The relationship between culture and language is an intimate one, for language is the vehicle of human thought. Language determines a culture’s worldview.
As language changes, so religion changes. In the case of Hinduism, Sanskrit stood for millennia as the carrier of Vedic thought before its dominance gradually gave way to the vernacular languages that eventually became the modern day languages of India: Hindi, Gujarati, Bengali, Telugu, Kannada, and so on. Although the foundations of Hinduism are largely built on the vocabulary of Sanskrit, these modern languages are now the primary carriers of Hindu thought within India.
Sanskrit is regarded as the ancient language in Hinduism, where it was used as a means of communication and dialogue by the HinduCelestial Gods, and then by the Indo-Aryans. Sanskrit is also widely used in Jainism, Buddhism, and Sikhism. The term ‘Sanskrit’ is derived from the conjoining of the prefix ‘Sam’ meaning ‘samyak’ which indicates ‘entirely’, and ‘krit’ that indicates ‘done’. Thus, the name indicates perfectly or entirely done in terms of communication, reading, hearing, and the use of vocabulary to transcend and express an emotion. An extraordinarily complex language with a vast vocabulary, it is still widely used today in the reading of sacred texts and hymns.
The Sanskrit language was termed as Deva-Vani (‘Deva’ Gods - ‘Vani' language) as it was believed to have been generated by the god Brahma who passed it to the Rishis (sages) living in celestial abodes, who then communicated the same to their earthly disciples from where it spread on earth. The origin of the language in written form is traced back to the 2nd millennium BCE when the Rig Veda, a collection of sacred hymns, is assumed to have been written after being continued for centuries through oral tradition and preservation of verbal knowledge in the Guru-Disciple relationship. The purity of this version (Vedic period, 1500 – 500 BCE) of Sanskrit is doubtlessly reflected in the flamboyance of the perfect description of the forces of nature in the Rig Veda.
( ~ a sanskrit quote on life.)
Sanskrit in terms of its literary association is classified into two different periods, the Vedic and Classical. Vedic Sanskrit is found in the Vedas sacred texts, especially the Rig Veda, the Puranas, and the Upanishads, where the most original form of the language was used. The composition of the Vedas is traced to the period of 1000 to 500 BCE, until when Sanskrit had a vigorous tradition of being used consistently through oral communication. This early Sanskrit is rich in vocabulary, phonology, grammar, and syntax, which remains undiluted in its purity to this day. In all, the language is like an endless ocean without a base due to its reach, complexity, and hundreds of words to express a single meaning or object.
CLASSICAL SANSKRIT - ASHTADHYAYI
Classical Sanskrit has its origin in the end of the Vedic period when the Upanishads were the last sacred texts to be written down, after which PANINI, a descendant of Pani and a grammar and linguistic researcher, introduced the refined version of the language. Panini’s timeline is assumed to be around the 4th century BCE, when he introduced his work ‘Ashtadhyayi’, which means eight chapters, forming the only available foundational and analytical text of Sanskrit grammar. It is considered to be the only source of Sanskrit grammar and vocabulary today, because everything that existed before had never been recorded except via their mention in Panini’s Ashtadhyayi.
(~ A newspaper article on the great Sanskrit Linguistic - PANINI .)
The language is so vast that it has more than 250 words to describe rainfall, 67 words to describe water, and 65 words to describe earth, among other descriptions. This proves the magnanimity of Sanskrit when compared with current modern languages. However, different the sub-castes of Hinduism may be in their dialect, race, creed and rank - Sanskrit is considered and accepted as the only sacred language giving rise to the only available sacred literature by all, even though India has a repository of 5000 spoken languages. Panini was responsible for the standardisation of the language, which to this day remains in use in multiple forms. Sanskrit as a spoken language is rare and is spoken in some regions in India, some even claiming it as their first language, but it is proudly mentioned as one of the 14 original languages of India in its Constitution. It is largely used in Carnatic music in the form of bhajans, shlokas, stotras, and kirtanas, all indicating various hymns to the Gods, and songs and mantras of God worship.
INFLUENCE ON OTHER WORLD LANGUAGES
Sanskrit has had a major impact on other Indian languages, such as Hindi, which is presently one of the official languages of India, and Indo-Aryan languages such as Kannada and Malayalam. Thailand and Sri Lanka has been enormously influenced by Sanskrit and have many similarly sounding words. The Javanese language is another which has been influenced by Sanskrit, along with the modern language of Indonesia and traditional language of malay spoken in Malaysia. Filipino has a minor influence from Sanskrit, but less than that from Spanish, for example.
In the last century a new phenomenon has been occurring. Hinduism has begun to emerge in the West, and as Hinduism expands into the West, the emerging forms of this ancient tradition are naturally being reflected through the medium of Western languages, the most prominent of which is English.The differences between the Indian regional languages and Sanskrit are minuscule when compared to the differences between a Western language such as English and Sanskrit. English, the current modern international language has also been influenced by Sanskrit and has picked up many loanwords from the ancient language (for example 'primitive' from 'prachin', meaning historical, 'ambrosia' from 'amaruta' meaning food of the Gods, 'attack' from 'akramana' meaning taking aggressive action, 'path' from 'patha' meaning road or way, 'man' from 'manu' meaning a male human, 'nirvana' from 'nirvan' meaning divine liberation or transcendence, 'door' from 'dwar' meaning a doorway connecting two spaces, ''serpent' from 'sarpa' meaning snake, etc.) since both are considered as Indo-European languages.
The Sanskrit language has been the traditional means of communication in Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, and Sikhism. Sanskrit literature holds the privilege of being used in ancient poetry, drama, and sciences, as well as religious and philosophical texts. The language is believed to have been generated by observing the natural progression of sounds created in the human mouth, thus considering sound as an important element of language formation. This is one of the prime reasons why Sanskrit has been rich in poetry and its expressive quality of bringing out the best meaning through perfect sounds that are soothing to the human ear.
BUT WHY IS SANSKRIT KNOWN AS THE LANGUAGE OF GODS ? Come to know about the same by following our upcoming posts on the same subject.stay tuned !
