International Journal For Technological Research In Engineering

Volume 9, Issue 5, January-2022 ISSN (Online): 2347 - 4718

WORLD IN THE EMBRACE OF SANSKRIT: LANGUAGE BEYOND

POLITICS AND NATIONALISM
1
Dr. Mithila Bagai, 2Dr. Smriti Singh
1
Senior Assistant Professor, 2Associate Professor
1
Department of Political Science, 2Department of English
Maitreyi College
University of Delhi
Abstract: Sanskrit, one of the oldest languages in the world School of Business have included Bhagvad Gita as part of its
has many joyful takers across the globe who wants to learn teachings to its management students. And the faculty
the language and the Sanskritic values associated with it. employed in these schools constitutes 10 per cent of
Sanskrit has been the language that has led to the birth professors of Indian origin that is more than any other ethnic
many vernaculars and other regional languages. The group.
treasure house of Sanskrit has been recognized by the Bhagvad Gita‟s teachings have been so influential that the
world and many corporates, heads of various countries rich, capitalist, corporate American class too is endorsing its
want to speak the language and instill its values in their principles in its work culture. They have started advocating
places. The article explores how Sanskrit has re-emerged at self-mastery classes that are taught with the purpose to make
the global level and distributing wealth as it did in Ancient an individual their own guru and decide their own values and
India but in a revised way. principles and not to be driven by the Darwinian principles of
greed and survival instinct. Consistency, concentration and
WORLD IN THE EMBRACE OF SANSKRIT: compassion are the new highlights of the capitalist class to
LANGUAGE BEYOND POLITICS AND ease stress and anxiety accruing from target driven system.
NATIONALISM Purpose is now being given priority over self. Inclusive
capitalism has become the new mantra. It has also been
“You hail from India which is the home of Hindu philosophy christened as karma capitalism. Taking cue from the classical
yet you have not cared to learn that language! Come along; Sanskrit texts, capitalism is getting redefined to
see my library which treasures classics in Sanskrit. The accommodate humanitarian principles of empathy,
language is a rich repository of knowledge that could be selflessness and society. Capitalism is gradually coming out
gainfully exploited in the area of classical science, including of its conservative definition of being a „profit driven‟
mathematics, astronomy and health.” system. It is ashamed of being recognized as solely a money
minting system. Rather today it wants to be known as a
Albert Einstein, a winner of Nobel Prize (1921) in physics socially responsible corporate or precisely to shoulder its
for his immortal work on photoelectric effect, once proudly Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) to have a positive
flaunted his knowledge of Sanskrit to his fellow Indian image in the market and retain talent in the organization. It
scientist Dr. B.N. Gupta. On learning that Dr. Gupta did not has broadened its realm of interests to include shareholders,
know the language despite hailing from the native land of employees, customers and society and also giving immense
Sanskrit, he invited him to visit his library that houses rich importance to environment. Emphasis has shifted from
classics of Sanskrit including Bhagvad Gita and the shareholders to stakeholders of society. Even in India, top
Upanishads. He expressed his deep gratitude towards the ranked institute IIMs are drawing lessons from Bhagvad Gita
classical texts that has formed the basis of his stupendous to train its future corporate leaders on handling stress,
research and theories. He proudly claimed “I have made the pressure and conflicts. IIM Lucknow has introduced a
Gita as the main source of my inspiration and guide for the mandatory course titled „Human Values and Responsible
purpose of scientific investigations and formation of my Citizenship‟. IIM Ahmedabad has incorporated classical
theories.” texts in its course to inculcate new skills of responsible and
empathetic leadership.
In 1945, when Robert Oppenheimer exploded the first atom
bomb, he famously (mis) quoted the verse from Bhagvad Emphasis on establishment of inner peace is growing in
Gita to refer atomic bomb as the rise of thousands Suns in the importance rather than perpetuating the maddening rat race
sky (divi suryasahasrasya yugpat utthita). Misquoted of the corporate world. The golden Sanskritic virtues of
because Bhagvad Gita never ever has intended/done any cooperation are gaining ground over competition. Duties
invention that could destroy humanity. rather than outcomes are becoming enshrined in corporate
principles. „Giving‟ rather than acquisition is gathering
The imprints of classical Sanskrit texts have remained so mainstream. Emotional intelligence and servant leadership
entrenched and eternal that today top management schools are coming in vogue. The era of 1980s and 90s where the
namely Harvard Business School, North Western Kellog‟s greed ruled the roost has started fading. Green has now
School of Business, and the University of Michigan‟s Ross become predominant for the government and corporates.

