Justice (Retd) G.D Sharma
Sanskrit, a language of unparalleled mathematical and psychological perfection, stands as one of the true wonders of the world. Its profound influence and unique attributes have garnered global recognition throughout history, yet ironically, it still struggles for rightful acknowledgment in its homeland, India. This paradox demands introspection and corrective action.
Historical Acclaim and Global Recognition
Maharishi Panini, a revered Sanskrit grammarian, logician, and philologist of ancient India, famously declared, “he who knows my grammar knows God.” He further emphasized the language’s depth, stating, “he who would track language to its lair must indeed end in omniscience.” The veracity of this declaration is supported by the fact that no other language aligns as remarkably with modern computational linguistics, owing to its systematic and unambiguous grammatical structure.
Sanskrit’s global recognition is not a recent phenomenon. During the East India Company’s rule in India, Sir William Jones, a brilliant 18th-century scholar, arrived in 1783 as a judge of the Supreme Court of Judicature at Fort Williams in Bengal. He became deeply interested in Sanskrit and, within six years, mastered the language. His observations highlight its perfection: “Devanagari character, in which Sanskrit language is written, is adapted to the expression of almost every known gradation of sound, and every letter has a fixed and variable pronunciation.” He extolled Sanskrit as “more perfect than the Greek, more copious than Latin and more exquisitely refined than either, yet bearing to both of them a stronger affinity, both in the roots of verbs and the forms of the grammar, that could possibly have been produced by accident, so strong indeed, that no philologer could examine them without agreeing that they have the same origin with the Sanskrit.” Having deeply studied Greek, Latin, Hebrew, Arabic, Chinese, and his native English, Sir William Jones placed Sanskrit at the pinnacle of languages.
Another renowned admirer was Max Muller, a German philologist and orientalist, and one of the founders of Indian studies in the Western academic field. He profoundly stated, “If I was asked under what sky, the human mind has most fully developed, pondered over the greatest problems and found solutions to some of them, even those who might have studied Plato and Kant, I must point to India.” Muller translated the Rigveda and authored “A History of Ancient Sanskrit Literature,” further cementing Sanskrit’s global prominence.
Today, Sanskrit is taught in universities worldwide, spanning Australia, North America, Belgium, Denmark, Britain, France, Finland, Germany, Italy, Russia, Norway, Netherlands, Switzerland, Japan, Thailand, and even China, where it is gaining popularity. This global trend serves as a vital lesson for India to develop a stronger commitment to its propagation within the country.
Cultural and Philosophical Significance
Historically and culturally, Sanskrit is established as the elder sister of Greek, Latin, and Persian, and a cousin of English, French, and Russian. Simple comparisons, such as “mother” and “father” to (matri, pitri), illustrate its profound influence on Indo-European languages.
Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s first Prime Minister, unhesitatingly declared, “If I was asked what is the greatest treasure which India possess and what is her finest heritage, I would answer unhesitatingly- it is the Sanskrit language and literature and all that it claims. This is a magnificent inheritance and so long as this endures and influences the life of our people, so long the basic genius of India will continue.”
Sanskrit is the mother of all Indo-Aryan languages and the sacred tongue in which the four Vedas were revealed. Moreover, the Puranas, Upanishads, Rishi Valmiki’s Ramayan epic, Rishi Ved Vyas’s Mahabharat epic, and the Bhagavad Gita of Lord Krishna also known as “The Song Celestial”, were all realized and handed down to mankind in lucid Sanskrit. Swami Vivekananda ji has described Bhagavad Gita as a, “bouquet of beautiful flowers picked up from the garden of Upanishads.” He saw it as a grand commentary on Vedas and a source of profound spiritual wisdom. The father of nation Mahatma Gandhi daily read Bhagavad Gita and had it marked that without studying Bhagavad Gita, he would have gone mad for not showing courage to fight the war of freedom of India. Classical works by Kali Das, Banbhatta, and Dandi were also penned in this language. The profound teachings of Shankaracharya, Ramanuj, Madhawa Charya, and Vallabhcharya, which are intricately woven into Indian culture, would not have been possible without Sanskrit as their medium of expression.
Paramahamsa Yogananda Ji, a globally acclaimed spiritual leader and ambassador of Kriya Yoga, emphasized Sanskrit’s profound impact on the human body. He noted in his commentary on the Bhagavad Gita that “50 sounds of the Sanskrit alphabets are on the petals of the ‘Sahasrara’ (thousand-petalled lotus receiving center of cosmic energy seated in medulla oblongata). The sounds of Sanskrit alphabets effect 72,000 ‘Nadis’ (nerves) in our physical body.”
