Chapter 2 - Sanskrit and modern Indian Languages

The present day spoken languages of India can be divided into four families on the basis of their structure and vocabulary: Aryan, Dravidian, Austric and Mongoloid. The languages of north, west and eastern India except those of the Adivasi regions of Bihar, Chattisgarh and Orissa and those of the eastern states belong to the Aryan family. The languages beyond the Vindhyas, the southern peninsula belong to the Dravidian family. The languages of the Adivasi regions like Bhili, Koli, Mundari belong to the Austric family while the languages of the regions along the Himalayan Terai belong to the Mongoloid one. The languages of the Aryan family are direct descendants of Sanskrit through Prakrits and Apabhrammsas. The languages of the Dravidian family have not come down from Sanskrit. Even with this difference the languages of both these families, the Aryan and the Dravidian, have strong presence of Sanskrit in them, the only dividing line from the point of view of Sanskrit in them being that in the languages of the Aryan family there is more of Sanskrit in Tadbhava, derivative form, while in the languages of the Dravidian family like Telugu, Kannada, Tamil and Malayalam, there is more of Tatsama, the words in their original Sanskrit form. This difference is quite understandable . The languages of the Aryan family have evolved out of Sanskrit

Brahmanas, the rebuttal is that languages do not go with religious denominations or castes or communities. All sections of society including Muslims and Christians have substantially contributed to Sanskrit. Reference in this context could be made to two detailed write-ups, one, "The Contribution of Muslims to Sanskrit" in the work the Discovery of Sanskrit Treasures, Vol. 3, 2006¹ and the other, the "Modern Christian Literature in Sanskrit" in the work Devavanisuvasah (Ramakant Shukla Felicitation Volume), Part II, 1993. Just as it is with the Muslims and Christians, so it is with the Dalits and OBCs. They have taken/are taking to Sanskrit in a big way. This, however, is not a recent phenomenon. Even earlier, there had been many great scholars of Sanskrit from the so-called lower castes. Under the sutra ajer vyaghanapoh (2.4.56) the Mahabhasya of Patanjali records an interesting conversation between a charioteer (a Sudra by caste) and a grammarian where the charioteer floors the grammarian. Noticing a chariot but not the charioteer the grammarian calls out: ko 'sya rathasya praveta, who is the driver of the chariot? The charioteer appearing there answers in such a way as to bring home to grammarian his error in the use of the word praveta. Says he: ayusmann aham asya rathasya prajita. Angered by the audacity of the charioteer in correcting him adroitly the grammarian blurts out aho anena durutena badhyamahe, Ah! this ignoble charioteer is troubling me. The charioteer again corrects him with the use of the correct form. Says he, ayusman, duhsuteneti vaktavyam. There is an old stanza where a Candala, of the name Divakara is equated with the celebrity poets Bana and Mayura: aho prabhavo vagdevya yanmatangadivakarah | sriharsasyabhavat sabhyah samo banamayurayoh || O! the grace of the Goddess of learning that Divakara, a Capdala , attained the position of courtier at Sriharsa's court, a peer of Bana and Mayura.

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while those of the Dravidian one have adopted Sanskrit words as borrowings, both Sanskrit and they being structurally entirely different. Among the Dravidian languages themselves the Sanskritic content varies language by language. While in Malayalam it is overwhelming, it is just strong in Telugu and Kannada, it is weak in Tamil. According to some specialists it is around 70% in Malayalam, 50 to 60% in Telugu and Kannada and 30% in Tamil. These percentages seem to be based on the very general assessment, not backed by any scientific study, of the strong and less strong presence of Sanskrit. Where it is felt that there is more of Sanskrit, the percentage flies up. It nosedives with the contrary feeling. So far no systematic analysis has been attempted of the total Sanskritic content in the entire vocabulary of any of the south Indian languages. This is a green area which scholars versed in both languages, Sanskrit and Telugu, Sanskrit and Kannada, Sanskrit and Tamil and Sanskrit and Malayalam need to visit. It is a daunting task worthy of being taken up as a national project underpinning the role of Sanskrit as a corridor to all the languages of India except those of the Adivasis and the upper Himalayan reaches which have continued to remain isolated and immune to outside influence and which have precious little literary activity in them to need larger vocabulary for more sophisticated thought. The only notable attempt in this connection was that of the late Ratnamayi Devi Dikshit. Under the inspiration of Acharya Kaka Kalelkar she had undertaken a project of preparing a dictionary of the Sanskrit words figuring in major Indian languages in their original Sanskrit meanings or meanings that have strayed away from the original ones like the Sanskrit word ansudaka meaning dew. It is found in Oriya, Gujarati, Telugu, Malayalam and Hindi , in Oriya, Gujarati and Hindi in the same form and in the form ansudakamu in Telugu and ansudakam in Malayalam. In Gujarati and Malayalam it has the same meaning. In Oriya it means either dew or water in contact with the rays

