Sanskrit to be declared a dead language

[amala]

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Sanskrit is as prestigious as Tamizh which by the way is wayy wayy older.

 

[prasanth1]

It is the core of the other modern languages of the present world.

Bit of an exaggeration here. Buddhism carried some sanskrit-derived terms into Eastern Asia, and the fact that it is an Indo-European language ties it with several other languages of importance (like English) due to a common historical root. But "core of other modern languages" it is most certainly not.

 

[tbs]

hi
whenever SOORIYAN AND CHANDRAN there in earth.....sanskrit will alive....forms may change.....but its eternal language....

 

[mkrishna100]

Sanskrit is an excellent language but it needs to be taught in a way that kindles interest in people to study it in seriously . Teaching Sanskrit is both an art as well as Science .

 

[renuka]

Teaching Sanskrit is both an art as well as Science .

True...especially when one does splitting of Sandhi....you get the feel you are doing Mathematics.
It is so formula like and it's really fun doing it step wise..lots of plus and minus involved.

Frankly speaking I find no excuse when an Indian says they prefer singing Bhajans in their regional language than Sanskrit claiming they do not understand Sanskrit.

One can sing Bhajans in any language and make an extra effort to look up the meaning of the Sanskrit words.
After all in simple Sanskrit songs..the words used are not too different from regional language.

I will give a simple Bhajan.

Keshava, Madhava
Jaya Deva Madhusoodhana,
Netra Kamala Dala,
Ativa Manohara
Jaya Deva Madhusoodhana.


Ok..words like Keshava Madhava, Jaya, Deva and Madhusoodhana are used as names all around India.
I am sure people make an effort to find out the meanings of their names too.

Netra meaning eye is known to almost everyone who knows Tamil too.

Dala means Petal(those who know Hindi will know that this word is also found in Hindi as Dal in Hindi Bhajans)

Kamala is Lotus..same word in Tamil too.

Ativa means ..very/lots/excessive just like in Tamil அதிகம்.

Manohara meaning captivating (one who takes the mind away)..is also a common name used all over India.

So if you check out most Bhajans the meaning of words are not that complicated.
Even before I studied Sanskrit I could make out the meaning of these words.

So I feel we Hindus have no excuse to reject Sanskrit and use the excuse that we do not understand it.
If we can make an effort to speak,learn,read and write English why shy away from Sanskrit?

After all Sanskrit is the MOTHER of regional languages.

The word MOTHER itself is a Sanskrit word from the root word Matr.मातृ

 

[nannilam_balasubramanian]

As Renuka Madam says, we cannot keep away the Sanskrit language,
as we use many words, sometimes without knowing the true meaning
in our day to day activities. No doubt, it still remains the Supreme Language
for us. If one goes through the earlier history, it could be seen that while other
languages were taking shape, Sanskrit continued to be the vehicle of creative
and all other scholarly work. The sheer volume of work in Sanskrit is formidable.
Vedas having laid the foundation stone for Vedic literature and all Sanskrit literatures
thereafter, Sanskrit is in full use amongst the Vedic Circles. The use of this
language, if one sees minutely, it can be seen from religion and philosophy to grammar,
phonetics (now called Devanagari), etymology, lexicography, astronomy, astrology,
sociology, politics, arts and aesthetics, etc. Sanskrit is still the language of India’s two
most talked about epics, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. The Puranas are perhaps
the most interesting collection of works in Sanskrit. There are 18 major books, the Bhagavad
Gita being among them, and a number of other literatures.

Balasubramanian
Ambattur


​

 

[tbs]

hi

Why does my child study Sanskrit (except in secular India)?

courtesy..keralaiyer.com - kerala iyer Resources and Information.

 

[prasanth1]

The word MOTHER itself is a Sanskrit word from the root word Matr.मातृ

Not quite.....both the English and the Sanskrit word are derived from a common root in an ancestor language (as both are Indo-European languages)

 

[renuka]

Not quite.....both the English and the Sanskrit word are derived from a common root in an ancestor language (as both are Indo-European languages)

My dear..Sanskrit is the Ancestor Language.
I do not know why it is so hard for Indians to just accept this fact?

 

[sarang]

We better start looking with indo eyes and not with eurovision. Eurovision song contest may be ok.

