Sanskrit

Start writing...Sanskrit is said to belong to Indo – Aryan or Indo Germanic family of languages which includes Greek, Latin and other alike languages. William Jones, who was already familiar with Greek and Latin, when came in contact with Sanskrit, remarked that Sanskrit is more perfect than Greek, more copious than Latin and more refined than either. He said – “Sanskrit is a wonderful language”. It is noteworthy that though ancient and classical, Sanskrit is still used as medium of expression by scholars throughout India and somewhere in other parts of the world e.g. America, and Germany. Sanskrit is included in the list of modern Indian Languages in the eighth schedule of the constitution of India.

Panini (500 B.C.) was a great landmark in the development of Sanskrit language. He, concising about ten grammar schools prevalent during his time, wrote the master book of grammar named Ashtadhyayi which served as beacon for the later period. Literary Sanskrit and spoken Sanskrit both followed Panini’s system of language. Today the correctness of Sanskrit language is tested upon the touchstone of Panini’s Ashtadhyayee.

Hindi, the official language of India, is developed from Shauraseni Apabhransha. It is said that all the modern Indian languages used in north part of India are evolved from Sanskrit and the other Modern Indian Langauges of South India- Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada and Telugu are evolved from the Dravidian family of languages. The South Indian MILs are well enriched and nourished by Sanskrit language.

There are four Vedas Rigveda, Yajurveda, Samveda, and Atharvaveda. Brahman granthas explain the Vedic literature and give the detailed process to perform the Yajnas. Aranyakas and Upanishads discuss the internal meaning of the Vedas and the path of renunciation – Moksha Purushartha. Pratishakhyas explain the grammatical issues of the Vedas. Six Vedangas i.e. Shiksha, Vyakarana, Kalpa, Chhandas, Nirukta, and Jyotish help to understand the Vedas. As per the Indian tradition the Veda is not written by any author but in fact it is the respiration of God. Veda has been seen by the seers,

The Scientific Literature covers Lexicography, Metrics, Grammar, Law, Science of Politics, Love, Philosophy and Religion, Medicine, Astronomy, Astrology and mathematics etc.

Though lots of Sanskrit literature has seen the light of the day but still much more Sanskrit literature is lying in the form of manuscripts and waiting for publication. These MSS are kept in general Sanskrit libraries and in houses of Sanskrit Scholars whose successors may know or not know the value of the MSS. This is a huge work to be done.

Some most popular aurthor of Sanskrit.

Maharishi Veda Vyasa

Maharishi Vedavyasa is that famous a personality who outstands as a representative of extreme human intelligence and vast ocean like knowledge. He is known to be the grandson of the sage Vasistha and son of Rishi Parashar. He spent his life on Badri fruits only in Badrikashram and thus came to be known as Badarayan. He was born in an island and hence was called Dvaipayana. He was dark in colour and thus acquired the title of Krishna and since he classified the available knowledge of Veda into Samhitas, he got the title of Vedavyasa. His mother was Satyawati.

Harsha

Harsha, also known as Harshavardhana, the second son of Prabhakarvardhana and younger brother of Rajyavardhana ruled a large empire in Northern India from 606 to 647 A.D. He was an orthodox Hindu but later became Buddhist convert. Emperor Harsha himself was a great scholar who patronised and sponsored many poets like Banabhatta and Mayura. We come to know his life-history from the famous work Harshacharitam composed by Banabhatta, the foremost Sanskrit prose writer.

Panini

Panini is, today, recognised all over the world as the greatest model of human intelligence. Though India had a long tradition of grammarians but the final codification of Sanskrit language is ascribed to Panini only whose grammar has remained normative for its correct usage ever since. Panini\'s Ashtadhyayi is the oldest complete grammar available but the maturity, depth, and brevity, as found in it, is a proof in itself that this work is a link in the long chain of grammatical works. Panini himself has mentioned the names of ten grammarians – Apishali, Kashyapa, Gargya, Galava, Chakraverman, Bharadwaj, Shakatayana, Shakalya, Shonaka and Sphotayana.

Patanjali

The word Patanjali has been explained as Patantyah Anjalaya yasmai i.e. one for whom the hands are folded as a mark of respect. Patanjali has been regarded as a great sage and referred to by many names such as Gonardiya, Phani, Adhipati, Sheshraja etc. According to a legend, he is considered to be an incarnation of Sheshanaga. Patanjali was an expert of at least three branches of Sanskrit studies namely yoga, vyakarana, and ayurveda. An ancient verse regards him as a sage who cleansed dirtiness of mind with yoga, of speech with grammar and of the body with ayurveda. Thus Patanjali contributed immensely towards the science of meditation, science of language and science of medicines.

Sanskrit is one of the languages of Indo-European family. Indo-European is the name given to the family of languages to which Sanskrit belongs. The name is based on the fact that this family covers most of Europe and extends eastward as far as northern India, with a total body of speakers of nearly one and a half billion. Indo-Germanic is a synonymous term preferred by German linguists based on the fact that it includes the easternmost and western most members of the family.

Sanskrit has its close relationship with other classical Languages of Indo-European group like, Latin Greek, French, German etc,. For Example the numerals from one to ten are mostly similar in these languages. In Italian Sie- six, settle- seven, otto- eight, nove- nine, etc. The words of closes family relationship like father, mother, sister, brother, etc. as well as a number of other fundamental words of Sanskrit resemble with other classical languages of this family. For example: Bhratr in the Sanskrit, Brother in the German, bhratheir in the Irish brat in the Russian, beradar in the Persian. Pitr in the Sanskrit, Frater in the Latin Pharater in Greek.

The verbal system of Avestan so clearly resembles with that of Sanskrit, that a student of Sanskrit after mastering Avestan phonology can easily understand Sanskrit. The Slavic language which is one of the chief languages of Satam group of Indo-Uropean languages outside Asia, has many resemblances. Not only in the languages but similarities can be found between Slavic and Indian Culture.

Curiously enough, the Sanskrit Imperative Ending -u seems to be preserved in some Gothic imperative forms of the third person singular and plural like at-steigadau, lingandau. It is evidently the same- au which is evident in all the quotable forms of passive optative in Gothic