(ಬಾಗಲೋಡಿಯವರ
ವೈಚಾರಿಕ ಚಿಂತನೆಗಳು ೨)
(ಬಾಗಲೋಡಿ
ದೇವರಾಯರ ಸ್ಮರಣ ಸಂಪುಟ - ‘ದೇವಸ್ಮರಣೆ’ ೨೦೦೩ರಲ್ಲಿ ಅತ್ರಿ ಬುಕ್ ಸೆಂಟರ್ ಪ್ರಕಟಿಸಿದ ಪುಸ್ತಕದ
ಯಥಾ ವಿದ್ಯುನ್ಮಾನ ಪ್ರತಿ ೨೦೧೭. ಸಂಪಾದಕ - ಜಿ.ಟಿ. ನಾರಾಯಣ ರಾವ್)
(ಭಾಗ ೨೦)
Almost all the languages of
India irrespective of region, north or south, east or west, are replete with
Sanskrit words. Some people think erroneously that the languages of the South
India owe nothing to Sanskrit. In fact, Kannada, Konkani and Tulu abound in
Sanskrit words. Tulu is very close to Sanskrit. A large number of Sanskrit
words are unknowingly used in Konkani. Theoretically and academically, we all
know it. We donot realize or rather we donot feel the personal impact of
Sanskrit on our languages because of our ignorance of Sanskrit.
About 31 years ago, a
Maharashtrian recited in front of me the nationalist revolutionary poem written
by the great revolutionary poet of Bengal, Kazi Nazrul Islam. The poem Vidrohi,
or the Rebel, starts with the `Ami Janjha', (I am the cyclone). It was amazing,
for I didnot know Bengali, but I could understand every single word, because it
was entirely Sanskrit. (songs of Nazrul Islam)
He begins by saying, Ami janjha (I am the tornado, I am the cyclone) and he
ends by saying "I am the Bhrugumuni who kicked Mahavishnu on his
chest." This great revolutionary song, played a great role during the
Freedom movment. Thus, I realized that Sanskrit is a fine link language; the
knowledge of this language can enable a Kannadiga understand Bengali too. Later
I could also read Tagore. His great songs like `Bhuvaneshwara he' are very
beautiful. Any one can understand it without much effort.
Bhuvaneshwara he;
Mochanakar, bandhana sab,
Mochanakar he;
Prabhu Mocahanakar bhai,
Prabhu dainyakarhalai
Neeta Chakita chanchala
chittakara Nissanshay
भुवनॆश्वर हॆ
मॊचनकर् बन्धन सब्
मॊचनकर् हॆ
प्रभु मॊचनकर् भाय्
प्रभु दैन्यकर् हलाय्
नीत चकित चंचल
चित्तकर् निस्संशय्
You do not need any translation
because it it Sanskrit.
I realized the fact myself, many
years later, l in 1971, when I was in the Philippines. I was talking to a
Bengali friend, a distinguished journalist. I started reading the first page of
my own story Pavada Purusha. He returned the compliment. I took one book from
his collection, a book of Bengali contemporary critic. I could understand it
perfectly well without any translation. Then he took another one as a contrast,
of another Bengali critic. But I could not understand anything, may be except
for a word or two in a sentence. Then I realized that Sanskrit is an incredibly
valuable link among various regions and languages in India. Therefore, I believe
that its preservation, its enrichment, its strengthening and promotion are very
valuable to our national unity, integration and progress. This is also essential
for an understanding of the various regions of our country. I have also found
this fact in my diplomatic career where I am obliged to make speeches
frequently. Whenever there are foreigners, we use English, French or German.
But on three or four occasions we are obliged to make speeches in Hindi. On
Independence day, Republic day, Gandhi Jayanthi and a few other occasions. When
all the memebers of the audience would be Indians. Once they told me that their
mother tongue was not Hindi. But when I spoke Hindi they could understand it,
whereas when others did, they could not. I did not know the reason for this. In
reality I was speaking my own language Kannada, changing only the pratyaya ka,
ko, ke, ki....
So I was speaking my own
language, Kannada, using a lot of Hindi, Punjabi etc. I would always repeat the
same words and sentences in Urdu too. But I realized that if we speak any
language in India with a judicious, sympathetic and imaginative mixture of Sanskrit,
everyone among the country's 700 millions would understand it. Let me tell you
another interesting incident. During the celebrations of the Independence Day,
I made every one of the Indians present sing a song in their own language, one
in Tamil, one in Telugu, one in Bengali and one in Kannada. But I asked them to
repeat it after me. They were surprised to note how they could repeat a
dravidiyan language, Kannada, in which I sang a song. At the end of the
function, they all came and said "Sir, your language Kannada is like my
language." I did not reveal the secret.
Now we come to the international
plane. These are facats which you know very well. Sanskrit is not only the
ancestor language of India but also of many languages outside India like Bangladeshi,
Sinhalese. The official language of Sri Lanka is derived from Sanskrit and
Pali. There are other languages like the national language of Laos, Kampuchia
and Thailand. Of course they are not directly derived from Sanskrit, but their
higher vocabulary comes from it. So is their day-to-day vocabulary. For
example, the word for `President', in Laos and in Kampuchia Pradhanadhipathi.
