrutham' is definitely the greatest gift of Hindustan to this entire Universe!
    Regarding Hindustan's National Language, let us not raise the topic now. A national language will evolve automatically in due course of time. Let us spend more money and man power in popularizing this great language 'Samskrutham'! Let the Rulers of Hindustan and the World understand the greatness of this language!
    I am not happy with the title of the article. The present title does not convey the purpose of the article explicitly.
    Kudos to the great effort of the author!!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I have completed OCR of 577 pages of Discovery of India and do not find the quote attributed to Pandit Nehru ji.. I do not find match for string "was asked" in the 38,000 lines of text.

    This is not at all to say Pandit Jawaharlalji did not know the greatness of Sanskrit and its great unifying force in India. My point is "his exact words spelling out his concept" is a thing of heritage not what somebody else says he thinks he said...

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  5. popular modern thought is that there is a great big divide - a dichotomy between "science and technology" and "sanskrit, traditions and beliefs" That both are anti thesis to each other.

    This, is a great fallacy arising out of little knowledge of either "science" or "Bharath's traditions, sanskrit and languages and its culture"

    The dichotomy and ignorance can be dispelled only by learning both. And most importantly taking what you can understand from science and technology and "Bharath's traditions, sanskrit and languages and its culture" and using it for prosperity for yourself in your time AND PRESERVING WHAT YOU OBTAINED AND PASSING IT ON TO THE FUTUR IN ITS ENTIRETY - NO ADDITIONS OR DETRACTIONS.

    The future child should not be denied its rights to understand what it can. And believe me they can understand a lot more than any generation could.

    yatho abhyudhAyah niHshreyasa siddhi sa dharmaH - vaisheshika sutram . RuShi kanAda

    regards

    ReplyDelete
  6. Excerpts Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru - Discovery of India

    "One of our major misfortunes is that we have lost so much of
    the world’s ancient literature-in Greece, in India, and else-
    where. Probably this was inevitable as these books were origi-
    nally written on plam-leaves or on bhojapatra, the thin layers
    of the bark of the birch tree which peel off so easily, and later
    on paper. There were only a few copies of a work in existence
    and if they were lost or destroyed, that work disappeared, and
    it can only be traced by references to it, or quotations from it,
    in other books. Even so, about fifty or sixty thousand manus-
    cripts in Sanskrit or its variations have already been traced and
    listed and fresh discoveries are being constantly made. Many old
    Indian books have so far not been found in India at all but
    their translations in Chinese or Tibetan have been discovered.
    Probably an organized search for old manuscripts in the libraries
    of religious institutions, monasteries and private persons would

    Page - 96

    yield rich results. That, and the critical examination of these
    manuscripts and, where considered desirable, their publication
    and translation, are among the many things we have to do in
    India when we succeed in breaking through our shackles and
    can function for ourselves. Such study is bound to throw light
    on many phases of Indian history and especially on the social
    background behind historic events and changing ideas. The fact
    that in spite of repeated losses and destruction, and without any
    organized attempt to discover them, over fifty thousand manus-
    cripts have been brought out, shows how extra-ordinarily abun-
    dant must have been the literary, dramatic, philosophical and
    other productions of old times. Many of the manuscripts dis-
    covered still await thorough examination.

    Among the books that have been lost is the entire literature
    on materialism which followed the period of the early Upani-
    shads. The only references to this, now found, are in criticisms
    of it and in elaborate attempts to disprove the materialist theories.
    There can be no doubt, however, that the materialist philosophy
    was professed in India for centuries and had, at the time, a powerful
    influence on the people. In the famous Arthashittra, Kautilya’s
    book on political and economic organization, written in the fourth
    century B.C., it is mentioned as one of the major philosophies of
    India.

    We have then to rely on the critics and persons interested in
    disparaging this philosophy, and they try to pour ridicule on it
    and show how absurd it all is. That is an unfortunate way for
    us to find out what it was. Yet their very eagerness to discredit
    it shows how important it was in their eyes."

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  7. Dead Language?! Dead Concepts? MY FOOT! HappyLinked© Monier-Williams Sanskrit Dictionary 1899 is world's first goodbye to electronic glue and huge PDFs published in 2012.

    http://templates.services.openoffice.org/en/node/9019

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  8. Wonderful and very well researched article! Congratulations for a nice article... dhanyawaadah ..

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  9. @sleeping8: Pandit Nehru said it. It is a very famous quote. Read this report on Indian Express: "BJP demands restoration of Sanskrit's glory, opening Central Varsity for it".

