Introduction to Sanskrit

• Sanskrit is an ancient Indo-European language of India, dating back to the 2nd millennium BCE.
• It serves as the primary liturgical language of Hinduism.
• Many classical Hindu philosophical and literary works are composed in Sanskrit.
• Sanskrit is also used in Buddhism and Jainism.

Historical Overview

• The earliest form of Sanskrit, Vedic Sanskrit, appears in the Rigveda, a collection of hymns composed between 1500 and 1200 BCE.
• Classical Sanskrit, standardized by Pāṇini in the 4th century BCE, became the dominant literary language.
• Sanskrit's influence spans South Asia, Southeast Asia, and parts of Central Asia.
• It has significantly influenced modern Indo-Aryan languages like Hindi, Bengali, Marathi, and Nepali.

Linguistic Features

• Sanskrit is highly inflected, featuring three genders (masculine, feminine, neuter).
• It uses three numbers (singular, dual, plural) and eight cases for nouns.
• Verbs are also highly inflected, indicating tense, mood, voice, and person.
• Sanskrit phonology includes aspirated and unaspirated stops, retroflex consonants, and various vowels and diphthongs.
• Sandhi, or phonetic combination, is crucial, altering word sounds based on their position in a sentence or compound.

Grammatical Structure

• Sanskrit grammar is detailed in Pāṇini's Ashtadhyayi, which provides comprehensive rules for the language.
• Nouns are declined by gender, number, and case, with different declension classes.
• Pronouns have distinct forms for personal, demonstrative, relative, and interrogative uses.
• Verbs are conjugated based on tense (present, past, future), mood (indicative, imperative, optative), voice (active, passive, middle), and person (first, second, third).
• Compound words (samāsa) are a prominent feature, enabling long and complex expressions.

Literature and Philosophy

• Sanskrit literature includes poetry, drama, prose, and philosophical treatises.
• Epics like the Ramayana and Mahabharata, are central to Sanskrit literature and Hindu culture.
• Classical Sanskrit drama, exemplified by Kalidasa's works, is known for sophisticated language and aesthetic sensibility.
• Philosophical texts, such as the Upanishads and the Bhagavad Gita, explore metaphysical and ethical questions.
• Sanskrit is the language of important scientific and technical texts covering medicine, astronomy, and mathematics.

Influence on Other Languages

• Sanskrit has profoundly impacted the vocabulary and grammar of many Indo-Aryan languages.
• Loanwords from Sanskrit are found in religion, philosophy, science, and literature within these languages.
• The Devanagari script, used for Sanskrit, is also used for Hindi, Marathi, and Nepali.
• Sanskrit's influence extends beyond India, with loanwords and grammatical structures in Southeast Asian languages like Thai, Khmer, and Indonesian.

Sanskrit Today

• While not widely spoken like modern languages, Sanskrit is studied and used in traditional contexts.
• It is taught in universities and Sanskrit colleges globally.
• Sanskrit is used in Hindu rituals, prayers, and chants.
• Efforts to revive Sanskrit as a spoken language have had varying success.
• Studying Sanskrit provides insights into India's history, culture, and philosophy.