SubscriberWrites: Language Politics–Paṇini’s Sanskrit Legacy and Its Impact on Global Linguistic Studies

Paṇini, an ancient Indian scholar, revolutionized Sanskrit grammar, creating a foundational linguistic framework. His work preserved Sanskrit and influenced global language studies, highlighting its cultural significance.

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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? 

1. Aṣṭadhyayī by Paṇini 
2. Abhijnana-sakuntalam by Kalidasa
3. Malavik-agnimitram by Kalidasa
4. Vikram-orvashiyam by Kalidasa
5. Mrichchha-katika by Shudraka
6. Svapnava-savadattam by Bhasa
7. Balacharita by Bhasa 
8. Karnabharam by Bhasa 
9. Pratijnaya-ugandharayana by Bhasa 
10. Karṇabhāram by Bhasa 
11. Urubhaṅgam by Bhasa
12. Mudrarakṣasa by Visakhadatta
13. Uttararamacharita by Bhavabhuti
14. Malati-madhava by Bhavabhuti
15. Ratnavali by Harsha
16. Priyadarshika by Harsha
17. Nagananda by Harsha
18. Bhagavadajjukam by Bodhayana
19. Mattavilasa by Mahendravarman
20. Cuṭamaṇi by Tahana
21. Harṣacarita by Baṇabhaṭṭa
22. Kadambari by Baṇabhaṭṭa
23. Vasavadatta by Subandhu
24. Dasa-kumara-carita by Daṇḍin
25. Pancatantra by Viṣṇusarman
26. Hitopadesa by Narayana
27. Yoga-Vasistha
28. 18 books of Puranas
29. Arthasastra by Kauṭilya
30. Surya Siddhanta (astronomy) 
31. Aryabhaṭīya by Aryabhaṭa
32. Brahmasphuṭa-siddhanta by Brahmagupta
33. Siddhanta Siromaṇi by Bhaskara – Lilavati (arithmetic), Bijagaṇita (algebra), Grahagaṇita (planetary mathematics), Goladhyaya (sphere).

71. Gaṇita-tilaka by Sripati 
72. Paṭigaṇita (arithmetic and mensuration) by Sridhara 
73. The epics – Mahabharata, Ramayana
74. 108 books, that constitute the Upanishads 
75. Bhagavad Gita (possibly added later into Mahabharata)
76. Brahma Sutras by Badarayana
77. Saṃkhyakarika by Isvarakrsna
78. Yoga Sutras by Patanjali
79. Vaiseṣika Sutras by Kaṇada 
80. Mimaṃsa Sutras by Jaimini
81. Nyaya Sutras by Akṣapada Gautama
82. Prajnaparamita Sutras  (Buddhist text)
83. Saddharma Puṇḍarika Sutra (Lotus Sutra)
84. Lankavatara Sutra
85. Aṣṭasahasrika Prajnaparamita Sutra
86. Suvarṇaprabhasa Sutra
87. Tattvartha Sutra by Umasvati (Jain text)
88. Ratnakaraṇḍa Sravakacara by Acarya Samantabhadra
89. Shantinatha Charitra by Acarya Ajitaprabhasuri
90. Rajatarangiṇi by Kalhaṇa 
91. Kathasaritsagara compiled by Somadeva 
92. Siva Sutras by Acarya Vasugupta
93. Mattavilasa Prahasana by Mahendravarman 
94. Mukundamala by Kulasekhara Alvar
95. Adbhuta Ramayana
96. Various books on Tantra
97. Various books on Hindu rituals plus the Vedas.
98. Charaka Samhita by Charaka
99. Sushruta Samhita by Sushruta
100. Ashtanga Hridayam by sage Vagbhata
101. Bhava Prakasha by age Bhavamisra
102. Kasyapa Samhita by Kasyapa 
103. Yoga Ratnakara Raghunatha
104. Rasa Ratna Samucchaya by Varahamihira
105. Madhava Nidana by Madhavakara
106. Sharngadhara Samhita by Sharngadhara
107. Yogaratnakara by Brahmananda
108. Manusmriti by sage Manu
109.  Yajnavalkya
110. Kama Sutra by Vatsyayana
111. Natyasastra by Bharata Muni
112. Bṛhaddesi by Matanga Muni
113. Sangita-ratnakara by Govinda Deva
114. 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.

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