Not quite.....both the English and the Sanskrit word are derived from a common root in an ancestor language (as both are Indo-European languages)

 

[mkrishna100]

Originally Posted by renuka

So I feel we Hindus have no excuse to reject Sanskrit and use the excuse that we do not understand it.
If we can make an effort to speak,learn,read and write English why shy away from Sanskrit?

This is exactly why I said that Sanskrit must be made interesting and easy to learn . There is a feeling that Sanskrit is complicated and difficult and the primary reason being that people who teach it ( though they do it with lot of dedication ) do not teach it in a manner that stimulates interest and enthusiasm to learn the language . Of course this rule applies to learning anything but in the context of learning Sanskrit this rule is very very vital .

 

[renuka]

This is exactly why I said that Sanskrit must be made interesting and easy to learn . There is a feeling that Sanskrit is complicated and difficult and the primary reason being that people who teach it ( though they do it with lot of dedication ) do not teach it in a manner that stimulates interest and enthusiasm to learn the language . Of course this rule applies to learning anything but in the context of learning Sanskrit this rule is very very vital .

Dear sir,

It is only a feeling that it is hard to learn.
Frankly speaking it is not hard at all to learn.

I self studied sanskrit at the age of 38 with just the help of self study books and I did not have the benefit of having a teacher to teach me cos out here in Malaysia we can not find Sanskrit teachers.

If an adult can self study Sanskrit without the help of a teacher that shows that the language is not all that difficult to study.
One just needs to be dedicated to study it.

So many simple books are in circulation in India.
Teaching methods too are simple these days.

 

[prasanth1]

My dear..Sanskrit is the Ancestor Language.
I do not know why it is so hard for Indians to just accept this fact?

I'm not really sure what fact you're referring to. The links between Sanskrit and other Indo-European languages through common ancestors have been well known for quite a long time (and are quite interesting in terms of linguistics)

We better start looking with indo eyes and not with eurovision. Eurovision song contest may be ok.

I'm not sure what this means.

 

[mkrishna100]

Dear sir,

It is only a feeling that it is hard to learn.
Frankly speaking it is not hard at all to learn.

I self studied sanskrit at the age of 38 with just the help of self study books and I did not have the benefit of having a teacher to teach me cos out here in Malaysia we can not find Sanskrit teachers.

If an adult can self study Sanskrit without the help of a teacher that shows that the language is not all that difficult to study.
One just needs to be dedicated to study it.

So many simple books are in circulation in India.
Teaching methods too are simple these days.

Well a disciplined and dedicated student will have no problem in mastering any subject ir-respective of whether he has a teacher or not .Those are exceptions . I am talking about the vast majority of people who cant do that and who need an initial push / initial stimulation /initial spark to understand that Sanskrit is not difficult , Sanskrit is not dead etc .
Of course I very much concur with you that in modern world with Internet and other resources there is lot of information and teaching tools available to teach Sanskrit and there is no excuse for anyone not to learn the same .

 

[ozone]

The more important issue is about 'What do you do after learning'? If it cannot be put to greater use other than reading scriptures, old poems and kritis, the utility dwindles.

 

[renuka]

The more important issue is about 'What do you do after learning'? If it cannot be put to greater use other than reading scriptures, old poems and kritis, the utility dwindles.

There is so much to read in religion and scriptures that I feel to me it is almost impossible to read up everything in one life time.

BTW reading scriptures is the greatest use of all..so nothing really dwindles in knowing Sanskrit and also some of us also speak it to each other.

No doubt you can only speak it to a few people but in a matter a time more people will start speaking it too.

I make sure I speak it to those who know to speak it through Yahoo Messenger you can converse with like minded people.
It is fun to speak sanskrit even though one might not be perfect in it yet but one can start off with simple sentences and watch vocabulary improve.

 

[renuka]

Well a disciplined and dedicated student will have no problem in mastering any subject ir-respective of whether he has a teacher or not .Those are exceptions . I am talking about the vast majority of people who cant do that and who need an initial push / initial stimulation /initial spark to understand that Sanskrit is not difficult , Sanskrit is not dead etc .
Of course I very much concur with you that in modern world with Internet and other resources there is lot of information and teaching tools available to teach Sanskrit and there is no excuse for anyone not to learn the same .

Dear sir,

It should be up to the government to make it a compulsory subject in school right from 1st standard and make a pass in Sanskrit a compulsory requirement in order to get a certificate from school.

