Sanskrit: Introduction
SANSKRIT: OVERVIEW AND INTRODUCTION
James A. Santucci
Department of Comparative Religion
California State University
Fullerton, CA 912834-6868
Sanskrit is a member of the Indo-European family of languages. In fact, it is its easternmost representative. Together with Avestan and Old Persian, it is a member of the subfamily known as Indo-Iranian. The Iranian portion of this language family includes the sacred language of the Zoroastrians (= Avestan), the dialect used in the cuneiform inscriptions of the Achaemenian kings (Old Persians), the later language of the Sassanians (Middle Persian = Pahlavi), and Modern Persian.
The Indian branch—Indo-Åryan—consists of three broad stages: Old, Middle, and Modern Indian.
I. Old Indian has three distinct forms:
A. Vedic (chandas) (‰g-vedic): ?1500+BCE to 6th c. BCE
B. Classical (bhåßa): the language of the Bråhmanas, Årañyakas, and Upanißads, and often included in all later works and literature.
C. Popular (which may be considered part of the classical language): includes the bardic literature of the Mahåbhårata and Råmåyaña and the Puråñas.
The Classical period of Sanskrit begins with the description of the language (bhåßa) of Påñini (6th c. BCE). It has remained in this form practically unaltered. It has also served as a literary medium up to our own day.
Popular Sanskrit has shown some deviation from the norms described by Påñini. It also shows a transition from Old Indo-Åryan to Middle Indo-Åryan. A special variant of Popular Sanskrit is the language used by the Mahåyåna Buddhists and Jainas in their Sanskrit compositions, and these have been given the names of Buddhist (Hybrid) Sanskrit and Jaina Sanskrit.
Our emphasis here will be on Classical Sanskrit as described by Påñini. The differences, however, between Vedic and Classical Sanskrit are not great. Phonologically, sandhi is slightly different. Thus a trisyllabic word (vîriyam) becomes disyllabic (vîryam). Pitch accent no longer exists in Classical Sanskrit, only in Vedic. There are more inflections and forms in Vedic (the Subjunctive is an example). Classical Sanskrit is based on a more easterly dialect of Old Indo-Åryan than is the ‰g Veda (therefore Indo-European
lr : thus rhotacism exists in the classical form): raghu@ ‘swift,light’; Classical laghu “light, nimble.”
Middle Indo-Åryan predates Påñini and reflects the speech of the ordinary people as opposed to the educated, priestly classes. The term saµsk®ta ‘polished, correct, perfected’ (speech) was spoken by the priests and upper classes, while pråk®ta, the “natural, usual, normal, ordinary, unrefined” speech was that of the common people. Pråk®ta or Prakrit in the broad sense stands for Middle Indo-Åryan. More narrowly, three stages are distinguished for Middle Indo-Åryan:
1) Påli and the dialects used in the inscriptions of the Emperor A≈oka (250 BCE). Here, morphological simplification continues as well as phonological simplification. (traividyaPåli tevijja);
2) the Pråkrits proper (Mahårå߆rî, ˛aurasenî, and Mågadhî), and the dialects of the Jaina scriptures;
3) Apabhraµ≈a: a generic term for the further evolution of Middle Indo-Åryan up to the end of the first millennium CE, foreshadowing the final collapse of the old Indo-European inflectional system and the emergence of Modern Indo-Åryan languages: Bengalî, Hindî, Pa∆jåbî, Gujuråtî, and Maråthî.
Despite the presence of Middle and Modern Indo-Åryan, Sanskrit continued to be cultivated by bråhmans as well as by non-bråhmans. The Mahåbhårata andRåmåyaña, for instance, were recited and handed down by sütas, a non-Bråhmañical caste, and the audience was a popular one. This popular Sanskrit was of a later kind than Påñini’s—Classical Sanskrit with an admixture of minor features of Middle Indo-Åryan morphology and syntax. It is an instinctive Sanskrit rather than the rules of Påñini.
Whether Sanskrit is a living, natural language or a “dead” language might be viewed in the following manner:
Sanskrit was a living, natural language up to the early centuries C.E. It was “living” in the sense that people chose to converse and formulate ideas in the language. There were some changes, but the influence of Påñini effectively preserved the structure like no other language anywhere in the world. At the same time it was natural in that it was acquired and used instinctively.
By the time of Kålidåsa (early 5thc. C.E.), Sanskrit no longer was a mother tongue but a language to be studied and consciously mastered. Thus it became a learned language, not an instinctively acquired one. Yet it remained a living language. It continued to develop in complete freedom from intellectual and artistic constraints. In other words, Påñini stabilized Sanskrit phonology and morphology, but not syntax. This is where Sanskrit continued to develop and change.
Sanskrit is important to linguistics in two significant ways:
1) The study of language as a science was first applied to Sanskrit by native speakers of that language. Thus linguistics begins in India with the study of Sanskrit.
2) Comparative and historical linguistics begins with the discovery (by Coeurdoux in 1767 and Jones in 1786) that Sanskrit is related to European languages (Germanic, Celtic, Latin, and Greek).
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