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| Sanskrit:
The Mother of All Languages - Part III of III
Six
Unmatched Features of Sanskrit
Click
here to read Part I - The
Origin of Sanskrit
Click
here to read Part II - A
Glimpse of the Perfection of Sanskrit Grammar
The
perfection of the pronunciation (of the consonants
and the vowels) and the uniqueness of the grammar
that stays the same in all the ages from the very
beginning of human civilization and up till today
are such features which prove that Sanskrit is not
manmade; it is a Divine gift to the people of this
world. The following six examples demonstrate some
of the unique features of Sanskrit that distinguishes
it from other languages of the world. |
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| (1)
The vowel-consonant pronunciation of the alphabet
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The
most striking feature of the Sanskrit language is the vowel-consonant
pronunciation of the alphabet and the uniqueness of every
consonant (or its combination) as a complete syllabic unit
when it is joined with a vowel. For example: Its 16 vowels
are the actual ‘voice pattern’ of the sound and
36 consonants are only the ‘form’ of the ‘voice
pattern’ of the sound. So a consonant (  )
alone
cannot be pronounced as it is only a ‘form’ of
the ‘voice pattern’ until it is attached to a
vowel. Thus, a vowel, which itself is a ‘voice pattern,’
can be pronounced alone (like, )
or
it can be modulated by adding a consonant to it (like, ).This
system was not adopted in the languages of the world.
Thus, their syllables have no uniformity. For example, in
come and coma ‘co’ has two different
pronunciations, and in come and kind or
kiss, the letter ‘c’ and ‘k’
both have the same pronunciation. |
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In
Sanskrit, the basic structure of its vowel-consonant pronunciation
is the unique foundation of the language that precisely stabilizes
the word pronunciation where each letter (or a combination
of consonants with a vowel) is a syllable. |
| (2)
Formation of the Sanskrit words |
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The
second unmatched feature is the formation of the Sanskrit
words. Since the beginning there was a complete dictionary
of root words called dhatu that could create any
number of words based on the requirement by adding a proper
prefix and suffix described in detail in the Sanskrit grammar.
There are 90 forms (conjugations) for every verb to be used
in the 10 tenses and 21 forms for other words. The formation,
modulation and creation of words have been originally the
same, in an absolutely perfect state since the beginning,
as they are today. |
| (3)
The uniqueness of the grammar |
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The
most impressive uniqueness of the Sanskrit grammar is that,
along with the Sanskrit language, it is unchanged in every
age because it is a Divinely produced grammar. Its conjugation
system, word formation and the style of poetry formation are
all unique, unchanged and perfectly detailed since it appeared
on the earth planet through the descended Saints. Take a line
of the Yajurved, |
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There
is a noun janah (people), and verb gachcòhanti
(to go into) which is formed of gam dhatu (to go),
like, gachcòhati, gachcòhatah,
gachcòhanti. All the 90 conjugations
of the verb gaccòh (to go) and all the 21
forms of the noun jan (people) are used in the same
way without any change in the Vedas, in the Puranas and in
other Sanskrit literature as well, because they are ever perfect
without any sound shift. The Sanskrit language represents
the literal form of the Divinity on the earth planet. |
| (4)
The style of literary presentation |
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The
three styles of Sanskrit are: (a) the Vedas (sanhita),
(b) the Upnishads and (c) the Puranas. All of them were reproduced
during the same period before 3102 BC. But their literature
has its own style. The difference in the style and
the uses of words in all the three kinds of scriptures does
not mean any evolution or improvement in the vocabulary. |
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Vedic
verses do not use the full range of words as is used in the
Puranas because the Vedic verses are mainly the invocation
mantras for the celestial gods and that too for ritualistic
purposes, not for the devotion to supreme God. So they don’t
need too many words to relate a mantra. The language
of the Bhagwat Mahapuran is very scholarly, poetic and rich
as it explains the richest philosophy of God, God’s
love and God realization along with its other affiliated theories.
The language of the other 17 Puranas is less rich. The language
of the Upnishads sometimes leans towards the Vedic sanhita
side. The peculiar characteristic of the Vedas can be observed
in the tenth canto, chapter 87, of the Bhagwat Mahapuran where
the Vedas themselves are offering their homage to supreme
God Krishn. |
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The
whole chapter is like this, grammatically perfect, but it
is a kind of twisted and uncharming style of language. This
is the style and the character of the Vedas (the sanhita).
