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| Sanskrit - A magical language | | | Ankush Sharma | 6/27/2019 11:21:16 PM |
| Sanskrit is a language of ancient India with more than 3500-year history and is the oldest Indo-European language still spoken. It is the primary liturgical language of Hinduism and the predominant language of most works of Hindu philosophy as well as some of the principal texts of Buddhism and Jainism.
However, Sanskrit has witnessed a steep decline since the British invasion and sadly the process is still on even after independence. Today, Sanskrit is restricted to few mantras in the Hindu tradition and is sadly being treated as a religious language only. Its greatness is little known to common people. So let's explore various aspects related to Sanskrit which makes it a great language.
There are hundreds of articles on the internet which claim that NASA has termed Sanskrit as the most suitable language for computers. So I searched various official websites but I couldn't find anything substantive except an article in a national newspaper talking about NASA to start the use of Sanskrit as a computer language. Besides this, Sanskrit has a lot to offer and it doesn't need a stamp of the west to be great.
Do you know that there is no need for a particular sentence structure in Sanskrit? Like, In English: - Subject + Verb + Object. For E.g. - I am writing an answer. But in Sanskrit, there is no need for particular sentence structure.
The Sanskrit language has a vast vocabulary. A single word can have hundreds of synonyms. For example, Elephant word is said to have 4000 synonyms in Sanskrit. Few examples are
Now let's talk about an amazing poet and Author who lived in King Varmalata's court at Shrimala, named "Magha". He was an expert in writing a whole Sloka with one-two-three-four consonants. Here is just an example from his book "Shishupala Vadha":-
In 66th stanza: he writes the whole sloka with only two consonants.
Above sloka translates as: The fearless elephant, who was like a burden to the earth because of its weight, whose sound was like a kettle-drum, and who was like a dark cloud, attacked the enemy elephant.
In 144th stanza, he writes the whole sloka with only one consonant.
(Translation:- Sri Krishna, the giver of every boon, the scourge of the evil-minded, the purifier, the one whose arms can annihilate the wicked who cause suffering to others, shot his pain-causing arrow at the enemy.)
Also, he was an expert in writing palindromes. In the stanza below, the words written with underline will exactly get reversed in the line with no underline. He writes in the 44th stanza:-
(Translation: - It is very difficult to face this army which is endowed with elephants as big as mountains. This is a very great army and the shouting of frightened people is heard. It has slain its enemies.)
There is a lot more such innovations in the slokas in the "Shishupala Vadha". It is easily available in Wikipedia.
Have you heard about any book which can give you a different story when you read it from backward? Here is a book Sri Raghava Yadhaveeyam. This book is written in such a way that you will enjoy the story of Rama when you read it in a forward way while you will enjoy the story of Krishna when you read it from backward.
(Translation:- I pay my obeisance to Lord Shri Rama, who with his heart pining for Sita, traveled across the Sahyadri Hills and returned to Ayodhya after killing Ravana and sported with his consort, Sita, in Ayodhya for a long time.)
(Translation:- I bow to Lord Shri Krishna, whose chest is the sporting resort of Shri Lakshmi; who is fit to be contemplated through penance and sacrifice, who fondles Rukmani and his other consorts and who is worshipped by the gopis, and who is decked with jewels radiating splendor.)
Further Sanskrit is a language which is used as Speech Therapy. Sanskrit has five different classes of the word - Kanthya (Spoken from the throat), Talavya (Spoken while touching tongue to the jaw), Dantya (Spoken while touching tongue to teeth), Murdhanya (Spoken by twisting tongue), Ostya (Spoken by lips).
Research has shown that the phonetics of this language has roots in various energy points of the body or energy Chakras, reading speaking and reciting Sanskrit stimulates these points and raises the energy levels whereby help in illness resistance, relaxation of mind, etc. It also uses all the nerves of the tongue providing various benefits.
Learning of Sanskrit improves brain functioning and reduces stress level. Recent research has shown that chanting Gayatri Mantra has great effects on the brain when spoken in Sanskrit. Research also included participants who chanted the same mantra in its English translation, which didn't bring any considerable effect. This is why many western schools have made Sanskrit compulsory like James Junior School London. The same trend is witnessed in Canada, Ireland, Germany, etc.
It's been our habit to question everything which originated in our country and meanwhile accepting blindly everything coming from the west. Sanskrit is gaining popularity in the west, so let's not wait till west export it back to us. It's high time that all Indians come together and promote Sanskrit. |
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