`Conversational Sanskrit' vs `Real Sanskrit'

[bpj at netg.se]

At 21:14 11.4.1997 +0100, Vidyasankar Sundaresan wrote:
>Here is one of my pet peeves. There is an increased tendency in many
>Sanskrit publications from India, to form the past tense by addition of
>sma to the present. Sometimes, whole paragraphs are filled with
>constructions like karoti sma, vasati sma, ...... Does this reflect an
>unconscious desire among many Indians to recast their past in terms of the
>present?!!
>
>S. Vidyasankar

Or not having to bother about tense formation...

Is there any rule that governs the choice of the "sma" construction in
Sanskrit, since it is after all so scarce in classical texts, or was it
simply that authors found it below their dignity to opt for that easy way
around?

I do by the way share Nath Rao's peevishness about aping English. It is
certainly not a problem in Sanskrit only: to be able to write and read
technical Swedish one will soon _have_ to know English spelling-to-sound
rules. People in India are lucky that those imports at least get
transcribed!

Btw: my peeve about western Sanskrit teaching is the manifest bias towards
a certain limited number of texts, and disregard for providing a variety of
subject matter in the texts read. What do the practicing teacher of
Sanskrit think?

Regards to all,

Philip


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