15 June 2019

Remarks by High Commissioner Tanmaya Lal

माननीय कला और संस्कृति मंत्री श्री पृथ्वी राज सिंह रूपन जी,

संस्कृत स्पीकिंग यूनियन के अध्यक्ष श्री केसन बधू जी,

आर्य सभा मॉरिशस के अध्यक्ष डॉ. उदय नारायण गंगू जी,

महात्मा गाँधी संस्थान के अध्यक्ष जय नारायण मीतू जी,

विश्व हिंदी सचिवालय के महासचिव प्रो. विनोद कुमार मिश्र जी,

अन्य गणमान्य अतिथि,

संस्कृत के अनेक विद्वान जो आज यहाँ उपस्थित हैं,

नमस्कार ।

सबसे पहले मैं संस्कृत स्पीकिंग यूनियन को बधाई देना चाहता हूँ जिन्होंने आज यह कार्यक्रम आयोजित किया है ।

मुझे यहाँ निमंत्रित करने के लिए मैं आपका बहुत आभारी हूँ । मेरे लिए यह अत्यंत प्रसन्नता और सौभाग्य का विषय है कि इस अवसर पर मुझे यहाँ उपस्थित होने का अवसर मिला ।

मुझे बताया गया है कि इस सभागार में कुछ व्यक्ति हिंदी भाषी नहीं हैं इस लिए आप सब की अनुमति से मैं आपके सम्मुख कुछ विचार अंग्रेजी और हिंदी दोनों में रखता हूँ ।

I would like to speak about two main aspects here today.

The first is about the evolution of Sanskrit language through history, and its usage in India and its neighbouring regions; and why it is important even today to make efforts to preserve the language.

Sanskrit is among the most ancient surviving languages in history. Its usage goes back at least three thousand years. Sanskrit, along with the major south Indian languages like Tamil, has been the main vehicle that has carried Indian civilizational heritage through these thousands of years.

Sanskrit is understood to have begun as one of the early Indo-European languages in northwest India. It is spread as a vernacular language across the Gangetic plains. Then as an elite language it spread to the rest of the subcontinent. It also moved east of India across sea through trade and served as a cultural inspiration.

Sanskrit, in its current form, was formalized almost two and half thousand years ago by Panini, who was perhaps working in Taxila in northwest India at the time. The language had been used since much earlier and the Vedas were composed in an earlier form of the language.

Panini’s meticulous effort was the world’s first scientific grammar for any language. He was followed by Patanjali and Katyayana. The order of alphabet, and the detailed rules for composition all made the Sanskrit language very precise and scientific. It provided a natural forum for intellectual debate and exercise.

These days many of us associate Sanskrit merely with the Hindu religious shlokas and rituals. India’s great epics Ramayana and Mahabharata were composed in Sanskrit. But this has been only one of the various aspects of Sanskrit’s role in the Indian civilization.

Sanskrit was the language also for composition of great Indian literature, poetry and drama. Great philosophical works treaties on music and dance; on economics, law and governance; and science and astronomy and medicine were all composed in Sanskrit.

Arthashastra of Kautilya written two thousand years ago, Meghaduta written by Kalidasa a little later, the works of Aryabhatta, Brahmagupta and Bhaskar; Charaka and Sushruta in medicine; Gautam, Ashvaghosha, Kapila, Shankaracharya, are among the world’s lasting heritage.

Many of the primary texts for Buddhism and Jainism were also written in Sanskrit. Sanskrit, as a vehicle for Buddhism and Hinduism traveled with traders and missionaries to India’s neighbourhood.

Chinese scholars traveled to India and learnt Sanskrit at Nalanda University to understand religious and other philosophical texts of Buddhism and carried its knowledge back with them. Experts write about the influence of Sanskrit on Chinese phonetics. The Japanese order of symbols in its syllabary is based on the order of letters in the Indian alphabet, which is based on phonetic properties of the sounds represented. Sanskrit also influenced the Tibetan script.

The influence of Sanskrit in Southeast Asia is well documented. Many of the inscriptions found in those countries are in Sankrit.

Sanskrit co-existed with several other Prakrit languages spoken by common people and other classical languages in different regions of India. Many of the languages in India today trade their origin to Sanskrit.

Beginning around 800 years ago, the advent of languages by rulers from outside India first Persian and the English undermined the supremacy of Sanskrit among the elite, as a language of governance and learning, even as it continued to be the language of religious rituals.

When the British and other western scholars discovered Sanskrit in late 18^th century, they realized its sophistication, its deep history and also its linkages with many European languages. This led to extensive studies that compare languages of different regions. Sanskrit is today categorized as one of the early Indo-European languages.

Sanskrit is one of the 22 official languages listed in its Indian constitution. The Government of India has taken several measures to promote and preserve the Sanskrit heritage. The year 1999 was designated as the year of Sanskrit language in India. Contemporary Sanskrit authors have been recognized for their contribution and awarded the highest Indian literature awards.

Sanskrit continues to be offered as a language in schools. I myself studied the language till eighth grade and I loved its mathematical precision, which made it a very scoring subject!

Today, many western universities offer courses in Sanskrit. It is estimated that nearly 80 universities around the world offer Sanskrit courses.

It is commendable that here in Mauritius serious efforts are underway to preserve the language especially through the Sanskrit Speaking Union.

I congratulate everyone who is associated with these efforts and hope that these will help raise curiosity among the younger generation to learn about this great language that opens the door to our collective longstanding heritage.

अन्त में आप सब को फिर एक बार बहुत बहुत बधाई और शुभकामनाएँ ।

धन्यवाद

Thank you.