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Paṇini was an ancient Indian scholar and grammarian, renowned for his work on grammar that laid the foundation of classical Sanskrit. He lived around the 5th century BCE (or earlier). His most celebrated work, the Astadhyayi (Eight Chapters), is a comprehensive treatise on (Sanskrit) grammar and linguistic rules.
He can be considered the father of linguistics due to the advanced linguistic framework he established. His work preserved Sanskrit and the works written on it and influenced the study of language structure worldwide in modern times.
He constructed a new language, Sanskrit, which fundamentally means sophisticated, reformed, and cultured.
Possibly, an academic and artificial language with an agenda to preserve knowledge for millennia for all people. One of the few languages not named after geography or people – an international academic/communication language (something similar to Esperanto)
Its vocabulary is diverse with many synonyms telling us the integration effort behind this construction (many cultures contributed to this assimilation), but with a frozen grammar – Panini’s Grammar, is almost the perfect frozen language.
Once completed, almost everything was written or rewritten into Sanskrit in the Indian subcontinent – including Buddhist sutras and Jain Agamnas.
All literature was possibly rewritten/written in Sanskrit including the great Indian epics – Ramayana and Mahabharata. An unchanging language can only preserve literary work for posterity.
Generally, languages are named after the people who primarily speak them, with the name often derived from the ethnic group or geographic region associated with that language. Tamil, French, Russian, German, Arabic, Turkish etc.
But Sanskrit was not the language of any specific people, region or religion.
Modern Indian languages (Bengali, Odia, Hindi, Kashmiri, Punjabi, Gujarati, etc.) are not direct descendants of Sanskrit. While Sanskrit incorporated many regional words and, in turn, influenced regional languages by contributing vocabulary, the fundamental grammatical structures remained distinct. Pali and Prakrit were the original native tongues of ancient north Indian people.
Some of the great Indian works written down in this language?
- Aṣṭadhyayī by Paṇini
- Abhijnana-sakuntalam by Kalidasa
- Malavik-agnimitram by Kalidasa
- Vikram-orvashiyam by Kalidasa
- Mrichchha-katika by Shudraka
- Svapnava-savadattam by Bhasa
- Balacharita by Bhasa
- Karnabharam by Bhasa
- Pratijnaya-ugandharayana by Bhasa
- Karṇabhāram by Bhasa
- Urubhaṅgam by Bhasa
- Mudrarakṣasa by Visakhadatta
- Uttararamacharita by Bhavabhuti
- Malati-madhava by Bhavabhuti
- Ratnavali by Harsha
- Priyadarshika by Harsha
- Nagananda by Harsha
- Bhagavadajjukam by Bodhayana
- Mattavilasa by Mahendravarman
- Cuṭamaṇi by Tahana
- Harṣacarita by Baṇabhaṭṭa
- Kadambari by Baṇabhaṭṭa
- Vasavadatta by Subandhu
- Dasa-kumara-carita by Daṇḍin
- Pancatantra by Viṣṇusarman
- Hitopadesa by Narayana
- Yoga-Vasistha
- 18 books of Puranas
- Arthasastra by Kauṭilya
- Surya Siddhanta (astronomy)
- Aryabhaṭīya by Aryabhaṭa
- Brahmasphuṭa-siddhanta by Brahmagupta
- Siddhanta Siromaṇi by Bhaskara – Lilavati (arithmetic), Bijagaṇita (algebra), Grahagaṇita (planetary mathematics), Goladhyaya (sphere).
- Gaṇita-tilaka by Sripati
- Paṭigaṇita (arithmetic and mensuration) by Sridhara
- The epics – Mahabharata, Ramayana
- 108 books, that constitute the Upanishads
- Bhagavad Gita (possibly added later into Mahabharata)
- Brahma Sutras by Badarayana
- Saṃkhyakarika by Isvarakrsna
- Yoga Sutras by Patanjali
- Vaiseṣika Sutras by Kaṇada
- Mimaṃsa Sutras by Jaimini
- Nyaya Sutras by Akṣapada Gautama
- Prajnaparamita Sutras (Buddhist text)
- Saddharma Puṇḍarika Sutra (Lotus Sutra)
- Lankavatara Sutra
- Aṣṭasahasrika Prajnaparamita Sutra
- Suvarṇaprabhasa Sutra
- Tattvartha Sutra by Umasvati (Jain text)
- Ratnakaraṇḍa Sravakacara by Acarya Samantabhadra
- Shantinatha Charitra by Acarya Ajitaprabhasuri
- Rajatarangiṇi by Kalhaṇa
- Kathasaritsagara compiled by Somadeva
- Siva Sutras by Acarya Vasugupta
- Mattavilasa Prahasana by Mahendravarman
- Mukundamala by Kulasekhara Alvar
- Adbhuta Ramayana
- Various books on Tantra
- Various books on Hindu rituals plus the Vedas.
- Charaka Samhita by Charaka
- Sushruta Samhita by Sushruta
- Ashtanga Hridayam by sage Vagbhata
- Bhava Prakasha by age Bhavamisra
- Kasyapa Samhita by Kasyapa
- Yoga Ratnakara Raghunatha
- Rasa Ratna Samucchaya by Varahamihira
- Madhava Nidana by Madhavakara
- Sharngadhara Samhita by Sharngadhara
- Yogaratnakara by Brahmananda
- Manusmriti by sage Manu
- Yajnavalkya
- Kama Sutra by Vatsyayana
- Natyasastra by Bharata Muni
- Bṛhaddesi by Matanga Muni
- Sangita-ratnakara by Govinda Deva
- Nṛttaratnakara by Kṛṣṇadeva
Plus 1000s more. Even the famed Arabian nights are sourced from India.
Now when these books on literature, mathematics, medicines, poetry, plays, music, dance, engineering and metaphysics were written in India – all written before 1000 CE, before the Turki occupation & destruction of Indic civilization – nothing practically existed in Persian, Italian, Roman, English, French, German, Russian, Lithuanian languages.
The only comparable civilization that ever existed outside the Indian subcontinent was the Greek civilization, but the spread was different. And then Ancient Greek civilization is dead. So is the civilization of the ancient Persians, the Achaemenid Empire.
Arya, Aryan is significant because of these works – who are these people – who wrote this literature, can we Europoids somehow hijack this.
So, there is the Aryan invasion theory, the Aryan migration theory, proto-Sanskrit originated in the Caucasus mountains, the Out of India theory, the PIE language and race association, the Hittite/Mitani writing PIE words way back in 2200 BCE, the linguistic distances between Sanskrit and Persian, Germans, and Germans as the purest Aryans, WW2, etc.
All this was constructed by people after they were fascinated by the quality and spread of Indic literature.
Conclusion: Make Sanskrit and Sanskrit literature compulsory in Indian schools. It has no parallel in Human civilization.
Mugging up chemistry or physics for JEE can wait, in high school perhaps. A casual look at the books published by www.motilalbanarsidass.com will tell you the vastness of the library, that somehow managed to survive the occupation of the sacred land by the savages.
These pieces are being published as they have been received – they have not been edited/fact-checked by ThePrint.