of the sun or the water that is in full contact with the sunlight in the daytime and the moonlight in the night. In Telugu it means water offered (as arghya) to the sun. In Hindi it has the meaning water placed under the sun or the moon. od As a pilot project Dr. Ratnamayi Devi Dikshit took up a hundred words which she published in the Indological Studies, the journal of the Department of Sanskrit, University of Delhi, in its issue of Vol. II, No.2. Shortly after their publication she died and with her died the project. It is high time the project is revived and taken up in all seriousness with the Ministry of Human Resource Development providing the necessary funds for it. Needless to say that it will be of no less importance than the Encyclopaedic Dictionary of Sanskrit on Historical Principles under way in the Deccan College, Pune. While speaking of the Sanskritic synonyms in Indian languages it may not be out of point to draw attention to the fact that what are listed as synonyms in Sanskrit lexicons were/are actually the words in use in different regions. For water the most common word in use in the north is pani, Sanskrit paniya or jala on more formal occasions or by more sophisticate classes or in association with sacred rivers like gangajala, while it is niru, Sanskrit nira in the south. For milk while it is dudh, Sanskrit dugdha, in the north, it is khira, Sanskrit ksira, in the east. For egg the word in Hindi is anda, Sanskrit anda while it is dima, Sanskrit dimbha in Bengali and Oriya (the meaning has undergone change there. The meaning of the Sanskrit word is embryo). Anna in Hindi and some other languages means foodgrains; in Oriya it means rice. It is not implausible to claim that the synonyms were the words restricted to certain regions or areas only. What the lexicographers did was to pick them up, they, all of them being of Sanskrit stock, and list them as synonyms. Sometimes one of these synonyms was to go with a particular object as per the usage. In this connection a comment of the Mahabhasyakara is very significant: niyatavisayas sabda

drsyante. Tad yatha-samane rakte varne gaur lohita ity ucyate asvah sona iti, samane ca kale varne gauh krsna iti bhavaty asvo hema iti, samane ca sukle varne gauh sveta iti bhavaty asvah karka iti. "(In usage) words are found to have their scope restricted. As for example, the red colour being common to both cow and horse, the same of cow is denoted by the word lohita while that of horse by the word sona, similarly the black colour being common to both, cow and horse, the one of cow is denoted by the word krsna while that of horse by the word hema. In like manner the white colour being common to both, cow and horse, the one of cow is denoted by the word sveta and that of horse by the word karka. In Punjabi the word kakka, Sanskrit karka, white, is used with reference to hair only, kakke bal, the grey hair. The word kesa is found there with reference to flowing male hair. It has association with sacredness as well. For the Sikhs the hair on the head is always kesa and never bal for it is how the Guru had addressed them. Sanskrit Dhatupathas list a number of roots in the same meaning, iti gatyarthah, ity adane, etc. At present some of the vast array of roots are of academic interest only. But a closer scrutiny of some of the languages and the dialects may reveal their actual use and justify the rationale of the compilers of the Dhatupathas in including them. A few instances here will bear it out. Panini Dhatupatha has vanc in the sense of movement, vancu gatau. Sanskrit literature does not furnish a use of it. But it is found in the sense of gati in the form of vanj in Western Panjabi and Saraiki, vanj, vanj, go go. Jam is assigned there the meaning of eating,; according to some it is jimi, vide the Siddhantakaumudi: jimim kecit pathanti. In this very sense it is found in use in Western U.P., Rajasthan, etc.: Jimana, eating. Cam along with three others with minor initial variations is assigned the meaning adana, eating, camu chamu jamu jhamu adane. Now, cam or camu generally to be preceded by the preposition an, is restricted by usage to the sense of sipping CC-0. Prof. Satya Vrat Shastri Collection, New Delhi. Digitized by Ss Foundati

