Some people doubt the superiority of Sanskrit Language

[Guest guest]

"Mohan Gupta" <mgupta (AT) rogers (DOT) com><info (AT) a4india (DOT) com>Some

people doubt the superiority of Sanskrit Language Fri, 29 Apr 2005

00:37:11 -0400

Some people doubt the superiority of Sanskrit Language

amandeep1699 <amandeep1699 .au>

Mohan Gupta

In your article, you wrote that all Indian languages barring Urdu are

daughters of Sanskrit. That statement is highly misleading and biased and is

agenda based.

North Indian languages (including spoken and verbal Urdu) are part of

Indo-Aryan groups of languages which again is a subset of Indo- Iranian group

of languages. Indo-Iranian group of languages fall under the family of

Indo-European group of languages. Dravidian languages (about 20 of

them) do not fall into the category of Indo-European group of languages.

Dravidian languages are mainly concentrated in South India. Telugu, Tamil,

Malayalam, Kannada (Kanarese) are the main languages. Gondi, Kurukhi (Oraoni)

and Tulu are also Dravidian languages but spoken in smaller numbers.

Brahui a spoken language in Central Pakistan is the only exception whereby a

Dravdian language is found to be present outside of South India.

Dravidian languages do not have any link to North Indian sub-tree of Indo-Aryan

group of languages. Closest family of languages to Dravidian family tree is

Uralic languages (almost extinct) present in Ural mountain range in Russia,

Siberia and Finland.

Also languages of natives in Gond, Jharkhand are not part of Indo-

Aryan. Language spoken by natives in Andaman and Nicobar islands is from

Ausro-Asiatic group of languages and matches those from Vietnam and Kampuchea.

Indo-European family tree consists of sub-tree like Balto-Slavic

(Russian, Eastern European, Lithuanian, Latvian, Ukranian, Bulgarian, Serbian,

Croatian, etc), Italic (French, Italian, Spanish, Romanian, etc), Germanic

(English, Flemish, Dutch, Afrikaans, Danish, Norwegian). Celtic (Gaelic, etc).

Albanian, Armenian.

Indo-Iranian consists of two trees Iranian and Indo-Aryan. Kurdish,

Baluchi, Pashto, Persian, Baluchi are Iranian languages. Indo-Aryan consists of

4 sub-trees. East (Assamese, Oriya, Bengali) Midland (Rajasthani, Bihari, Hindi

and Urdu). West and South-West (Gujarati, Marathi, Konkani, Maldivian,

Sinhalese (Sri Lanka)) North- West (Punjabi, Pahari, Dardic, Lahnda, Sindhi).

No doubt Vedas were written in Sanskrit and was one of the first

languages of the region. But since then it became extinct and was replaced by

Pali and Prakrit. Also no language developed in Isolation. North West language

has much influence from Central Asian and Persian languages.

When nomadic tribes used to migrate in search of land and water they

used to bring their own language and culture that helped in development of new

languages. Scythian tribes used to settle where there used to be PEACOCKS and

DEERS as they were signs of fertility of the soil and abundance of water and

rainfall. When these Scythian tribes (mainly farming communities in North

India) migrated at various stages from Central Asia they did not settle down in

Afghanistan as there were no peacocks and deers but chose the plains of Indus

valley and Gangetic plains.

So languages have been formulated over many years of migration so do

not call Sanskrit a dead language mother of all Indian languages. Also spoken

Urdu is a sister language of Hindi, Bihari and Rajasthani so please do not

disown just because alphabets are from Iranian group of languages.

Everyday I hear silly ideas from Hindu nationalists (like drop Sindh

from National Anthem as Sindh is not part of India, even though Sindhis are.

Even Lal Krishan Advani is a Sindhi). Indus River falls in Pakistan.

