Clarification about Spoken Sanskrit
Herman Tull
hwtull at MSN.COM
Tue Aug 19 15:17:26 UTC 2008
Appropriate to this discussion is Edwin Gerow's "Primary Education in
Sanskrit: Methods and Goals" from the Journal of the American Oriental
Society, Vol. 122, No. 4 (Oct. - Dec., 2002), pp. 661-690
Herman Tull
Princeton, NJ
--------------------------------------------------
From: "Stella Sandahl" <ssandahl at SYMPATICO.CA>
Sent: Tuesday, August 19, 2008 11:05 AM
To: <INDOLOGY at liverpool.ac.uk>
Subject: Clarification about Spoken Sanskrit
> Dear all,
> I seem to have stepped on many tender toes by making fun of a certain
> type of Spoken Sanskrit. My main objection is entirely practical. Over
> the years I have noticed that those who have been taught spoken Sanskrit
> seem to have real difficulties reading even simple classical Sanskrit
> such as the Kathasaritsagara and the Hitopadesa, not to speak about the
> epics. It is important that there still are a few students who wish to
> learn the language of Kalidasa et alii - and it is a real pity that
> alamkarashastra is not given much attention among scholars of comparative
> literature to give just one example.
>
> Spoken Sanskrit can be quite an intellectually stimulating pass- time.
> Like playing chess. But trying to revive a dead language by creating
> words for nuclear submarines, supermarkets, tennis tournaments etc. is
> in my view a rather useless enterprise. Mass Sanskrit is of little
> interest for the large Indian population trying to eke out a meagre
> living to get one meal a day. Languages are living organism that
> constantly change - bhasha calti nadi. Sanskrit has a normative
> unchangeable grammar since around 400 B.C. So can't we let it be what it
> is, a beautiful dead language?
> Nobody has tried to revive Latin in Italy since the days of Mussolini.
> However, Latin is still used in Western universities to harangue
> recipients of honorary doctorates and such things.
> And it is of course used by the Vatican. There is no reason not to use
> Sanskrit in a similar way to inaugurate dams, swearing in cabinets,
> taking ministerial oaths, and of course in solemn rites of passage. But
> trying to take a bus in Bombay/Mumbai or disputing the taxi fare in
> Sanskrit is probably not going to have much effect except amusing the
> drivers and the ever-present surrounding crowd.
>
> However, I do believe it is important that students do regular exercises
> translating into Sanskrit, not just the other way around. At the Sorbonne
> we did "themes et versions" on alternating weeks (the "themes" were
> Sanskrit texts translated into an often bizarre French which we
> translated back into Sanskrit), and that was very useful. More useful
> than chatting in Sanskrit about tea and iddlis.
>
> Best to all
> Stella Sandahl
>
> P.S. I do know how to transliterate - I just do not like the e-mail
> transliteration. And in the few cases above all members of the list can
> surely supply them.
> P.P.S. Does anyone have the full text of Sacchidanandan's wonderful poem
> about the dinosaurs who "died out because they spoke Sanskrit"?
> --
> 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
>
More information about the INDOLOGY
mailing list