The word for `peace' is Shanti Bhav, the word for `unity' Yeka Bhav, the word
for `Electricity' is Vidyuth, the word for `car' is Rath, the word for
`education' is Shiksha, the word for `Agriculture' is Krishikan. The word for
`Prime Minister' is Nayak Rashtra Mantri, and ordinary words like, `please' is
Karuna, and the word for telephone is Doorabhasha. They would not say Doorvani.
I think it is a better word. The word for `Television' is Doordarsha. The word
for king in Thailand which has monarchy is Chakrabhanu. So in all these
countries are great part of vocabulary is derived from Sanskrit. So, if you
have the knowledge of Sanskrit, you already know a substantial and significant
part of their language, without even having started to learn their language. It
is a great advantage. The word for `Commerce' is Phanich, the word for
`medicine' is Aushadha, the word for `doctor' is Bhishak. Thus I realized how
valuable is the position and the knowledge of Sanskrit is in our communication
with our neighbouring countries, like SriLanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, Thailand,
Kampuchia, Laos etc., and to a lesser extent, Malaysia and Indonesia. In the
olden days, the Javanese and Sumatra were full of Sanskrit. In fact you will be
interested to know that Sanskrit was compulsory for the old Dutch civil
servants who had to work in Netherlands and East-Indies. They had to pass an
examination in Sanskrit. In Thailand, Laos and Kampuchia Sanskrit was equally
influential.
The days of the week are termed
as `Vaanu' (from the word Vaar) but placed in the begining as below:
Vaanu aaditoo (Aditya = bhaanu)
Vaanu chandr (chandra = Soma)
Vaanu angarak (Mangal)
Vaanu budh
Vaanu bruhath (= big planet =
Guru)
Vaanu Shukr
Vaanu Sai (Shani)
The months of a year are termed
as follows: Meshayam, Vrishabh, Mithun, Karkatak, Simha, Kanya, Tula,
Ghanvakam, Kumbha, Meena etc (the speaker did not mention the 12th month in his
speech. But actually - )
Thus they follow the Sanskrit
Calendar.
So I realised how the knowledge
of Sanskrit was a means of coming closer to them, almost reaching out to their
heart. It gave a tremendous advantage to us in learning their language and in
understanding their customs. Coming to Europe, I am sure, many of you who have
studied Philology very well that all the languages of Europe (except three -
Finnish, Hungarian and Turkish) belong to the Indo-European family. English,
the entire Latin group, the French, Italian, Portugese and Spanish and Germanic
group, Greek and the Russian, Bulgarian and Polish - they all belong to the
Indo-European family. There is no word which is cognate, which is not a cousin
to a corresponding Sanskrit word. This was discovered about 200 years ago by
German and Scandinavian philologists. At that time they thought that it was
only a hypothesis. They called it `Kentum theory' wherein the word `shatam' in
Sanskrit was Kent. Similarly the word `Shvan', `Shun' is `Kanishu' (Kanish) in
Latin, `Kunos' in Greek, Hund in Germanic and Hound in English. Similarly it
goes on. `Shrung' becomes Karnus in Latin, and Horn in English and Shreni
becomes range in English and Shasha becomes hare. So they found this pattern,
and they also found that this was absolutely global, universal and without
exception. Matr becomes matar, mutar in Latin and mother in English. Pitr
becomes patar in Latin, father in English. That is why they finally gave this
concept, a definition of `exceptionless.' They call it in German
AUSNAHMELOSIGKFIT. Deva=God (dev=devasu) is deyus (Latin), diyas (Spanish),
diyo (Italian). So without the knowlege of Sanskrit nobody can understand the
philology of European languages. There are three exceptions which do not belong
to this group. They are Finnish, Hungarian and Turkish. But all other languages
of Europe are cognate with Sanskrit. It is not a hypothesis or thesis. It is
proved by the fact that any standard text book in philology will contain
language chapters from this. So, I came to the conclusion that the study of
Sanskrit was not merely an accomplishment but a highly useful and profitable
activity.
In fact originally I thought of
giving a talk on Sanskrit for Profit. But then I felt that many of the elderly
Sanskrit scholars would deem it irrelevant because they feel that Sanskrit was
Deva Bhasha (Divine language) and to relate the word `profit' with so sacred a
language would have offended them. But my own personal view is that excessive
reverence makes the people deify the object of reverence. This is like erecting
a statue of Mahatma Gandhi and on every 2nd October, garlanding him and singing
his praise, but forgetting him altogether for the rest of 364 days. It is
better to keep reverence within reasonable limits. You use every force as a
vital practical force. But donot bury under the huge mass of excessive
reverence. Let us not forget that Sanskrit was not only the language or vehicle
of religious and philosophical thought, but also a vehicle for very highly
learned treatises of metallurgy, veterinary science, military science,
medicine, astronomy, mathematics and ofcourse a vehicle for a number of stories
which were quite worthy of their humour.
At the end, I have a
recommendation to make. It is useful to increase the content of Sanskrit
language in teaching, but without compulsion. Coercion would be
counterproductive.
All of you, I believe are lovers
of India, and so lovers of Sanskrit. I believe that any one who is a lover of
Sanskrit is also a lover of India and of international understanding.
Dharmo rakshati rakshitah
Dharma protects the protector
(ಮುಂದುವರಿಯಲಿದೆ)
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