So Lalaji please be proud of India as a secular country which

encompasses all religions and cultures. Because of people like you India could

have marketed itself as a THAALI with different dishes in katoris (kaulis in

Punjabi). It would have been a bigger multi- cultural experience then the

American MELTING POT where everyone melts to form an American identity. See the

oneness and greatness of humanity and do not start discarding a language like

URDU that has called India its home. In fact India is the birth place of URDU

and is sister of Hindi.

Broaden your vision. If India did not have people espousing Hindu

nationalism but Indian secularism, India could have been the greatest country

in the world. Americans are sitting in our neighborhood in Iraq, Afghanistan,

etc. It is a region where via our languages we share a common bond. A secular

India could have been the spokesman for Hindus, Sikhs and Christians worldwide.

But sadly it is

a far fetched dream. Imagine pipelines carrying crude oil from Middle East to

Indian refineries and powering the Indian economy. Now due to the belligerence

of people like you we are seeing the oil resources of our neighbours been

whisked away by colonial powers of the yore. Have some vision

Lalaji.RegardsAmandeep Singh---------

Amandeep Singh

editor (AT) hinditimes (DOT) net ;

Editor: Weekly Hindi Times, a community paper of Toronto

Panditji Tewari,

Namaskar, Earlier Lalaji Gupta wrote to me proclaiming Sanskrit to be superior

to other Indian languages and been mother of all Indian languages except Urdu.

I wrote back to him regarding his fallacy and disproved his theory.

A belief that languages like Sanskrit are intrinsically superior to others is

widespread in Brahminical India, but it has no basis in linguistic fact as

proved by me in a letter to Lalaji Gupta. Some languages are of course more

useful or prestigious than others, at a given period of history, but this is

due to preeminence of the speakers or writers of that time, and not to any

inherent linguistic characteristics or superiority.

If Sanskrit would not have been used by Brahmins in Vedas, Sanskrit would have

been long forgotten as it is extinct verbally already. Similarly Hindi has

become the national language of India as rulers after 1947 were Hindi speakers.

In democracy numbers count and not quality. But somehow I am dismayed we did

not choose DOG and CROWS to be our national animals and bird instead of TIGER

and PEACOCK respectively because of democratic number power. It does not mean

that Hindi is anyway superior to Tamil, Punjabi, Marathi, Bengali or Urdu.

mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt">

Language changes because society changes. To stop the change as Panditji Tewari

is proposing is impossible and akin to wasting time as planning future of a

language is bound to fail. This time would be better spent in preparing the

academic texts to the changing language. In a multi-ethnic society like India

there is a need to develop tolerance to other languages like Urdu and Punjabi.

Poetic languages like Urdu add another kauli or katori to the mosaic of thaali

called India.

Roman">

Die hard Hindi promoters have already caused much damage to Punjab by asking

Hindus to disown Punjabi. Similarly Sikhs were to blame by tagging Sikhism to

Punjabi alone, little realizing that Guru Granth Sahib is written in almost all

North Indian languages. Punjabi demands could have been raised by Punjabi

parties and certainly not by Sikh parties as Sikhism is above language.

Similarly both Lalaji Gupta and yourself Panditji are exhibiting your shallow

thinking by clubbing Hindi and Sanskrit and Hindus to India and discarding the

very thought that Urdu language does not belong to Indian subcontinent. You

should be concentrating your energy in up liftment of poor and downtrodden and

getting India rid of the caste system that was thrust upon by Pandit Manu on

the Indian society. As a result one caste is always fighting the other, and

other races garnered all the resources by capturing various continents, and you

and me need to migrate to these countries seeking their

permission.

Similarly Hindi might have been seated on the pedestal by the rulers in 1947,

but there is no guarantee it will remain so for years to come unless it changes

and adapts to the changing society. Otherwise more versatile languages and

cultures will take over its place. Change is inevitable, if you do not adapt

ebb of tide of time will wash you away.