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International Journal For Technological Research In Engineering
Volume 9, Issue 5, January-2022 ISSN (Online): 2347 - 4718

This East to West export of humanitarian ideas where the Bengali and Nepali all bore the rich imprints of Sanskrit.
development of society is held aloft over the greed of an Sanskrit texts have also richly contributed to the
individual has done a lot more in enhancing the pride and development of science.
soft power of the cradle of Sanskrit civilization. Nehru once
rightly remarked “whatever shape that future may take one of The beautiful alliance of sams and krta gifts us with a
the biggest, the strongest, and the most powerful and the polished, purified and elegant Sanskrit language, that also
most valued of our legacies will be the Sanskrit language.” marvelously blends the scientific virtues of logic, precision
Interestingly, many powerful heads of various countries and and systematization to its structure and formation. Sanskrit
surprisingly the premier of the daunting, dragon power of the language has contributed immensely in the development of
world, China also relished the recitation of Sanskrit shlokas science in ancient India.
in public speech.
Sanskrit literature has been divided into two categories:
The premier recited Sanskrit Shloka from Upanishad „Aum Vedic and Non-Vedic literature. (It will be discussed in detail
Sahana Vavatu‟ before he was to leave for his visit to India. in the following section).
The intention was to build closer ties with it‟s on and off
friendly neighbor India. Vedic Sanskrit was oral in nature and it was difficult to
express scientific ideas in it. Non Vedic Sanskrit allowed our
But the pertinent concern is that despite Sanskrit gaining ancient scientists to express their scientific ideas in the
considerable recognition and willing endorsement across the language of Sanskrit with great precision and logic. Our
world, it could not become the language of masses in its own highly accomplished and adept Mathematicians Aryabhatta,
native country? Varamhira, Brahamgupta, Bhaskar enriched the humanity
with their inventions in the language of Sanskrit. Immensely
Did the Indian State fail Sanskrit in giving its rightful place gifted Sushruta, who indebted the world with his stunning
in society? Or was it the Indian market that was too busy in inventions of cataract and plastic surgeries and is also
capitalizing on popular culture that it shirked away from its regarded as the father of Indian Surgery, and Charaka who
social responsibility in according importance to the language enriched the Ayurvedic medicine, also employed the divine
and traditions of Sanskrit? What has been the policy of Sanskritic language of logic and precision.
Indian State in sustaining and promoting the mother of
languages that now unfortunately has mere 24,821 speakers? Sanskrit signifies perfection and purity for myriad reasons.
Did the advent of a nationalist government in power in 2014 Firstly, Panini, the great grammarian of the world, crafted the
made any considerable impact in the impoverished state of language with great finesse, detailing and adeptness. He
Sanskrit in India? These are few questions for which one fixed 3959 rules of Sanskrit language in his book
needs to find answers for. But there are myriad reasons for Ashtadhyayi. He closely studied and formed the language so
which Sanskrit is the eternal social capital for the world. that scientific ideas can be expressed in a systematic, logical
and precise structure. Markandey Katju in his article
SANSKRIT: AN ETERNAL SOCIAL CAPITAL „Sanskrit as a language of Science‟ has elucidated with an
Sanskrit derived from the word Samskrta is a combination of example how Panini created the art of perfection and
sams and krta. Former means together, good, well, perfected precision. Justice Katju compared the formation of Sanskrit
and krta indicates made, formed, work. The word together language with the English. He says that the arrangement of
connotes a work that has been well prepared, pure and alphabets in the English language has no order. There is no
perfect, polished and sacred. Sanskrit language itself has explanation why F is followed by G, or P is followed by Q.
been so polished that it has been considered one of the finest Whereas Panini arranges alphabets in Sanskrit in a logical
languages that made William Jones remarked “The Sanskrit and scientific manner after closely observing the sounds in
language, whether be its antiquity, is of wonderful structure, human speech. He further writes, “The vowels a, aa, i, ee, u,
more perfect than Greek, more copious than Latin and more oo, ae, ai, o, ou, are arranged according to the shape of the
refined then either”. mouth when these sounds are emitted, a and aa, are
pronounced from the throat, i and ee from the palate, o and
In the sincere pursuit of perfecting itself, Sanskrit has been oo from the lips etc. In the same way consonants have been
the first language to make a grammar of its own. Will Durant arranged in a sequence on a scientific pattern. The (ka) varga
consider Sanskrit as the mother of Indo-European languages. (i.e. ka, kha, ga, gha, nga) are emitted from the throat, the
Many South East Asian countries like Thailand, Cambodia, (cha) varga from the palate, the (ta) varga from the roof of
Laos, Malaysia and Indonesia, and also many languages in the mouth, the (ta) varga from the teeth and the (pa) varga
Europe such as Greek, Latin, Scandinavian and Slavic from the lips.”
languages, German and French have been influenced by the
ancient language. Also, the languages in Japan, China, Justice Katju in the article is celebrating the Sanskrit
Korea, Mongolia, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan have had an language that no language in the world has arranged its
enriching influence of Sanskrit. alphabets in a scientific and logical manner. He is also taking
Sanskrit has also contributed in perfecting many regional pride by emphasizing the immense amount of work and
languages of India. Kannada, Telugu, Malayalam, Hindi, effort put in a simple work of arranging the alphabets. He