    There are other sources as well:

    1. "Madras Sanskrit College Website"

    2. "An Old report of Hindustan Times"
    (accessed via web.archive.org)

    3. "SC Judgement, as mentioned on IFIH website"


    From the next time, please don't believe on OCR blindly.

    @Anon: Thank you.

    PS: Sorry for publishing comments after quite some time. Was busy with some other stuffs.

    Regards,
    Editor-in-Chief,
    The Analyst.

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  10. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete
  11. It is an excellent article. We think, there are lot of misgivings about Sanskrit due to a deliberate misinformation campaign about the language and its origins.

    Even though Sanskrit has been acknowledged as a language that transcends culture and religion, throughout the world, in India and more unfortunately, in Tamilnadu, it has been identified as the language of God and associated with only a class of people. With sustained efforts from various individuals and institutions , hopefully, misconceptions about the language will be cleared.

    Our site www.Sanskritroots.com is oriented to complement the efforts of various organizations and institutions encouraging study and use of Sanskrit. As part of our effort to address the Tamil speaking population, We have created a list of 1000+ Sanskrit words which are used on a regular basis in day-to-day Tamil language in both spoken and written forms. We are in the process of updating this list, on a regular basis.

    The file is available under the heading ‘Sanskrit Words in Tamil’ at the following address
    http://sanskritroots.com/sanskrit-and-tamil/


    In the present list of 1000+ words in Sanskrit and Tamil, we could identify approximately 800+ words in Hindi, which share similar phonetics and meaning to the above two languages.

    We are in the process of identifying and updating the corresponding words in Bengali, Gujarati, Marathi etc.,

    The objective behind the above effort is to enable Tamil students to understand, how they are already familiar with words which are used in other languages, as well. With a bit of extra effort, they can clearly master many other Indian languages.

    A brief note on why Tamilians should study Sanskrit is also available at the following address. http://sanskritroots.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/why_tamilians_should_know_sanskrit.pdf

    The site also contains opinions on Sanskrit and Tamil by learned scholars like Dr. Ambedkar, Mahatma Gandhi, Swami Vivekananda, Dr. Abdulkalam and others.

    A separate section on Sanskrit words used in Tamil literature and writings, spanning varied time horizons, is also being updated on a regular basis.

    We solicit your feedback and comments to tune up the effort. Our efforts are oriented to enable our present and future generations to appreciate, preserve and promote our rich linguistic legacy.


    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. An initiative that worth a salute. Kudos!

      However, I personally think, there are scopes of development (technical as well as content). Creating a static site on wordpress.com is probably not a very good option.

      If you seriously want our detailed review, please let us know.


      Thanks and Regards,
      Editor-in-Chief,
      The Analyst.



      Delete
  12. WHATS THE IMPORTANCE OF LEARNING SANSKRIT LANGUAGE???????????????????????

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    Replies
    1. u will know the importance of any language, when u learn it first. So please have the patience and decency to learn it first, and then question it's significance.

      Delete
  13. Friends- Fine i agree its a mother of all languages, its good

    But, I want to know Why we impose Sanskrit in schools? Why cant we replace sanskrit subject by some fruitfull subject like mental education ??

    I believe Sanskrit is not spoken in any part of the world, so why cant we take it as optional subject?

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  14. Mr. Anonymous u rise a very good question of how would one teach sanskrit to 1.2 billion people. Here is a idea that I am presenting that would solve the dilemma of teaching sanskrit to the indian population.
    1. Instead of forcing sanskrit upon the grown up masses, our government should introduce sanskrit as the 1st language for the young students (i mean students studying in 5th and 6th standard, cause learning the basics of sanskrit requires a little bit of maturity), and when these youngsters grow up and join the various walks of life, by this time many people would have learned sanskrit, sanskrit can be made our national language.
    2. Coming to my second point about secularism, our government should make compulsory that each person should learn their respective mother tongue right from early walks of their life. Parents should start teaching their child their mother tongue right from early walks of their child's life such that by the time he/she starts to learn sanskrit, they would have gained speakable efficiency in their mother tongue, and they should gain proficiency in their mother tongue along with sanskrit. As for the case were parents have different mother tongue (for example one parent speaks kannada and other speaks tamil) the parents, instead of forcing their mother tongue down their childs throat, they should influence and strengthen the childs morals and intellegence so that when the child grows up he/she would have, on their own, gained respectable efficiency over both the parents mother tongue and also would have learned sanskrit (which would have been thought to them at school). If a kid is unable to learn and process multiple languages due to personal natural/biological problems, he/she should be given the choice to learn the whichever language they feel comfortable (i mean either their mother tongue or the national language). The society that the respective child is growing up in should strive to help the child overcome its personal problems, so that the child can grow up to have a morally mature personality.
    3. Regarding the issue of global language, the need of a global language has been that of connectivity for various purposes like buisness, socialization, sharing of knowledge or international political affairs etc. with people from other countries. Now if u were to observe closely not everyone needs to learn a global language until and unless they have to or want to learn a language for either professional, hobby, or to connect with people leaving in other parts of the world and make oneself globalized.
    4. Last point and the most important one, teach a person how to think instead of what to think.
    I can quote many points but I am gonna stop with this. Please, whoever has read this, share the above points about how to teach sanskrit, gradually over time instead of enforcing it suddenly, to every single person in india. I mean sanskrit is without doubt a great language, but if one wants to make it India's national language, then he/she should first make sure that every single citizen of india has learnt the language.

