which is the finest language in the world?

SanskritThe Language of Ancient India

– Sanskrit (meaning "cultured or refined"), the classical language of Hinduism, is the oldest and the most systematic language in the world.

– The vastness and the versatility, and power of expression of this language can be appreciated by the fact that this language has 65 words to describe various forms

of earth, 67 words for water, and over 250 words to describe rainfall.

Copyright - Arise India Forum 2010

A Perfect Language?

Rick Briggs ,a NASA researcher, has written:• "In ancient India the intention to discover

truth was so consuming, that in the process, they discovered perhaps the most perfect tool for fulfilling such a search that the world has ever known -- the Sanskrit language.


Sanskrit Traditions

• Besides works of literary value, there was a long philosophical and grammatical tradition that has continued to exist with undiminished vigor until the present century

• Sanskrit is indeed a perfect language in the same sense as mathematics, but Sanskrit is also a perfect language in the sense that, like music, it has the power to uplift the heart.


Endurance of Sanskrit

• Why has Sanskrit endured? Fundamentally it generates clarity and inspiration. And that clarity and inspiration is..

… directly responsible for a brilliance of creative expression such as the world has rarely seen.


• Frederich von Schlegel, (1772-1829), German philosopher, critic, and writer, the most prominent founder of German Romanticism.

"There is no language in the world, even Greek, which has the clarity and the philosophical precision of Sanskrit," adding that " India is not only at the origin of everything she is superior in everything, intellectually, religiously or politically and even the Greek heritage seems pale in comparison."


Sanskrit Grammar

Grammar• The Sanskrit term for grammar is

vyakarana, which etymologically means "differentiated analysis."

• Panini's Sanskrit grammar, produced in about 1300 B. C. E. is the shortest and the fullest grammar in the world.

• Panini composed a Sanskrit grammar called the Ashtadhyayi(8 Chapters). In 4,000 short verses, it revealed the inner mechanics of Sanskrit - how the language worked and how new words evolved.


• "The Panini grammar reflects the wondrous capacity of the human brain, which till today no other country has been able to produce except India.“ –

Sir Monier-Williams (1819-1899) Orientalist, professor of Sanskrit at Oxford


• Sanskrit is a very scientific language. Linguists hold that it shows no trace of a growing language.

• Its entire grammatical mechanism is perfected, every tense, mood, every number and person of the verb is fixed and all terminations of the casts are firmly established.


• Juan Mascaro (1897 - 1987) taught at Oxford University, Parameshvara College at Jaffna, the University of Barcelona, and Cambridge University.

• "Sanskrit literature is a great literature. We have the great songs of the Vedas, the splendor of the Upanishads, the glory of the Bhagavad Gita, the vastness (100,000 verses) of the Mahabharata, the tenderness and the heroism found in the Ramayana, the wisdom of the fables and stories of India…


• … the scientific philosophy of Sankhya, the psychological philosophy of yoga, the poetical philosophy of Vedanta, the Laws of Manu, the grammar of Panini and other scientific writings, the lyrical poetry, and dramas of Kalidasa.


• Sanskrit literature, on the whole, is a romantic literature interwoven with idealism and practical wisdom, and with a passionate longing for spiritual vision.


Influence on other Languages

• The antiquity and affinity in forms of grammar and roots of verbs in Sanskrit induces the linguists to believe that the Persian, Greek, Teutonic, Slavonic and Celtic races are probably descendents of a common ancestor.


Divinity within?• Professor Leonard Bloomfield

(1887-1949) of Chicago University holds that Sanskrit language specially the scientific basis of its grammar is "one of the greatest monuments of human intelligence."

• William Humboldt of Germany is of opinion that language cannot be created artificially, it is the manifestation of power and divinity in man.


Belittling our Hindu heritage?

• All the countries of the world cherish and pride in their ancient culture, but India alone labels its culture as "Hindu past" and systematically neglects and belittles it.

• Secularism has taken the form of turning away from one’s own heritage and disregarding the spiritual and ethical commitments


• It is symptomatic of the times that a leading university like the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) did not have a Sanskrit department till 2002 although it boasted having eminent historians on its faculty.


• As a result, Sanskrit is the biggest casualty under secularist milieu. Practically speaking, secularism now means swimming in easy consumerism of the day and neglecting religious and cultural issues.

Sanskrit : Shelving a HeritageFrom Macaulay to MTV


Francois Gautier, correspondent in South Asia of Le Figaro, France's largest circulated newspaper says:

• "Sanskrit is the mother of all languages, and it could become the unifying language of India, apart from English, which is spoken only, by a tiny minority. ”


Sanskrit

Similarities between Sanskrit and other ancient Languages

Avesta..

