Sanskrit – a language of high origin and higher
values
Sanskrit – the classical language of the world
Forming the foundation of
many present-day languages of India, Sanskrit is the oldest language of this country. Even languages like Hindi
and Urdu owe its origin to Sanskrit. The earliest form of Sanskrit, known as Vedic, was the language of
communication of the Aryans. By 100 B.C., Sanskrit had died, but much like Latin in the West, it remained the
language of choice for poetry and drama in the royal courts. Sanskrit was also the foundation of many
scientific, philosophical and religious texts and theories.
Old is
Gold
Other than India, Sanskrit
is spoken in many parts of South and Southeast Asia. Buddhist scholars and monks of China, Japan, Thailand and
Vietnam are conversant in Sanskrit. As per official records available, in 1991, there were nearly 50,000 people
who were fluent in Sanskrit and approximately 200,000 people to whom Sanskrit was the second language according
to information available in 1961.
For
translating into Indian languages contact info@indianscripts.com
While Sanskrit can be
regarded as the core language of the Hindu religion, its origin is Indo-European. It is also the basis of other
religions like Buddhism and Jainism. A good parallel could be drawn between Sanskrit and Latin and Greek of
Europe. One of the official languages of India and one of the oldest known Indo-European
languages,
it has a documented
history which is close to 3500 years old.
Sanskrit – a language of high origin and higher values
Sanskrit has a rich origin and even richer usage. Used as the
primary language for many ancient religious and scientific theories and discourses in India, Sanskrit was never
conceived as just another language for communication. It was treated as a “refined” manner of speaking.
Consequently, fluency in the language was considered as a hallmark of higher social class and top-class
educational achievement, being taught mostly to Brahmins.
Sanskrit – linked to the world
Sanskrit is interestingly, linked to the other important
languages of the world, in the sense that it has startling resemblances to Latin, Ancient Greek, Avestan and
even Persian and German. Sanskrit forms a section
of Satem group of Indo-European languages, which includes the Iranian and the Balto-Slavic branch. Its
sub-section includes amongst others, Romani (spoken by gypsies).
Sanskrit & European Scholarship
Sanskrit played a crucial role in the development of Western
linguistics when Heinrich Roth and Johann Ernst Hanxleden, started the European Scholarship in Sanskrit. This
resulted in the commencement of the Indo-European language family by Sir William Jones.
Sanskrit & the Internet
Transliteration of Sanskrit language is being accomplished by
using the Latin alphabets since the 18th century. IAST
(International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration), the academic standard since 1912, is the system currently
in use. The evolution of ASCII-based
transliteration schemes, is primarily due to the problems faced in reproducing Sanskrit characters in computers.
These include Harvard-Kyoto and ITRANS, languages used widely in the Internet, especially e-mail.
Modern-day Sanskrit Use
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As is with Latin, Sanskrit has
had profound influence on most Indian languages. The religious chants recited by millions of Hindus are
all in Sanskrit, often in its original Vedic form. Almost all temple ceremonies are performed using
this language. The “pure” or “shuddha” form of many mainline Indian languages, like Bengali, Gujarati,
Marathi, Telugu and Hindi, have strong Sanskrit orientation.
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Malayalam, the official language
of Kerala, mixes a great deal of Sanskrit
vocabulary with Tamil grammar structure. Kannada, another South Indian language, also contains a lot of
words of Sanskrit origin. Sanskrit is
a widely revered language when it comes to
treating it as a medium of spiritual teachings for Hindus in India.
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Interestingly, the national
anthem as well as the national song of India is in pure Sanskrit.
Presence of Sanskrit outside India
One can find the presence and influence of Sanskrit amidst many
non-Indian languages. Thai language, for example has many words whose origin is Sanskrit. Ravana – the name of
the emperor of Sri Lanka in Thai is “Thoskonth”. Evidently the Sanskrit name for this King is Dashakanth (of ten
necks). The influence of the language extends as far as the Philippines.
Sanskrit in the West
A few examples of Sanskrit influence in the
Western world :
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For the Vorspiel auf dem Theater
in Faust, Goethe sought help from Kalidasa.
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Henry David Thoreau was an ardent
reader of the Bhagavad Gita.
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Scientists and scholars are known
to refer to undiscovered elements using Sanskrit prefixes.
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T.S. Eliot, a student of Indian
Philosophy ended The Waste Land with Sanskrit: "Shantih Shantih Shantih".
Sanskrit grammar has
always drawn the attention of scholars world over. Precise and extremely contemporary, Sanskrit remains
well-structured even today. Recently Sanskrit has
been adjudged as the best language for use with computers.
Sanskrit – a language of the heart
When it comes expressing
natural human emotions, experts of the Sanskrit language claim 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, or surprise , one can find the most appropriate words of expression in Sanskrit. For
translating into Indian languages contact info@indianscripts.com
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