Sanskrit - Our crowning glory - by Karan Singh

[and/or www.mantra.com/jai]

Sanskrit - our crowning glory

By Karan Singh
The Hindustan Times
Monday, December 21, 1998

There are at least four good reasons why Sanskrit studies
need to be encouraged in this country and given an
appropriate place in our educational system.

First, as a classical language, Sanskrit is recognised as
being among the most remarkable to have emerged anywhere
on this planet during the entire course of human history.
Its grammatical structure is so exquisite, and its sonic
quality so superb, that it is universally recognised as
representing a high watermark of human linguistics.

It is not necessary to quote numerous Indian and foreign
scholars to support this view. Providing as it does the
foundation for most of the other Indian languages, it is
to them what Greek and Latin together are to most Western
languages.

Secondly it, represents, as it were, the great Himalayas
of our cultural life, towering as a magnificent testament
to the creativity and genius of the Indian mind. It is
rich with unbounded treasures -- the Ved, the Upanishad,
the Brahmana, the Aranyak, the Puraan, the Raamaayan, the
Mahaabhaarat and the Yog Shastr, which represent a
cultural and spiritual tradition unique in its scope,
depth and vitality, expressing the collective genius and
richness of Indian civilisation. It also needs to be
noted that Sanskrit has been enriched by people drawn
from virtually all the linguistic and regional entities
in India, from the mighty Himaalaya down to Kerala and
from Gujarat to Assam.

Though it was never the popular lingua franca, it quite
clearly provided the basis of our civilisational unity
which has survived incredible holocausts and
vicissitudes, and without which there could well have
been a dozen countries on the sub-continent in place of
one India. In fact, it would be correct to say that
Sanskrit is to Indian civilisation what Roman Catholicism
is to the Latin American or Islam to the Arabic
civilisations. In addition, the impact of Hindu and
Buddhist cultures on South and Southeast Asia took place
largely through Sanskrit texts which were later adapted
to the languages of those areas.

Thirdly, in literature, Sanskrit has produced outstanding
figures such as Kalidasa and Banabhatt, Bharavi and
Jaideva, Bhartrihari and Kalhan who can be compared to
any in the world. It is a misconception that Sanskrit is
concerned only with spiritual wisdom. Sanskrit texts
cover the entire gamut of human activity including
politics, economics, aesthetics, law, grammar, prosody,
psychology, mathematics, astrology, astronomy and
medicine, to name only a few. Many of these disciplines
are of immense importance in our contemporary situation.
The discovery of the ‘zero’, which emerged from the
concept of shunya (or void), was a defining event in the
growth of human knowledge. The very numerals that the
world uses today, known as Arabic numerals, flowed from
Sanskrit numbers. This is not to take the narrowly
chauvinistic attitude that seeks to trace all major
concepts back to India, but to single out the
incontrovertible contributions of Sanskrit to human
culture and civilisation of which we can be rightly
proud.

Fourthly, Sanskrit articulates significant global values.
The Vedanta, which represents the apogee of Indian
philosophy, is replete with concepts that are of
tremendous contemporary significance. Such seminal ideas
as the all-pervasiveness of the divine, the potential
divinity immanent in each human being regardless of race,
religion, caste or sex, the entire human race being an
extended family; all religions representing different
approaches to the same universal truth; the commitment to
the welfare and happiness of the masses and so on are
gaining increasing significance as our planet hurtles
into an indeterminate future.

These values, which are very much in harmony with the
values enshrined in our Constitution, need to be fully
understood and interiorised, a process in which Sanskrit
has a crucial role to play. The first two stanzas of our
national song Vande Mataram are in Sanskrit, as is our
national motto Satyameva Jayate. In the West, Latin and
Greek are still taught, not to propagate Paganism but
because they represent the very basis of Western
civilisation. Why should we in India deny to millions of
our citizens of their cultural heritage? Sanskrit should
be an optional language for those who may wish to explore
its many splendoured radiance; while alternate options
for studying Arabic and Persian should also be provided,
as these too are rich and powerful classical languages.

End of article by Karan Singh

Jai Maharaj
Jyotishi, Vedic Astrologer

"A king, though endowed with little prowess, starting on
an expedition at the proper time, in view of the good
positions of the planets, achieves greatness that is
eulogised in the scriptures." - Brhat Samhita, 104.60

Om Shanti

o o o

About the terrorist Goon Squad:

"Myself, Mallu. Yourself?" (V. Bhattathiri)
<KalluM...@gmail.com> tries his best to be a bully --
telling others what and when to post, where to post and
where not to post, deliberately publishing lies about
others, stalking and abusing them with hate speech -- but
fails miserably. He is really stressed out, and like his
lap dog Prem Thomas (who currently posts as "P. Rajah"
<us...@this.com>, and issues *death threats* to people),
is priming himself for conditions such as stroke and
heart disease. Others in the Goon Squad include
Dayashankar M. Joshi "DMJoshi" <jos...@gmail.com> who
displays unquestioning obedience to Goon Squad thugs, and
the instigator who posts as "Bholu" <bh...@hotmail.com

The Goon Squad currently posts most of their abuse
through eternal-september.org and by writing someone
else's name or handle in the "From:" header -- their
favorite now is "fana...@gmail.com" (note the extra "b"
and "gmail.com") to make it appear as if the posts are
from "fan...@aol.com", who has been a regular poster for
many years. -Updated on February 2, 2012-

o o o

o Not for commercial use. Solely to be fairly used
for the educational purposes of research and open
discussion. The contents of this post may not have been
authored by, and do not necessarily represent the opinion
of the poster. The contents are protected by copyright
law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

o If you send private e-mail to me, it will likely
not be read, considered or answered if it does not
contain your full legal name, current e-mail and postal
addresses, and live-voice telephone number.

o Posted for information and discussion. Views
expressed by others are not necessarily those of the
poster who may or may not have read the article.
FAIR USE NOTICE: This article may contain copyrighted
material the use of which may or may not have been
specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This
material is being made available in efforts to advance
the understanding of environmental, political, human
rights, economic, democratic, scientific, social, and
cultural, etc., issues. It is believed that this
constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material
as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law.
In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the
material on this site is distributed without profit to
those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving
the included information for research, comment,
discussion and educational purposes by subscribing to
USENET newsgroups or visiting web sites. For more
information go to:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml

If you wish to use copyrighted material from this article
for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you
must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

Since newsgroup posts are being removed by forgery by one
or more net terrorists, this post may be reposted several
times.