Giving Sanskrit new life

Photo Credits: Dr Geeta Kale

For a long time now, many say that Sanskrit is a ‘dead’ language and is not useful anymore but here’s a teacher who refuting all charges against Sanskrit, strongly advocating the importance and utility of this divine language, which is a treasure trove of ancient Vedic knowledge that many in the world cherish now. “The utility of Sanskrit is unabated. Learning it will help us expand the horizons of our knowledge. Kids must be encouraged to learn Sanskrit at an early age and more research activities should be encouraged in it at the college and university level,” states Dr Geeta Kale who has been teaching Sanskrit to enthusiastic learners across Goa for over four decades. Not dwelling in the past, she is dreaming of the future of Sanskrit. The demand for this language is so much that she still has to guide students of Sanskrit though she has retired four years ago as a joint director in SCERT.

SCERT, an autonomous body of the government concerned with the academic aspects of school education including formulation of curriculum, preparation of textbooks, teachers’ handbooks and teacher training. “It advises the government on policy matters relating to school education,” explains Dr Kale who was on the panel of writers for school books (class V to VII) apart from being a resource person for teacher training across Goa. Sanskrit has remained close to her heart always and she has been teaching this ‘perfect’ language in secondary and higher secondary schools for over 40 years now.

Sanskrit texts have always evoked great interest among scholars and researchers of language and literature - not only in India but also abroad. A sizable part of our ancient knowledge regarding mathematics, astronomy, science, engineering, music, agriculture, surgery, medicine, physics, chemistry, grammar, art, architecture, herbs, plant and animal life among others can be found preserved in it. The knowledge was passed down from the guru (teacher) to the shishya (disciple) through oral recitations in Sanskrit in the gurukuls and paathshalas that our ancient seers and sages (rishi-muni) run in good old days. “Learning by heart is a must feature in Sanskrit in the initial stages and grammar constitutes an important part of this language,” Dr Kale says.

“Those who wish to study our rich past cannot do so without the knowledge of Sanskrit language. To know about our heritage, today’s young children must be encouraged to master this language, a treasure trove carrying mystic knowledge,” asserts Dr Kale who recalls her school days in Kolhapur when her teachers invoked interest in Sanskrit and how she began learning the language when she was in fifth class. She pursued Sanskrit since then scoring above 90 per cent in her exams.

But isn’t Sanskrit a dead language? “No. It is not,” Dr Kale asserts firmly. She explains that a language is said to be dead when people no longer use it. “Sanskrit is widely used by people not only in India but other countries too. Sadly we do not have figures to support our claim. There has been no census done regarding people using Sanskrit . But Sanskrit texts are learnt in North India and many universities elsewhere. Even schools offer Sanskrit. In South India too there are many paathshalas which teach Sanskrit,” she mentions.

Recalling her own days as a student Dr Kale says that there was no Sanskrit for BA at college level but being fascinated with the language she insisted to graduate in it. Her college in Kolhapur granted this demand and so hers was the first batch to graduate with Sanskrit. After graduation she came to Goa and started teaching in 1975, but continued her own studies. Her thesis was based on the comparative studies of 30 Marathi translations of the great lyric poem Meghdoot written by Sanskrit scholar Mahakavi Kaalidaas. There are over 100 translations of Meghdoot in various languages out of which she chose 30 in Marathi.

Dr Kale conducts Bharatiya Vidya Bhuvan exams too. A socially active person Dr Kale was the president of many organisations - Pundalik Nagar Mahila Mandal, Marathi Sanskar Kendra Porvorim and Goa Sane Guruji Kathamala were some of these. She is also associated with the Jivottam Math Sanskruttyojak Mandal, Sanskrit Pracharini Sabha, Tapobhoomi and Sanskar Bharati Varg. “The best part of being associated with so many organisations was it allowed me a platform to preach Sanskrit and organise competitions in it. I have done my bit to motivate hundreds of young minds in Goa to opt for,” she claims.

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A pure language

The phonology (the speech sound) and morphology (the science of word formation) of the Sanskrit language is entirely different from all of the languages of the world. Some of the unique features of Sanskrit are:

The sound of each of the 36 consonants and the 16 vowels of Sanskrit are fixed and precise since the very beginning. They were never changed, altered, improved or modified. All the words of the Sanskrit language always had the same pronunciation as they have today. The reason is its absolute perfection by its own nature and formation, because it was the first language of the world.

The morphology of word formation is unique and of its own kind where a word is formed from a tiny seed root (called dhatu) in a precise grammatical order which has been the same since the very beginning. Any number of desired words could be created through its root words and the prefix and suffix system as detailed in the Ashtadhyayi of Panini. Furthermore, 90 forms of each verb and 21 forms of each noun or pronoun could be formed that could be used in any situation.

There has never been any kind, class or nature of change in the science of Sanskrit grammar as seen in other languages of the world as they passed through one stage to another.

The perfect form of the Vedic Sanskrit language had already existed thousands of years earlier even before the infancy of the earliest prime languages of the world like Greek, Hebrew and Latin etc.

When a language is spoken by unqualified people the pronunciation of the word changes to some extent; and when these words travel by word of mouth to another region of the land, with the gap of some generations, it permanently changes its form and shape to some extent. Just like the Sanskrit word matri, with a long ‘a’ and soft ‘t,’ became mater in Greek and mother in English. The last two words are called the ‘apbhransh’ of the original Sanskrit word ‘matri.’ Such apbhranshas of Sanskrit words are found in all the languages of the world and this situation itself proves that Sanskrit was the mother language of the world.

Considering all the five points as explained above, it is quite evident that Sanskrit is the source of all the languages of the world and not a derivation of any language. As such, Sanskrit is the Divine mother language of the world.

*Courtesy: ‘The True History and the Religion of India’ written by Dharm Chakravarty Swami Prakashanand Saraswati’