All the chapters of the Bhagwatam, before and after this particular
chapter, have elegant literary presentation but this particular
chapter, which is in the style of the language of the Vedas,
stands out with its own peculiarity. The difference
in the literary presentation of the Vedic sanhita
and the Puranas has their own nature and style and do not
relate to their seniority or juniority. |
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In
every society there are many classes of people. Some are educated,
some are less educated and some are much less educated. Accordingly,
the quality of their speech differs. Thus, during the time
of Ved Vyas, when Sanskrit was the spoken language of India,
there may have been some people who spoke a localized form
of less perfect Sanskrit. As time went on a new language developed
in the Bihar area of North India which was a combination of
the localized dialect with the apbhransh words of
Sanskrit. The pronunciation of the Sanskrit word changes when
it is spoken by the people who are less educated or not educated
in the Sanskrit language, and then such words permanently
enter into their locally spoken language. These, partly mispronounced
words, are called the apbhransh. Just like the words
teen and sat are the apbhransh
of the Sanskrit words trai and sapt which
mean three and seven. It was called the Pali language in which
the teachings of Gautam Buddh were written around 1800 BC.
Still, Sanskrit remained the spoken language of the literary
class of India at least up to the time of Shankaracharya. |
When
Shankaracharya went to have an audience with Mandan Mishra
he found two parrots in two cages that were hung in front
of his house. They were happily uttering Sanskrit phrases,
which
they had memorized by listening to the scriptural discussions
that were usually happening in the house. All over India Shankaracharya
debated in Sanskrit language wherever he went. It was around
500 BC. |
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That
was the time when the Greek and Latin languages were in the
course of their development. Trade communications between
India, Persia, Mesopotamia, Syria and Greece were already
well established. The stories of the Puranas and the Bhagwatam
had already reached, in a broken form, into those countries
which they then adopted in their society and incorporated
into their religious mythology. The Iliad and the Odyssey
in their earliest and incomplete forms were composed around
600 BC, and later on certain Sanskrit apbhransh words
were added in the Greek and Latin languages. |
| (6)
Sanskrit, the scriptural language up till today
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Sanskrit
is the language of Bhartiya scriptures. It is also the language
of the Divine abodes. The word ‘language’ is termed
as bhasha in Sanskrit. Thus, the bhasha
of Vaikunth abode in its original form descended on the earth
planet through Brahma in the form of the Vedas and the Puranas
and all of its affiliates and branches along with its grammar.
First it was called the bhasha as it was
the only language of India, literary and spoken both. Later
on, when its offshoots developed, it began to be called the
Sanskrit bhasha (Sanskrit language) to distinguish
it from the other local languages that used the apbhransh
words of Sanskrit mixed with their locally spoken tongue.
For convenience, these local languages were called the
‘prakrit’ languages by the history writers. |
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Sanskrit
maintained the glory of eternal Bhartiya scriptures in its
perfect linguistic representation since its appearance on
the earth planet. If someone’s conscience fails to comprehend
the eternal authenticity of the Sanskrit language for some
reason, then at least, according to the above descriptions,
one can surely understand its unparalleled perfection that
had the capacity of introducing hundreds of thousands of words
according to its root system since the very beginning, when
even the earliest known cursive writing systems of the world
(Greek and Hebrew etc.) were at their infancy and were struggling
to standardize the pronunciation and to improve their vocabulary.
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Click
here to read Part I - The
Origin of Sanskrit
Click
here to read Part II - A
Glimpse of the Perfection of Sanskrit Grammar
This
article was compiled from, “The
True History and the Religion of India” by Dharm
Chakravarty Swami Prakashanand Saraswati. This landmark encyclopedia
of authentic Hinduism gives detailed information on related
topics such as the perfection of Sanskrit grammar, the origin
of Sanskrit grammar, and the history of the languages of the
world as well as the writing systems.
© 2005 The Vedic Foundation
This article may be reprinted with permission in writing
from The Vedic Foundation. |
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