WRITTEN BY LONDON SWAMINATHAN

Post No. 12,580

Date uploaded in London – –  –  12 October , 2023                  

Contact – swami_48@yahoo.com

Pictures are taken from various sources for spreading knowledge.

this is a non- commercial blog. Thanks for your great pictures.

tamilandvedas.com, swamiindology.blogspot.com

https://www.pustaka.co.in/home/author/london-swaminathan

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COMMENT ON MY REPLY POSTED YESTERDAY

Balasubramanian Ammunni

  /  October 11, 2023  /  Edit

The one book I suggest to read about Hinduism is “Understanding HINDUISM -basic concepts explained by Dr.D.C.RAO”

Published by World Hindu council of America,P.O.Box600,Billerica,MA 01821. Cost is $10/-Pages 100. Excellent, concise,

Any VHP office in your area will have this book.

An exhaustive book by VHP (UK)is”Explaining HINDU DHARMA -A guide for Teachers Pages 204. Published in 1996. Still available with VHP.

MY REPLY

THANKS, BALASUBRAMANIAN FOR USEFUL INFORMATION

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NOW TO THE NEXT QUESTION FROM A.S

Dear Sir,

I appreciate your blogs which I read regularly.

Now I think you can clear my doubt with the repertoire of knowledge you have accumulated over the years.

Some people claim Sanskrit was spoken by the masses (we know pundits always speak Sanskrit) in the previous yugas. 

My contention is that Sanskrit was never a spoken language though it was a lingua franca in the India of ancient times.

I request you to kindly furnish proofs to establish or repudiate the argument that Sanskrit was a spoken language.

Thanks and regards,

A. S

9445295455 Chennai 

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My Reply

There are two types of questions. First type is asked out of ignorance. The person wanted to know the truth.

Dad, Why are we going to temple? We worship the same God in our prayer room in the house .

Then his dad or her dad explains it in simple language. A genuine question.

His or her elder brother challenge his dad saying Why should we go to temple? It is waste of time, waste of energy. Stupid thing to do.

This question came out of ignorance and arrogance; perhaps the stupid boy has never read anything Hindu but only listened to his bad Dravidian friends.

Then the dad will politely tell him the benefits when the boy or girl is not angry. This will go deeper into his/her heart.

If a person says to me that Sanskrit was never a spoken language, I will ask him how much Sanskrit he knew. Whether he has read anything in Sanskrit? Or about Sanskrit?

Jawaharlal Nehru, first P M of India, known atheist, says in his book Discovery of India:-

Sanskrit Manuscripts of old plays are continuously being discovered. A list of these prepared by Professor Sylvain Levi contained 377 plays by 189 authors. A more recent list contains 650 plays.

Which idiots in the world write 650+++++ plays in a language that is not spoken?

Tamil has not a single play (drama). One half-baked person called Sundaram Pillai tried and failed miserably. He translated a foreign play and that was an utter failure.

From Bhasa’s second century BCE we have been producing Sanskrit plays continuously.

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Mathur Village in Karnataka has full of Sanskrit speakers. But it is a small population.

When I went to Sringeri Mutt a few years ago, I heard Shankaracharya is coming to a room where there is going to be discussion and debate in Sanskrit. I was wonder struck and with permission, I also sat in a corner of the room, though I know only the A  B C D of Sanskrit. But I could follow what they were discussing about. Shankaracharya cracked jokes in Sanskrit and 40 to 50 people in the room were laughing. Now and then one speaker challenged the other and the other replied with full force. I realised that Sanskrit is a living language

But it is true common people and women did not speak Sanskrit. They spoke Prakrit. Kalidasa used Prakrit for women, fishermen and workers and servants. He used Sanskrit for Kings and Ministers in his dramas. We do the same today.

When Sivaji Ganesan acts as Karna, he speaks Tamil; when he comes as a Fuel wood seller in Thiruvilayadal film, he speaks Prakrit, that is colloquial Tamil.

Till 18^th century we had only Tamil and from 18^th century we have Prakrit /Tamil in all weekly magazines and novels and stories. That is colloquial Tamil.

