Clarification about Spoken Sanskrit

Wed Aug 20 13:48:52 UTC 2008

Dear Dr. Ganesan,
Our definition of a 'dead language' is simply not the same. To me a  
language is dead when it has a normative grammar which is  
unchangeable. In that sense Panini, presumably unwittingly,  
assassinated Sanskrit already 500 or 400 B.C.- the most brilliant  
assassination in history!
Jan Houben actually proves the point by his statement that "In 1,000  
years time, Sanskrit will still be the same, but every other language  
will have changed beyond recognition."
A living language changes, a dead one stays the same, regardless how  
many journals, articles, literary works etc. etc. are written in that  
language. The only "new" thing about the so called spoken (and also  
written) Sanskrit is its additional nouns and adjectives such as  
bhUmigatena rathenAgataH  "he arrived by the subway train" or  
paramANuvisphoTa  "nuclear blast" (I am inventing these) - the Hindi   
"paramANu bam" is funnier. Verbal and pronominal endings do not seem  
to change. Mummies do not change much either.
As for the Census figures of people declaring Sanskrit their mother- 
tongue (or is it not rather father-tongue?) it has to be taken with a  
grain of salt. By the way, nobody has so far
explained to me what happened with the 35,601 Sanskrit speakers who  
vanished between 1991-2001. Maybe they, like the Malayali poet  
Sacchidanandan's dinosaurs "died out
because they spoke Sanskrit"? Who knows?
Rest assured of my devotion to and love for teaching classical  
Sanskrit. And please don't accuse me of necrophilia!
Yours
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

On 20-Aug-08, at 5:08 AM, Ganesan wrote:

> Dear Sanskrit Lovers,
> It is so strange that Sanskrit is called a dead language by its own  
> student !! It is not at all a dead language as it has been declared  
> as 'mother tongue' by some people though they are very few.  
> Further, other than its liturgical usage literature of big and  
> small sizes is still produced in that language in the Bharatadesa .  
> There are many Sanskrit journals, periodicals and daily newspapers  
> such as SUDHARMAA, AMRITABHAASHAA,etc. which are even now read by  
> many Sanskrit lovers in India.
> A person living in far away europe or America may not be able to  
> understand the situation and much less appreciate.
> Comparison with Latin does not hold good at all as production of  
> literary works in Latin is practically nil now.
> As very strickingly put forth by Jan Houben, "In 1,000
> years time, Sanskrit will still be the same, but every other  
> language will have changed beyond recognition." Sanskrit is  
> chiranaviinaa-ever new and youthful !
>
> Ganesh
>
> Dr.T.Ganesan
> Chargé de Recherches
> French Institute
> 11, St. Louis Street
> PONDICHERRY-605001
> INDIA
>
> Tel: +91 - 413 - 233 4168 ext. 123
> E mail: ganesan at ifpindia.org
> Web: www.ifpindia.org
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Stella Sandahl"  
> <ssandahl at SYMPATICO.CA>
> To: <INDOLOGY at liverpool.ac.uk>
> Sent: Tuesday, August 19, 2008 8:35 PM
> 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