A powerful anecdote from World War II underscores the importance of cultural preservation. When city of London was heavily bombarded, a Cambridge University professor, despite the city-wide blackout, continued his studies. When questioned by an enraged British sergeant about his lack of patriotism, the professor countered by asking why the sergeant fought the war. The sergeant replied they fought to preserve English culture from German subjugation. The professor then explained that he, too, was contributing to that culture through his studies. This interaction highlights how deeply individuals contribute to the preservation of their cultural heritage. Similarly, for the people of India, holding the cultural heritage of this ancient land in high esteem is paramount, and learning Sanskrit is undoubtedly necessary for its protection. The stream of our heritage would undoubtedly dry up if the study of Sanskrit were discouraged.
Constitutional Recognition and Educational Importance
Sanskrit has already secured its rightful place as one of the recognized languages in the Eighth Schedule of the Indian Constitution. It is of utmost significance that without learning Sanskrit, it is impossible to decipher the Indian philosophy upon which our culture and heritage are based. Furthermore, Sanskrit is considered the mother of almost all Indian constitutionally recognized languages.
The Government of India established a Sanskrit Commission in 1957. The commission’s report recorded that “Sanskrit is one of the greatest languages of the world and is classical language par excellence not only of India but of a good part of Asia as well.” It further stated that “Indian people and the Indian civilization were born in the lap of Sanskrit and it went hand in hand with the historical development of the Indian people and gave the noblest expression of their culture which has come to us as an inheritance of priceless order for India, may for the entire world.”
The Central Government’s 1968 “Education Policy” echoed these sentiments, stating, “considering the special importance of Sanskrit to the growth of development of Indian languages and its unique contribution to the cultural unity of the country, new methods of teaching the language should be encouraged. It should be taught in such modern subjects as modern Indian philosophy.”
The Supreme Court in nine judges Constitutional Bench case, titled, S.R. Bommai v. Union of India 1994 (3) 1, has clarified that secularism, a basic structure of the Constitution, means a secular state which is not hostile to religion but remains neutral in religious matters. It treats the devout, the agnostic, and the atheist alike, as exemplified by figures like Vivekananda and Gandhi, whose teachings embodied the essence of secularism. Therefore, promoting Sanskrit does not militate against the basic tenet of secularism.
In another significant decision on October 4, 1994, the Supreme Court in U.P. Hindi Sahitya Sammelan and others Versus Ministry of Human Resources Development and another, held that Sanskrit must be included in the syllabus of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) as an elective subject. The Court reiterated the Constitutional directive of Article 351, by emphasizing that Article clearly mandates in plain language that it shall be the duty of the Union to promote the spread of the Hindi language, to develop it so that it may serve as a medium of expression for all the elements of the composite culture of India and to secure its enrichment by assimilating without interfering with its genius, the forms, style and expressions used in Hindustani and in other languages of India specified in the Eighth Schedule, and by drawing, wherever necessary or desirable, for its vocabulary, primarily on Sanskrit, and secondarily on other languages. Not only that whatever has been held by the Supreme Court, otherwise also, from a bare reading of the language of the above stated Article, it becomes as clear as day that Constituent Assembly of India while framing the Constitution had also recognized primary and paramount importance of Sanskrit language while upholding the secondary importance of other languages. By way of abundant care and caution at the end the Supreme Court had emphasized that this does not imply the imposition of Hindi or any language on any community or individual. The court has consistently advocated for linguistic secularism, meaning no language should be imposed on anyone, and that all languages, including regional languages, should be respected.
The above observations would apply with equal force to Hindi which has been termed as beauteous daughter of Sanskrit. The court has further held that the learning of Sanskrit was a must to decipher the Indian philosophy, on which our culture and heritage is based. The matter in hand was concluded by saying that in view of the importance of Sanskrit for nurturing our cultural heritage, because of which even official educational policy has highlighted the need of the study of Sanskrit, making of Sanskrit alone as an elective subject, while not conceding this status to Arabic and/or Persian which would not, in any way, militate against the basic tenet of secularism. Finally, in the above stated case a direction was issued to include Sanskrit as an elective subject in the syllabus.
(The author is one of the Trustees of Sanskrit Bharti)
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