Prof. Vivek Singh
Indian culture is incomplete without Sanskrit. Sanskrit, despite being the oldest language in the world is a relevant, complete and scientific language. Sanskrit is a spiritual language as well as a scientific language. Sanskrit is the language of knowledge and science. Sanskrit is the most obvious language in the world. Sanskrit has the ability to say more words in least words. Sanskrit is a language whose sentence is not affected by moving words around in the sentence like –
‘I go to Krishna's house', ‘Aham Krishnasya Griham Gachchhami' OR ‘Krishnasya Griham Gachchhami Aham' OR ‘Gachchhami Aham Krishnasya Griham' will all have the same meaning – I go to Krishna's house.
What will happen if we do the same in English ‘Ram was son of Dashrath', now change the order of the words of Dasharatha and Ram ‘Dashrath was son of Ram'. Meaning in other language will be lost if the place of words is changed.
Sanskrit makes the brain sharp. Sanskrit enhances Satoguna and creates moral values. Sanskrit increases concentration. While speaking Sanskrit all the muscles of the tongue are used. For this reason Sanskrit is also used in speech therapy. Blood pressure can be controlled easily with the use of Sanskrit. All these facts are based on research. Sanskrit is very useful for Artificial Intelligence. Sanskrit is the most obvious language of the earth. Sanskrit will be the best language for the 6th and 7th generation supercomputers.
Our language Sanskrit which was spoken by the world as a language of worship but today Sanskrit, the oldest language in the world, is considered the best language for computer programming. This is because in Sanskrit it is written as it is spoken, it is read as it is written. How can a prudent computer understand whether ‘Know' is being spoken or ‘No' is being spoken, ‘Son' is being spoken or ‘Sun' is being spoken. Chemistry is pronounced as Kemistry whereas Chopra is not pronounced as Kopra. Put and But are similar but both are pronounced differently. When what will become silent is beyond comprehension.
Language should develop and bring new ideas, it should be helpful to see and understand the world, change the perspective. All these qualities exist in Sanskrit. In Sanskrit, the whole world is called family while in other languages, the world is considered a market. Trade is base of market while love is base of family. We have to decide whether to promote the language of love or trade. When Mangal is prayed in Sanskrit, it is not that it is done for loved ones only. People who know Sanskrit have better and humanitarian thinking. That is how our sages used to think thousands of years ago –
Ayam nijah paro veti ganana laghu chetasam
Udar charitanam tu vasudhaiv kutumbakam.
All the texts of Sanatana Dharma are in Sanskrit language – Vedas, Puranas, Upanishads, Ramayana, Mahabharata, Srimadbhagavadgita. Philosophers like Ramanuja, Kapil, Jaimini.. grammarians like Panini.. Yogaguru like Patanjali. Mathematicians like Aryabhatta.. Visionary. Thinker like Kalidasa and Dandi.. Gyanis like Vasishtha.. Doctor and surgeons like Charak and Sushrutha got knowledge because of Sanskrit language.
NEP 2020, there is a special emphasis on Sanskrit from school to higher education level. People who know Sanskrit are being respected. People touch their feet. Recently, Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Yogi Adityanath has decided that all government releases of Uttar Pradesh will now come in Sanskrit too. This decision will definitely pave the way for the development of Sanskrit language. Sanskrit is not just the name of a language, Sanskrit is also the name of a culture. Culture is also such that it thinks welfare of all, Sarve Bhavantu Sukhinah, Sarve Santu Niramayah.
Sanskrit is the second official language of Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh. Crores of Sanskrit manuscripts have been found from many countries like Nepal, China, Myanmar, Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia, Tibet, Afghanistan, Mongolia, Tajikistan, Vietnam. More than 102 billion 78 crore 50 lakh Sanskrit words are there in Sanskrit dictionary. Sanskrit is not a language with 10000 words and words borrowed from other languages. A Sanskrit sentence can be completed with just 2 words. If we are thinking about a language which has the ability to say more words in least words, it is a Sanskrit language.
To communicate with aliens, NASA scientists sent messages in English. When NASA scientists sent messages to astronauts, the meaning of the message changed as the messages were overturned. NASA scientists had to deal with this problem. Then, how aliens can understand the message sent from the earth especially in English to the planets which are hundreds of light years away from us? It may be that due to difference or effect of time speed, words or order of words have changed and sentences have become meaningless. This may be a reason that's why we never got a reply from aliens. The message should be sent only in Sanskrit language especially in search for aliens.
The Rigveda, the world's oldest book is written in Sanskrit. The most comprehensive anthropology, sociology and psychology of the world are in Ramayana and Bhagavad Gita which are in Sanskrit. The oldest scripture of chemistry is Ras-Ratnakar written in Sanskrit. Astronomical calculations, the principles of algebra, the diameter of the earth and the rotation of the earth around the Sun have been done by Sanskrit scholar Aryabhata. Knowledge of information and communication technology is first given in Meghadutam composed by Kalidasa which is in Sanskrit language.
Hardly anyone knows 2-4 names in English or other languages for water. Hundreds of synonyms for water can be found in Sanskrit.
Paneeyam salilam neeram keelalam jalmambu ch.
Aapo vaarvari kan toyam payah Pathstathodakam.
Paniyam, Salilam, Neeran, Keelalam, Jal, Aapo, Vari, Toyam, Payah, etc. mentioned in this verse are all names of water.
Ancient religious texts of not only Hinduism but also Buddhist, Jain religions can be found in Sanskrit. Hindi, Marathi, Bengali, Gujarati, Sindhi, Punjabi, Nepali, Urdu, Konkani, Odia, Garhwali, Awadhi, Bhojpuri languages originated from Sanskrit language. Not only this, languages like Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam also have been influenced by Sanskrit. Dr. B. R. Ambedkar was also in favor of making Sanskrit as the official language.
There are only 24821 people in India today whose mother tongue is Sanskrit. There are 1669 people in Nepal who declared Sanskrit as their mother tongue. As per 1981 census, 6106 people declared Sanskrit as their mother tongue, while in 1991 census 49736 people declared Sanskrit as their mother tongue. Only 14135 people declared Sanskrit as their mother tongue in 2001 census. As per data of 2011 census, 24821 people declared Sanskrit as their mother tongue. In this sense, Sanskrit was the mother tongue of 0.002% of the population in 2011. In the 2011 census, Sanskrit was cited by 1234931 people as second language and 1196223 people as third language. Today the number of people who speak and understand Sanskrit in India is just 2360821 which is very sad and worrying.
If Sanskrit is lost, Indian culture will also not survive. As long as it is Sanskrit, it is our culture. The fact is that no language can be promoted only by government. Active participation of the public is necessary to make the move of government successful. We have to be freed from foreign language. We kept on reading Darwin's theory, while clear information about human development has been given in our Vedas and Puranas thousands of years ago. Without freedom of thought and language, we cannot be called free. Without the cooperation of the society, the government cannot promote any language. How should Sanskrit language regain the glorious status of its past and what is the role of society in it, for this we should learn from the people's movement of Hebrew language.
The writer is columnist, thinker, Professor of Commerce, Economic, Political and Social Analyst
