[INDOLOGY] Divine origin of Sanskrit

[Matthew Kapstein]

I am now traveling and cannot look up references, but as I recall, one of the arguments that emerged in Nyāya theology held that the existence of the Lord is proven because language requires a divine originator to stipulate the original conventions.

Matthew Kapstein
EPHE, Paris
________________________________
From: INDOLOGY <indology-bounces at list.indology.info> on behalf of Buchta, David via INDOLOGY <indology at list.indology.info>
Sent: Wednesday, July 27, 2022 5:52:15 PM
To: Gruenendahl, Reinhold <gruenen at sub.uni-goettingen.de>; Indology <indology at list.indology.info>
Subject: Re: [INDOLOGY] Divine origin of Sanskrit

Hi again,

A further thought: Jīva Gosvāmin (16th c), at the opening of his Harināmāmṛtavyākaraṇa, says "nārāyaṇād udbhūto'yaṃ varṇakramaḥ." I have long suspected that he intended to imply a contrast between the "ordinary" sequence of sounds, which he says comes from Nārāyaṇa, and the sequence presented by Pāṇini, which of course gets attributed to Śiva. Again, I can dig up PDFs of a few editions of Jīva's work if needed.
--
David Buchta, PhD
Senior Lecturer in Sanskrit
Department of Classics
Brown University


On Wed, Jul 27, 2022 at 10:26 AM Johannes Bronkhorst <johannes.bronkhorst at unil.ch<mailto:johannes.bronkhorst at unil.ch>> wrote:

I also would be happy (and surprised) to see references to a divine origin of Sanskrit. It is true that Sanskrit is daivī vāk (Bhartṛhari) “divine language” or “language of the gods”, but this does not mean that is has a divine origin. In Brahmanical circles, at least since Kātyāyana and Patañjali, Sanskrit is eternal and has no origin at all.

 Johannes Bronkhorst



On 27 Jul 2022, at 13:36, Buchta, David via INDOLOGY <indology at list.indology.info<mailto:indology at list.indology.info>> wrote:

Hi,

George Cardona has a 1990 paper, "On Attitudes Towards Language in Ancient India" that might be helpful. It was published as #15 of the Sino-Platonic Papers from the Department of Oriental Studies at UPenn. I can dig up a PDF as needed.

Best,
Dave
--
David Buchta, PhD
Senior Lecturer in Sanskrit
Department of Classics
Brown University


On Wed, Jul 27, 2022 at 6:08 AM Gruenendahl, Reinhold <gruenen at sub.uni-goettingen.de<mailto:gruenen at sub.uni-goettingen.de>> wrote:

Dear list members,

I would be very grateful for any references to the concept of a divine origin of Sanskrit in primary and/or secondary literature.


With thanks in advance

and best wishes

Reinhold Grünendahl

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