RegardsAmandeep Singh

---------

DrAnantVJoshi (AT) aol (DOT) com <DrAnantVJoshi (AT) aol (DOT) com>

The ridiculous idea of proto-Indo-European language

 

Dear friends

 

That Sanskrit is the Mother language of the world is a view that has long been

held by many learned people for many millennia, not just for many centuries!

Here is a good analysis of this issue, by no means complete, but worth reading

and contemplating upon. This reading shows how vested interests INVENTED the

idea of a proto-indo-European (PIE) language! Please follow the links below to

"an encyclopedia of Hinduism":

 

The myth of ‘proto indo European’ mother language:

http://encyclopediaofauthentichinduism.org/articles/22_the_proto_germanic.htm

 

http://encyclopediaofauthentichinduism.org/articles/23_the_speculation_of.htm

 

The Sanskrit is the Mother language of the world and what relation other

languages have with it:

http://encyclopediaofauthentichinduism.org/articles/29_the_eternal_perfection.htm

 

I think that a genuine exchange of ideas would preclude holier than thou advice

given by one Mr. Singh to Mr. M Gupta. By the way, the epithet "Lala" is used

in Punjab by Sikhs in a derogatory way for Hindus.

 

Yours in Dharma

Anant Vijay Joshi

====================Dear Friends, We have started on IFIH's website a section of

articles dealing with Sanskrit in regard to the educational system. We begin

with the Supreme Court judgment by Justices Kuldip Singh and B.L. Hansaria on

Sanskrit, at the URL:

http://www.geocities.com/ifihhome/articles/scjudgmentonsanskrit.htmlThis 1994

judgment was and remains of great importance as it rejected a perverse argument

put forth by the then Central Board of Secondary Education that the teaching of

Sanskrit was against the spirit of secularism.Two striking quotations from the

judgment: "The stream of our culture would get dried if we were to discourage

the study of Sanskrit.""Making of Sanskrit alone as an

elective subject, while not conceding this status to Arabic and or Persian would

not in any way militate against the basic tenet of secularism."In this

connection, we have also uploaded Prof. Bharat Gupt's article, "Who's Afraid of

Sanskrit?", published in an Indian daily in 1998 at the time of the Sarasvati

Vandana controversy:http://www.geocities.com/ifihhome/articles/bg002.htmlWith

warm regards, Pramod Kumar----------

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2003/20031220/windows/main4.htm

http://www.languageinindia.com/may2002/baldridgelanguagepolicy.html#linguisticoverviewQUOTE

Interestingly, Dr Ambedkar himself wanted to sponsor Sanskrit as the official

language of the Indian union along with his supporters Dr BV Keskar, deputy

minister for external affairs, and Naziruddin Ahmed. He moved an amendment

draft on September 10, 1949. The resolution had to be withdrawn due to

political pressure. Our demand is Sanskrit should be treated at par with modern

Indian languages of the Eighth Schedule and not as a classical language.

However, I noticed that the Sanskrit Commission report - 1956-57 has been

removed from the Government website sometime during 2003 or before as the

following suggests:

Report of the Sanskrit Commission 1956-57 [10/9/2001] A defining moment in the

history of Sanskrit. Government of India report on the language. [The Report

was removed from the Government of India's Department of Education website in

2003 or earlier. Click here for the archived version from the WayBackMachine.]

Those desirous of going through this report may access it from the following link:

http://web.archive.org/web/20011105065425/shikshanic.nic.in/cd50years/u/45/3Z/Toc.htm

-----

There is a powerful Sanskrit movement by Samskrita Bharati which has conducted

Sanskrit camps attended by millions of people of all ages, including Muslims.

This is a private organization with no Government participation. There must be

others.

 

Sanskrit, like many other cultural features (like classical music and dance)

are much more popular now than it used to be when I was a student. We should

stop blaming our youth for not learning Sanskrit and put the blame where it

really belongs-- the generation that came to adulthood after independence. They

did little for anyone except themselves.

=============Do You

?