[INDOLOGY] Divine origin of Sanskrit

[Madhav Deshpande]

Ideas of divine origin of speech go back to the R̥gveda:

देवीं वाचमजनयन्त देवास्तां विश्वरूपाः पशवो वदन्ति |
सा नो मन्द्रेषमूर्जं दुहाना धेनुर्वागस्मानुप सुष्टुतैतु || ऋग्वेद
08.100.11.

I am attaching an old article of mine surveying the Vedic ideas and ideas
about the Vedas. Best,

Madhav

Madhav M. Deshpande
Professor Emeritus, Sanskrit and Linguistics
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
Senior Fellow, Oxford Center for Hindu Studies
Adjunct Professor, National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bangalore, India

[Residence: Campbell, California, USA]


On Wed, Jul 27, 2022 at 1:57 PM Matthew Kapstein via INDOLOGY <
indology at list.indology.info> wrote:

> 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> 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> 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> 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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