Sanskrit: Its Origin and Influence

Sanskrit is the native language of Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism. Mainly used in religious ceremonies and rituals, it has been considered a sacred language through the ages. According to Hindu mythological belief, Lord Brahma introduced the Sanskrit language to sages and therefore, it was also referred as "Dev Vani"-'Language of Gods', in ancient times.

The pre-classical form of the Sanskrit language is Vedic Sanskrit. It is said to have originated approximately 1500-200 BC. This was the time when knowledge was inherited from one generation to the other orally. It was the knowledge and composition of this period, which over a period of time, formed the basis of sacred Hindu scripts. Even today, it is widely used in the form of prayer as mantras and hymns.

Classical Sanskrit developed from the Vedic form, which was modified and organised sytematically into the form of a written language by “Panini”. Pinani gave a grammatical structure to this language. This was called 'Ashtadhyayi' (Ashta = eight, adhyaya = chapter) and forms the basis of modern Sanskrit. It evolved between 500 B.C. – 1000 A.D., and was based on the Vedic speech.

Sanskrit language during this period was used as a second language of the Hindu religion for learning. The two major epics of this period are Ramayana and Mahabharata. Classical Sanskrit also has made written contributions in the fields of medicine, law science, astronomy and philosophy. Currently, apart from the scholars of India, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bangladesh, there are also many Buddhist scholars in Japan, China and Thailand who speak Sanskrit.

The word Sanskrit means- “to put together or to arrange, to compose” and is also called the “divine language” or “language of Gods.” Studies reveal many similarities between Sanskrit, Greek and Latin, and this illustrates its ancestral relationship with the Indo- European language family. It is closely related to the Iranian and Old Persian languages. Sanskrit literature is known to be one of the richest literature in the history of humankind, containing, poems, hymns, puranas and Vedas. The oldest known texts of Sanskrit are the Rig-Veda, Yajur-Veda, Sama-Veda Atharva- Veda, Brahmans and Upanishads.

Studies reveal many similarities found between Sanskrit, Greek and Latin, and this illustrates its ancestral relationship with the Indo- European language family, It evolved from the same roots as the Iranian and Old Persian languages.

Many Indian languages are derivatives of Sanskrit. Languages like Bengali and Orissa have adopted direct words from it, whereas Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Grantha proved to originate from Sanskrit. The script used for writing this language is based on 'Brahmi' (derived from Lord Brahma) and 'Devanagari' (Deva = God + Nagar = city), which means city of Gods. This language is not only highly organized in its grammatical structure but has a very rich vocabulary.

The influence of this language is quite strong; not only Indian languages, but, also Russian, Chinese, Greek, English and many other European languages have adopted words which originated from Sanskrit. The word 'hour' in English is derived from the Sanskrit word 'hora'; 'brain' is derived from the Sanskrit word 'Shira' or 'brahma'. Common and basic words like mother, father are also derived from Sanskrit. It is said that the latest Oxford dictionary lists around 30,000 or more words and phrases which are derived from Sanskrit. The examples are endless. It has also spread globally and changed many languages.

Sanskrit is one of the most beautiful languages in the world with a wonderful structure. It beats Greek and Latin in its perfection and is stronger in its resemblance to its roots and grammar. The educational system of India is now trying to revive this language in the modern era by having Sanskrit as a study subject in schools and colleges.

Despite the presumed death of the language in day-to-day use, it continues to be used in the cultures of India and will always remain important.