Sanskrit

By-Mohit Manna
Sanskrit
India has given one of the first languages and scripts to world.
Sanskrit and Brahmi.
means refined, elaborated
Most of the western languages (about 56) have roots from Sanskrit
Germany accepts it proudly
One university dedicated to Sanskrit
14 top universities have courses
Indology department
 Best language for computers
Best grammar almost no ambiguity and precision
Paninian Grammar called Ashtadhyaiy
It has the worlds largest word bank
Is it the Mother of all Languages
group of languages related through descent from a common ancestral
language or parental language
Language Family:
Indo-European
Indo-Iranian
Indo-Aryan
Sanskrit

Sanskrit is oldest language of Indo- European Language Family

Proto-Indo-European is not attested by written records
Is it the Mother of Languages?
Greek & Roman grammarians noticed similarities
Tower of Babel
16th Century, Europeans visit Indian sub continent
Noticed similarities among Indo - Aryan, Iranian and European languages
In 1583, Thomas Stephens from Goa writes similarities between
Greek and Latin in his letter
In 1540 Filippo Sassetti found similarities between Sanskrit and Italian
E.g. Devah dio god, Sarpah serpe snake, seven, eight and nine
These observations were not further scholarly inquired
 In 1647, Marcus Zuerius van Boxhorn (Dutch)
Theorized Asian and European languages are derived from Scythian
Late 1760s, Gaston Coeurdoux made a thorough comparison
In 1786, Sir William Jones first lectured on three of the oldest
languages in his time: Latin, Greek and Sanskrit
In 1813, Thomas Young used the term Indo-European
In 1816 Franz Bopp wrote on the conjugational system
From here Indo-European studies begin
Sanskrit is the mother of most north- indian languages
Variants

Vedic Sanskrit Classical Sanskrit

Early 2nd Millenium BCE Around 4th Century BCE
Rigveda, Brahmanas & Developed from Vedic Sanskrit
Upanishads Ramayana, Mahabharata
Vernacular language* Synthetic / artificial language
Entirely religious profane aspect
Nature-worship Spirituality and karma
Based on accent Accent has no role
Sanskrit Literature
Vedas

Veda-knowledge from vid-to know 2nd -1st Mill. BC

Called as-apauruseyu, shruti and smriti Rigveda Samaveda Yajurveda Atharvaveda
Created by Brahma and some other Rishis
Samhitas
mantras and benedictions
Aranyakas Vedas
text on rituals, ceremonies, sacrifices and symbolic-sacrifices
Brahmanas Samhitas Aranyakas Brahmanas Upanishads Upasnas
commentaries on rituals, ceremonies and sacrifices
Upanishads
texts discussing meditation, philosophy and spiritual knowledge
Upasnas
worship
The Epics
Ramayana
By Valmiki
Orally transferred and written
later
300 versions
Mahabharata
Great Bharata (one of the longest
poetic work world wide)
By Vyasa
Earlier called Jaya(victory)
Bharata Samhita by Vaisampyana
Buddhist and Jainism works
Adopted Sanskrit during Kushan Empire
Earlier prakrit later pure classical Sanskrit
Buddhacarita by Avaghosh
Mahayana & Tantric Texts were written in Sanskrit
In Jainism
Tattvartha Sutra, Puranas, Kosh, Sravakacara, Nighantus etc.
Classical Sanskrit Literature
3rd to 8th Century CE
Drama
Natya Shastra (Scripture of Dance)
Kalidasa,Bhasa,Shudraka,asvaghosa etc. were noticeable writers
Scholarly Treatises
Indo-Greek contact, Astronomy & Mathematics by Aryabhatt
Story
Panchatantra, Hitopadesh,Katha-Sarit-Sagar etc.
Poets
Kalidasa, Bharvi, Magha, Sriharsha
Purans
5th -10th Century
Modern Literature
After Independence about 3000 works published
Sahitya Academic Award for Sanskrit
Satyavrat Shastri 2009, got Jananpith Award
We have Movies in Sanskrit
Out of 6 three have won National Awards
Aadi Shankarcharya (4) 1983
Bhagvad Gita(1) 1993
Kudiattam (1) 1987
Punyakoti is animated film
First 3D Sanskrit Movie Anurakti is going to be released in Feb 2018
Some libraries

Clay Sanskrit Library Murty Classical Library of India

New York University Press & JJC Started in January 2015
Foundation
Established by John P. and J. Clay
By $5.2 million gift from Rohan
Murty son of N.R. Narayan Murty
John Clay
From Queens College, Oxford Published by Harvard University
Degree in Sanskrit, Old Persian & Avestan Press
Worked for London Stock Exchange
Books with Original Sanskrit Text on left Sheldon Pollock
and English Translation on right side Scholar for Columbia University
56 volumes available on Kindle and iBook Worked earlier for CSL
as well as hardcopy
Only Paperback version
Where Sanskrit meets
Computer Science
And Role of CDAC
Dr. P. Ramanujan
Spent 7 years putting 30000 sutras from Sastras
Named it Sakala Sastra Sutra Kosa
Presented a paper in Delhi on Sanskrit and
Computers among professors of IIT
Used Flow Charts in Sanskrit
A programme for generation of nouns
Joined C-DAC, Pune in 1990 on recommendation
of President of India
Now , Programme Co-ordinator, Indian Heritage
Group- C-DAC, Bengaluru
DESIKA
A comprehensive package for generating and analyzing Sanskrit words
Developed by Dr. P. Ramanujan
What does it do?
Given a Sanskrit word
It gives hidden meaning, paradigm, ending type, base, number and case etc.
for nouns and verbs
Presented twice in Parliament before PM
Made a 73 by 26 matrix
today, all the Vedas have been rendered machine readable
TARKSHYA
Technology for Analysis of Rare Knowledge Systems for Harmonious
Youth Advancement
provides Sanskrit institutions across the country with high speed
connectivity
Three courses have been designed:
Vedic processing,
Sastras
manuscript processing (using Pandu-lipi Samshodaka )
References
https://books.google.co.in/books?id=QYxpvZLg4hAC&pg=PA1&redir_
esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vedic_Sanskrit
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vedic_and_Sanskrit_literature
Thank You