• Is an ancient language of Iran, was the language in which the texts of Zoroastrianism where composed

• Similarities between Rig Vedic Sanskrit and Avesta are too many to be ignored

• On a comparative analysis of the rituals, names of Gods and Goddesses, names of warrior kings and religious advices, extremely surprising revelations in the form of similarities begin to appear. At places, the Avestan language is similar to the extent of being a mere dialect* of Sanskrit.

*A regional or social variety of a language distinguished by pronunciation, grammar, or vocabulary, especially a variety of speech


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoroastrianism

Grammar

The Sanskrit words asmai, kasmai and yasyaam mean • “to them”,• “to whom” • “in which” respectively.• The Zend words amhai, kamhai and yesyaam carry the exact

same meanings as their Sanskrit counterparts.

From Atharva Veda: kasmai devaaya vidhema.From Zend Avesta: kamhai devaaya vidhema.

Both mean “to which God should I sacrifice?”


Words where ‘s’ in Sanskrit has changed to ‘h’ in Zend:

asura — ahurasoma — homasapta — hapta

maasa — maahasenaa — henaa

[i am] asmi — ahmi[they are] santi — hantivivaswata — vivahnata


Words where ‘shva’ in Sanskrit got modified to ‘spa’ in Zend:

vishva — vispaashva — aspashvan — span

krishaashva — krishaaspa


Words where “t” (the soft ‘t’) in Sanskrit got modified to ‘tha’ (soft ‘th’ like in ‘thank’) in Zend:

mitra — mithratrita — tritha

traitaal mantra — thraitaan mantra

All the listed words carry the same meanings in both the languages. Such astonishing resemblance cannot be called a mere coincidence. This resemblance is possible if and only if

there is a common root or a common culture in the background


Slokas Common!

mahaantaa mitraa varunaa samraajaa devaav asuraaha sakhesakhaayaam ajaro jarimne agne martyaan amartyas tvam nah

Rigveda: 10:87:21• (Translation: O Supreme Being, you are fire, you are the sun, you are water.

You have appeared to us as Father, as our ruler, as our friend and as our teacher. O Great Father, you are beyond aging but we are not. You are beyond death but we are not. In spite of that you have given us the great fortune to call you our friend.)

mahaantaa mitraa varunaa devaav ahuraaha sakhe ya fedroi vidaat ……………………………

Gatha 17:4 Yashna 53:4)• (Translation: O Ahura Mazda, you appear as the father, the ruler, the friend,

the worker and as knowledge. It is your immense mercy that has given a mortal the fortune to stay at your feet.)


Fully Alike! yadi antareekshe yadi vaate aasa yadi

vriksheshu yadi bolapashu yad ashravan pashava ud-yamaanam tad

braahmanam punar asmaan upaituAtharva Veda 7:66;

Zend Avesta Prishni, Chapter 8, Gatha 12

Translation: O Lord! Whether you be in the sky or in the wind, in the forest or in the waves. No matter where you are, come

to us once. All living beings restlessly await the sound of your footsteps.


Words in other languages which can be derived from Sanskrit

“brother”

bhratar (Sanskrit)frater (Latin)

phrater (Greek)frere (French)

brother (Modern English)brothor (Saxon)

bruder (German)broeder (Dutch)

bratu (Old Slavic)brathair (Old Irish)


Common Derivations

“father”pitar (Sanskrit)

pater (Latin)pater (Greek)

padre (Spanish)pere (French)

father (English)fadar (Gothic)

fa∂ir (Old Norse)vader (German)

athir (Old Irish--with loss of original consonant)Copyright - Arise India Forum 2010

A Dead Language? Francois Gautier, correspondent in South

Asia of Le Figaro, France's largest circulated newspaper says:

A dead language, you say! Impossible to revive? But that's what they argued about Hebrew. And did not the Jewish people, when they got back their land in 1948, revive their "dead" language, so that it is spoken today by all Jewish people and has become alive again? The same thing ought to be done with

Sanskrit.


In a few years it should be taught as the second language in schools throughout the country,

with the regional language as the first and English as the third. Then India will again have

its own unifying language.


After many thousands of years, Sanskrit still lives with a vitality that can

breathe life, restore unity and inspire peace on our tired and troubled planet. It is a

sacred gift, an opportunity. The future could be very bright.

But its Upto to us to ACT now!


References

• www.hinduism.org• www.hinduwisdom.info• en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indo-European_languages• www.hinduwebsite.com/general/sanskrit.asp• web.cn.edu/kwheeler/IE_Main4_Sanskrit.html• www.friesian.com/cognates.htm• www.antimoon.com/forum/t10743.htm• arachnid.wordpress.com• Pictures sourced from various websites

Please let us know in case of any copyrights issue, we will be glad to acknowledge the source of the information


http://www.hinduwisdom.info/

http://www.hinduwebsite.com/general/sanskrit.asp



http://www.friesian.com/cognates.htm

http://www.antimoon.com/forum/t10743.htm

which is the finest language in the world?

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