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International Journal For Technological Research In Engineering
Volume 9, Issue 5, January-2022 ISSN (Online): 2347 - 4718

writes, “How deeply our ancestors went in the seemingly Japan, it was called Zen Buddhism. Even today, there are
simple matter of arranging alphabets we can realize how thousands of temples with statutes and images of bearded
deeply they went in more advanced matters”. Bodhi Dharma.

Since the teachings of our ancient Veda scriptures were A Chinese educator, scholar and philosopher, Huh Shih, once
delivered orally in Sanskrit before Panini, it became remarked “India conquered and dominated China culturally
important to develop a written language. Our earliest Sanskrit for 20 centuries without ever to have send a single soldier
work Rig Veda, which was composed probably around across her border”.
2000B.C., was passed orally to generations. So written
language became requisite for the development of The increasing prevalence of Sanskrit and its tradition are
philosophy, mathematics, science, astronomy, and literature. conspicuous across the globe.
Sanskrit underwent lot of changes for 1500 years. And in 5th In September 2003, President of Republic of South Africa,
century B.C., Panini wrote his stupendous work Ashtadhyayi Thabo Mbeki echoed Vedic hymns while addressing the
where he set the rules of grammar of Sanskrit. There were no Durban University students.
major changes made to Sanskrit after the Ashtdhyayi work On July 12, 2007 Indian priest Rajan Zed opened the US
except the slight changes made by the other two renowned Senate with a Sanskrit prayer. In 2009, Barack Obama, head
grammarians- Katyayana who wrote his book „Vartika‟ and of the world‟s most powerful country, United States of
Patanjali who wrote a commentary on Ashtdhyayi called America, lit the Diwali lamp amidst the chanting of Vedic
„Maha Bhashya‟. Therefore, the Sanskrit we study today in hymns. In 2010, the opening ceremony of Commonwealth
our schools and colleges is Panini‟s Sanskrit, also called Games 2010 was celebrated in London with the chanting of
Classical Sanskrit. Vedic hymns by British students in presence of Queen
Elizabeth of Great Britain and former President of India
Secondly, Sanskrit is highly respected for its contextual Pratibha Patil.
specificity. It means that the single word of Sanskrit can have
multiple meanings according to the contexts and subject In June 2005, some 2300 students of Massachusetts Institute
matter dealt with there. Merely addition of suffixes and of Technology received their college degrees amidst the
prefixes give a different meaning to the context. For chanting of Sanskrit prayers. In 2006, French first lady
example: Ek-vachana- singular, Dvi vachana- dual, bahu quietly left for Benaras to satisfy her spiritual quest while her
vachana- plural. husband was busy discussing bilateral relations with the then
Prime Minister Dr. Man Mohan Singh.
Another very significant reason for crediting the Sanskrit for
its perfection is that the „Devabhasha‟ (language of Gods) Iyengar Yoga has been widely endorsed. It‟s not only
Sanskrit is in enchanting harmony with nature. It is popular in the West but many Arab countries are also
scientifically proven that universe around us is the vibration deriving immense benefits out of Yoga and meditation. BKS
of atoms/molecules that produces energy. And Sanskrit is a Iyengar trained many Arab Yoga experts to inculcate and