In short Sanskrit was spoken in Royal courts, literary debates.

Adi Shankara went all over India and defeated every one in debates. He used only Sanskrit from Kanyakumari to Kashmir. After him Ramanuja conquered many and he did not use Tamil, but only Sanskrit. All these scholars, philosophers wrote their voluminous commentaries only in Sanskrit. Why?

It was understood by the vast majority.

THE BIGGEST PROOF COMES FROM TAMIL EPIC SILAPPADIKARAM.

Every one of us knew THE STORY OF MONGOOSE AND THE HASTY BRAHMIN LADY.

This Panchatantra story is repeated in Tamil epic Silappadikaram as if it happened in Kovalan’s days. Her husband drove her out of the house with a Sanskrit manuscript (palm leaf) in her hand. She was weeping standing in the middle of the road. Kovalan got that Sanskrit manuscript from her and read it and consoled her.

How come Kovalan read Sanskrit? His name itself is Gopalan and in Tamil it is Kovalan ( B= V are interchangeable) Tolkappiam used the Sanskrit word UPAMA as UVAMAI ( B= V are interchangeable) It is a chapter heading. We see it in Avestan language as well.

So Sanskrit was widely used. I am an example. I do Sandhya vandanam every day using the 3000 year old Mantras. I say Seven Seers names in the same order as told by Panini 2700 years ago. MS Subbulakshmi sang in Sanskrit from United Nations and millions around the world listened to her with English Translation.

NO TAMIL CAN SPEAEK FOR EVEN TEN MINUTES WITHOUT A SANSKRIT WORD. THERE IS NO TAMIL DICTIONARY WITHOUT SANSKRIT WORDS. IN FAC,T MORE SANSKRIT WORDS ARE IN NIKANDU THAN TAMIL WORDS.

Recently I went to Sri Lanka and bought VEERA KESARI, a famous Tamil daily and stared underlining Sanskrit words .Same proportion of Sanskrit words like Tamil dailies of Tamil Nadu. The fact of the matter is since all our forefathers spoke Sanskrit we could not avoid until this day.

Suddenly a Dravidian Idiot may appear in front of you and say It is all happened because of Brahmins and that too in later centuries. Ask that Idiot why Varunan and Indran are praised as Tamil gods in Tolkappiam? Ask that idiot Why we have Damodaran, Kesavan, Brahmachari, Valmiki Kapilan, Paranan, Mahadevan, Vishnu dasan (Vinnanthayan), Kamakshi (Kaamakkani) and 20 names with  Nagan suffix – all Sanskrit names in Sangam literature. Why all chapters of Tirukkural, Tolkappiam and Silappadikarm have Sanskrit word ADHIKAARAM all through the book?

Since Sanskrit was the spoken language of learned people all over India, all Indian languages, including Tribal languages have Sanskrit words.No one can remove them. It is in their names, Town names, Parents names. Even Gotra names are found in Sangam literature.

To cut it short, Sanskrit was spoken by the leaned and understood by women and laymen. Otherwise we would not have 650++++ plays and several thousand hymns in Sanskrit. Very recently Muthu swami Dikshitar and Sadashiva Brahmendrar wrote everything in Sanskrit and no Carnatic Music concert goes without singing them. Since Sanskrit was spoken and understood by everyone, it happened.

Last but not the least, we have to learn Sanskrit to tell the world what is in it. That is the oldest literature and the largest literature in the world. What we have in Sumerian and Egyptian and Akkadian are not proper literature. They are similar to the contents of Atharva Veda.

Tomorrow we will look at

Q and A

K R

To:swami_48@yahoo.com

Wed, Sep 6 at 6:56 AM

Namaskaram sir. 

Can you oppose these statements with proofs and evidences? 

1.there is no Hindu architecture in India before Sanchi stupa built by Ashoka.

2.there is a temple in India in kanchi ,badri etc before Jain temples and Buddhist temples.

3.in Siva Kanchi boundary wall of temple has Buddhist idol .

( he means Those temples were Jain and Buddhist temples before Hindus converted them)

To be continued………………………………..

 tags- Sanskrit, Spoken language, never,