Spoken Sanskrit and Spoken Sanskrit

[Ganesan]

Of course, the spoken Sanskrit courses which serve as introduction to the 
great language and which are mainly aimed to disprove the critics that 
Sanskrit was not and is never a spoken language should lead the learners to 
study the vast corpus of classical texts.
But, the 'agenda' of the so called Hindutvavadi is not to 'demolish mosques 
or to rape nuns'. With all their obvious mistakes in some of their views 
they can not be outrightly condemned and they never resort to such demeaning 
acts.
It is so strange that even after such horrific and barbaric terrorist acts 
being perpetrated in Kashmir still the Hindutvavadi is condemned for those 
crimes ('demolishing mosques or raping nuns') with which he has been proved 
subsequently to be not at all associated. !!

Ganesh

From: "Stella Sandahl" <ssandahl at SYMPATICO.CA>
To: <INDOLOGY at liverpool.ac.uk>
Sent: Wednesday, August 13, 2008 1:19 PM
Subject: Spoken Sanskrit and Spoken Sanskrit


> In the current debate about "spoken Sanskrit" I believe we are  talking 
> about two different things. It is one thing when for example  a Bengali 
> pandit speaks to Telugu pandit in Sanskrit in order to  debate finer 
> points in a text, or a philosophical issue, a literary  allusion and so 
> forth. Sanskrit is then their common language, a  language of learning, of 
> elegance and wit. And this is quite wonderful.
>
> It is an entirely different matter to try to revive and 'modernize' 
> Sanskrit. Lying on a table in our university library I found a  typical 
> example of the latter. There were new-fangled "Sanskrit"  words for money 
> order, check-out counter, bus station, bank draft -  as if one finds these 
> things in classical Sanskrit texts! These  manuals are quite ridiculous: I 
> found a sentence like ahaM  sevaphalAni khAdAmi which was supposed to mean 
> 'I eat apples'. First,  as far as I know there were no apples in classical 
> India (weren't  they brought in by Babur?), second the word seva is 
> obviously modeled  on Hindi seb 'apple' from the Persian sib with the same 
> meaning. This  is exactly in line with the examples given by Professor 
> Nair: "adya  kati iddali bhakshitam?" "adya chayam piitam kim?", equally 
> ridiculous.  My niece in Delhi once asked to help her with her  Sanskrit 
> homework. She had to translate the sentence "Kings live in  palaces" into 
> Sanskrit. The word given by the teacher for palace was  'mahala' !!!  I 
> tried to convince the little girl that there was no  such word in 
> Sanskrit. In vain. The girl said :"teacher says it is  mahala", and that 
> was what it had to be.
>
> It is very sad to se how the ignorant Hindutva forces demean and make  the 
> wonderful classical language into something trivial and  ridiculous. How 
> do we stop them?
> How can we rescue Sanskrit from these vandals? I doubt that the 
> sevaphalAni-eating student in his mahala can read and understand even  one 
> line by Kalidasa or Bana or Jayadeva.
> But he can cut the throat of those who cannot speak his so called 
> Sanskrit. When he is not busy demolishing mosques and raping nuns.
>
> Stella Sandahl
>
>
> --
> Professor Stella Sandahl
> Department of East Asian Studies
> 130 St. George St. room 14087
> Toronto, ON M5S 3H1
> ssandahl at sympatico.ca
> stella.sandahl at utoronto.ca
> Tel. (416) 978-4295
> Fax. (416) 978-5711
>