Indiatime expresses concern at how Sanskrit has been discarded in India.
Linked by BA. Join Blogbharti facebook group.Although most Indians speak at least 2 languages, and many speak more than 3 or 4 fairly fluently, India has still managed to lose its most precious language, the language that was the origin of most of the Indian languages, and the language that Hinduism’s famous scriptures were written in. The way in which India has discarded Sanskrit, the very medium of our heritage, is an indication that even the rest of India’s languages will one day take the same route.
yes, it’s terribly sad that they stopped speaking telugu in aryavarta.
Hi BA, Nice pointer- esp. the contemporary context in which it was discussed. I think Sanskrit lost out not just to English, which came later, but even earlier to prakrit and pali too- as Sanskrit was restricted to upper class/ brahmins and not socially inclusive. It is not just about discarding a medium. (which in any case in Europe and elsewhere is making a comeback as a language to learn for many reasons one of it being it’s use in computer science!). It is also about discarding heritage- again which is a dirty word nowadays to some as part of some reverse snobbery but I do not wish to digress.
Any language- more commonly used, the better- how do we keep traditional knowledge going- how many maharashtrians you know have read Gyaneshwari in Marathi or other Indians have read the entire Bhagavad Geeta or any other book of some historical or cultural or religious significance even in Hindi or English or say, Tamil(I take these three languages as examples as I have some friends/knowledge of these three communities). I do know Bengalis who take great pride in learning and reading their language/culture. But for the large part cultural education starts and ends somewhere within the reams of Amar Chitra Katha-or we’d not know even Birbal, Nala Damayanti or Tales of Krishna. For me this is both a professional interest within the topic of managing knowledge and a personal one so pls. excuse the long comment!
P.S: btw, there is a village in Karnataka (http://www.hvk.org/articles/0203/35.html)where the villagers have made a conscious choice and lifestyle decision and speak only sanskrit as a medium of communication.
Kuffir - er, thanks for that comment.
Deepa - Fair points indeed, thanks for that comment! Wonder how much the coming generations would know of the languages then.
@Deepa
You say:
“how many maharashtrians you know have read Gyaneshwari in Marathi or other Indians have read the entire Bhagavad Geeta or any other book of some historical or cultural or religious significance even in Hindi or English or say, Tamil(I take these three languages as examples as I have some friends/knowledge of these three communities). I do know Bengalis who take great pride in learning and reading their language/culture.”
I believe the bengalis are reading more of ‘modern’ literature than books of “some historical or cultural or religious significance”
“But for the large part cultural education starts and ends somewhere within the reams of Amar Chitra Katha-or we’d not know even Birbal, Nala Damayanti or Tales of Krishna.”
From what I’ve observed, this rule applies more to urban households. People from small town UP are usually well versed with ‘modern’ hindi and urdu literature.
b.a.,
it doesn’t matter, i guess. wouldn’t have commented if the blogger hadn’t ignored the ugly paisachika legacy of india.
Absolutely, Sanskrit is remarkably structured, a testimony to the brilliance of its creators, and as compelling reason as any to sustain it and revive its usage.
I’m truly intrigued by Sage Panini’s ability and farsightedness in constructiong recursions, meta rules, and transformations in laying out Sanskrit’s grammar, which eventually came to be identified with the power of Turing machines, a no mean achievement considering that Sage Panini’s work pre-dated the Turing machine by thousands of years. Sanskrit’s phonetics, phonology, and morphology, now appear tailormade for the Computer Sciences, more for its mathematical precision.
Those people must have been geniuses, and what a remarkable heritage they left behind in Sanskrit.
SC: no quarrel with that. Unless otherwise mentioned, I speak only of places and people of Mumbai- often includes me, my family,friends et.al! Thanks anyway.