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[Girish Beeharry]

Hi,

>The smart alphabetical arrangement also does not originate from 
>Devanagari but from the mind of the ancient linguists who, as has been 
>quoted from Staal (I do not think it is something provocative, I always 
>thought it was obvious and commonly held), were able to carry out such an 
>abstract analysis thanks to not being mislead by script, as they operated 
>directly with the sound of the language. All the scripts consequently 
>inherited this alphabetical arrangement deviced _for the language_

The interesting bit is, of course, the lack of proper treatment of the sounds
themselves, and the various symbolisms associated with them, in Western 
universities. While I don't know why this is the case, the result is that 
people, educated in the west, tend to think of Sanskrit/Vedic as just another 
language. 

For instance, if one knows/assumes/believes that, say, the sound 'ra' is the 
biija mantra for the  agni tatva, AND one can pronounce its properly, one would
probably see the raamaayaNa in a different perspective. 

As a physicist, I am a bit influenced by the primary importance of experiments;
however, the establishment in Indology would perhaps think that one should stay
'aloof' from the language in order to study it 'properly'. I believe some 
famous Dutch Indologist said something about students, showing too much 
interest in what they were studying, being 'lost to scholarship'... 

I am sure the paNDita-s have many things to say on this issue.

Bye,

Girish Beeharry