In Malaysia for our school Public exam..a 2nd class pass(it is called Credit pass here,,marks range from 55% to 60% is compulsory in the Malay language in order to be able to study for Pre University.
A Credit pass is is also needed to gain entry into Government university.

Credit pass is also needed to apply for a government job.

That is the reason all of us know the Malay Language so well.

 

[nannilam_balasubramanian]

Dear sir,

It should be up to the government to make it a compulsory subject in school right from 1st standard and make a pass in Sanskrit a compulsory requirement in order to get a certificate from school.

In Malaysia for our school Public exam..a 2nd class pass(it is called Credit pass here,,marks range from 55% to 60% is compulsory in the Malay language in order to be able to study for Pre University.
A Credit pass is is also needed to gain entry into Government university.

Credit pass is also needed to apply for a government job.

That is the reason all of us know the Malay Language so well.

When I was studying, one can loose the second language either Tamil or Sanskrit
and I had chosen Sanskrit. I studied Sanskrit from Sixth to SSLC. That was during
the year 1962. I do not think that this system prevails now in Tamil Nadu.

Balasubramanian
Ambattur

 

[sarang]

There is a bright chance that he/she can get a job in a foreign country. Perhaps it is like reading pure science or mathematics - learn out of love not necessity. Quotes from a TOI blog by gurucharan das may be of interest.

"If Indian education and scholarship continue along their current trajectory ,” writes Sheldon Pollock, the brilliant professor of Sanskrit at Columbia University, “the number of citizens capable of reading and understanding the texts and documents of the classical era will very soon approach a statistical zero. India is about to become the only major world culture whose literary patrimony, and indeed history, are in the hands of scholars outside the country.”

The bright side is:

"The gift of economic growth is that for the first time parents are beginning to be freed from earlier middle class insecurities and their children are beginning to take risks in the pursuit of unusual careers. One of these is driven by a natural curiosity about one’s past. The proud discipline of making sense of ancient texts is called philology which is practically dead in India. But as academic salaries have improved in recent years, it is increasingly possible once again to make a scholarly career."

The quotes are from the blog of Gurucharan Das, former CEO of Procter & Gamble.

Men & Ideas : Gurcharan Das's blog-The Times Of India

The more important issue is about 'What do you do after learning'? If it cannot be put to greater use other than reading scriptures, old poems and kritis, the utility dwindles.

 

[sarang]

Following links may be useful.

1. Sanskrit studies in tamilnadu, courses and institutions.
http://www.sanskrit.nic.in/SSII/ssii18.pdf

2. Correspondence courses.

RASHTRIYA SANSKRIT SANSTHAN

When I was studying, one can loose the second language either Tamil or Sanskrit
and I had chosen Sanskrit. I studied Sanskrit from Sixth to SSLC. That was during
the year 1962. I do not think that this system prevails now in Tamil Nadu.

Balasubramanian
Ambattur

 

[mskmoorthy]

Please take a look at this Sanskrit English Dictionary

http://sanskritdocuments.org/dict/English-Sanskrit_Computer_Dictionary.pdf

where the Sanskrit words for technical terms (for computer related) are given. With such an effort put in, how could we say that Sanskrit is a dead language?

 

[nannilam_balasubramanian]

I totally agree with Mr MSK Moorthy, that Sanskrit is not a dead language.
Sanskrit is the oldest language in the world, and mother of all Indo-European languages
as Dr Renuka Madam had put it. Our ancient Rishis extensively used the Sanskrit
language for developing the mantras, which would have a sound vibration in
every human being when recited with sanctity. No one can deny that it is
the basic language of the Vedas and Upanishads and the ancient Puranas.
Besides no one can set aside Sanskrit has no importance. One can say
without any doubt that Sanskrit literature is the richest literature in the history
of mankind.

As per the records until 1100 AD or so, Sanskrit was mainly used in the whole
of India except in some pockets. Sanskrit literatures are supposed to be
masterpieces.

In accordance with the description about the word Sanskrit, it is defined as
Perfected Language. NASA too declared it to be the only unambiguous language
on the planet. It has been ascertained that Sanskrit is a scientific and
systematic language. As it has been clearly expressed in this forum, its grammar
is flawless and has attracted many scholars worldwide. Even computer-scientists
too have expressed that Sanskrit is the best language for application in computers
just like other languages.

Balasubramanian
Ambattur

 

[sankarcs]

I feel it is better to avoid such topics