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  17. अवश्यम्।

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  18. do you speak sanskrit?

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    1. Yes, sometimes.

      Note: We strongly discourage asking any personal question.

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  19. There is enormous fallacious and grandeous ideas presented. First of all, there is a claim that Sanskrit is / going to be used by NASA. This is just a misrepresentation. Then there is a claim that Sanskrit is the mother of all languages. This again is false. Scholars have categorically said that South Indian Languages are from a different tree, different base altogether. Not to acknowledge this shows short sightedness. Finally, Sanskrit would unite people is a fallacy. Firstly, it will not bring Christians and Muslims into the fold. It will not bring the Dalit people into the fold. It will not bring the Tamil people and a large section of people from the south as well as eastern parts into the fold. People are suspicious about the motives of the those who are promoting Sanskrit. I highly doubt it would fly. And, the costs would be enormously high.

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    1. With all due respect, I must say, you have no idea what you are talking about.

      a) "First of all, there is a claim that Sanskrit is / going to be used by NASA. This is just a misrepresentation" : Proofs are already given inside the article. Please re-read the article (and better read the peer-reviewed paper mentioned inside the article) before commenting.

      b) "Scholars have categorically said that South Indian Languages are from a different tree, different base altogether. Not to acknowledge this shows short sightedness." : From the next time you comment on this blog, please come with some good proof. Building castles in the air is strictly prohibited for any commentator on this blog. Who is that scholar? Where he has published? [For your kind information: Most of the vocabulary of all the Dravidian languages was borrowed from Sanskrit. Although, the sentence structure is bit different. Additionally, all Hindus, regardless of North or South Indian the are, use Sanskrit in rituals]. You can have a look here:

      http://www.quora.com/Why-do-Tamilians-not-accept-Sanskrit-as-the-language-from-which-most-of-the-lexicon-of-most-Indian-languages-are-derived/answer/Santhana-Krishnan-1

      c) "Firstly, it will not bring Christians and Muslims into the fold.It will not bring the Dalit people into the fold." : Okay, so, William Jones was a Hindu? Please come out from these stupid biases! You probably do not know, in many Madrasa, Sanskrit is taught as a language. Many muslims excelled in Sanskrit (One example: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Muslim-girl-tops-Sanskrit-PG-exam/articleshow/2100592.cms).

      And dalit can't learn Sanskrit, is simply an insult for them. They can and they do have a lot of respect for the language.

      Any Indian, can learn Sanskrit much faster that any other foreign languages. This is a simple fact.

      Note: Two of your comments were not published, because, they do not make any sense and kind of ad hominem.

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  21. sanskrit is the 100% pure language in the world. All language comes from it in the entire world. It is possible in India to speaking sanskrit by everyone, simply recognize the sanskrit in the schools from the initial level for the student as a compulsory subject till he/she last their education.

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  23. I like your sentiments and thoughts very much. May your tribe increase.

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  27. this is very good artical every indian must learn SANSKRIT language

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  28. this is very good artical every indian must be learn sanskrit language

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  29. India is a country with different cultures and people with different/ unique history. Sanskritization is not needed. Thousands of languages with rich history will be dominated. At this instance, people empowerment is the only one needed.

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  30. I came across your blog while looking for some education in India blogs and liked a lot. How amazing! I will keep an eye on your post.

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  31. I loved your blog. I am a fluent English Speaker and trying to get some knowledge about Sanskrit, especially after reading about NASA's plan to use Sanskrit as mother language for Artificial Intelligence. Loved it and now seriously trying to get a good hold of it.

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