language of vibrations. So when Sanskrit is spoken, the disseminate the values of Yoga. Even in an atheist country of
vibrations/sounds of the words aligns with the language of China, many Chinese disciples of Swami Satchitananda in
the environment. Hong Kong has spread the benefits of Yoga, meditation and
Hindu Bhajans to Chinese. More than 10% of people in US,
Lot many eminent scientists and Nobel Laureates like Albert New Zealand, Europe and Australia practice yoga and
Einstein, Erwin Schrodinger, Neil Bohr, Robert meditation. Some churches have also started teaching
Oppenheimer have used classical Sanskrit texts namely Gita meditation and yoga to its followers. Over 10% of advanced
and Upanishads to explain the properties of sub atomic countries are also following vegetarianism, the practice
particles. Another Nobel Laureate and German Physicist W. originated from India.
Heisenberg‟s seminal work on sub atomic particles extolled
Hinduism and said “After the conversions about Indian In 2007, the Greece president Karolos Papoulis welcomed
philosophy, some of the ideas of Quantum Physics, that had APJ Abdul Kalam in Sanskrit language “Rashtrapatam
seemed so crazy, suddenly made much more sense to me.” Mahabhaga, Sur Swagatam Yavana dishe (President,
welcome to you). The former has studied Sanskrit in
The ubiquitous presence of Sanskrit further adds to the Germany as the ancient Indian language is related to ancient
reverence of the language. And its influence on our friendly Greek.
(or not so friendly) neighbor China exhibits the extent of our
prevalence of our soft power. Less people are aware that a The global significance accorded to Sanskrit can be gauged
common surname Chan is derived from the Sanskrit word from the fact that today the world celebrates World Sanskrit
„Dhyan‟. Bodhi Dharma, a royal son of Suganda, 6th century Day on August 5 on a much larger scale than India. Though
king of Kanchipuram, who turned into a Buddhist monk, in India too, there are villages that have preserved the
took on the mantle of spreading Buddhism in China. His tradition and culture of spoken Sanskrit. Adi Sankaracharya‟s
meditation was called Chan Buddhism (derived from native village Kaladi in Kerala and Mattur, a village close to
Sanskrit word Dhyan). And when it spread to Korea and Shimoga in Karnataka, Sanskrit is the spoken language.

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International Journal For Technological Research In Engineering
Volume 9, Issue 5, January-2022 ISSN (Online): 2347 - 4718

Even the Muslims in Mattur speak the devbhasa (language of

Gods). It is also famous for being the Sanskrit village of
India. More Sanskrit speaking villages in India are Jhiri in
Madhya Pradesh, Sasana in Orissa, Baghuwar in Madhya
Pradesh, Ganoda in Rajasthan, Mohad in Madhya Pradesh,
Hosahalli in Karnataka. In these villages, young and old,
literate and illiterate, women and men speak fluent Sanskrit.
2011 census has shown remarkable spurt of 71% in Sanskrit
speakers. 24,821 people have reported Sanskrit to be their
mother tongue in 2011 in comparison to 14,135 people in
2001. Though the figures still remain quite dim when
compared to 1991 census where Sanskrit speakers were
49,736 but encouraging when compared to 1981 census
where there were only 6106 speakers.

The worrisome fact is that if the speakers will fall below ten
thousand, then Sanskrit will cease to be considered as a
separate language in the Indian Census policy.

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