only. Many of the variations initially or finally in the roots may be traced to the peculiar characteristics of pronunciation specific to certain areas like s being pronounced as h in Marwar, Sindh and regions beyond that. During the early years the writer of these lines had to undertake lots of travel throughout the length and breadth of India and had varied experiences in the context of Sanskrit. Once he was travelling from Ootacomand, the Anglicized form of Tamil as well as Sanskrit Udakamandalam to Mettupalayam in a bus. The bus had an unscheduled halt at a wayside place. Noticing that, a few children came along to sell their wares. Among them were two small children, one boy of about 12 and the other, a girl of about 8. They were selling pineapple pieces. He bought some from them but they were too sour. He wanted salt to tone down their sourness. He did not know the Tamil word for salt. A co-passenger told him that it is uppu. Looking at the children he said uppu. The elder one asked the younger, probably his sister, uppu, uppu, sighra, sighra. Within seconds she brought a packet of salt to him. More than the pineapple pieces what whetted his taste were the words sighra, sighra, quick, quick. How pleasant it was to hear Sanskrit sighra deep in the interior of Tamilnadu. Once he was travelling from Kolkata to Puri. As soon as the train reached Bhubaneswar in the morning, a number of urchins with small baskets tucked in their arms barged into compartments shouting dima siddha, dima siddha, eggs boiled, eggs boiled. They were selling boiled eggs. The word siddha, pronounced impeccably, particularly struck him and reminded him of Patanjali's siddha odanah, siddha yavaguh where it means cooked. M Once he was on a visit to Kashmir. He was in a village with a Kashmiri friend. There were lots of flies around. His Kashmiri friend was trying hard to drive them away and was saying gaccha, gaccha, go away Digitized by S 3 Foundation USA away. He was quite

surprised to notice the use of the typical Sanskrit verbal form as such in Kashmiri even at present. After about a month or so of his joining the University at Puri as Vice Chancellor, he had to preside over the meeting of the Senate which is a bigger body with people from different disciplines and professions some of whom did neither know Sanskrit nor English and could express themselves through their native language Oriya only. At the end of the day when he had to sum up the discussion he touched all points, even the ones that had been made in Oriya much to the surprise and delight of everybody. After the meeting a number of people came to him and said apan Oriya bujhanti, "Do you follow Oriya?" He said, no but he does follow the Sanskrit ensconsed in it which is the common thread that runs through all major Indian languages and binds them together. In the context of impact of Sanskrit on modern Indian langages it may not be out of point to mention that the first grammars of some of these languages like Marathi, Kannda and Telugu were written in Sanskrit. They all closely followed Panini. The Marathi grammar is the Pancavartika, author not known, the Kannada grammar is the Sabdamanidarpana by Kesiraja and the Telugu grammar is Andhrasabdarthacintamani, by Adikavi Nannaya. Bana's Kadambari exercised such a powerful influence on the writers of these languages that the word Kadambari became synonymous with novel. Novel is called Kadambari in these languages. In the early stages of the development of literature in modern Indian languages, the writers being good scholars of Sanskrit themselves used more of Sanskrit words in their writings. That was the case with writers like Jayashankar Prasad, Suryakant Tripathi Nirala, Maithilisharan Gupta, Siyaramsharan Gupta, Ramdhari Singh Dinkar, Chaturasen Shastri in Hindi, K.M. Munshi, Umashankar Joshi, Narendra Modi in Gujarati, Michael Madhusudan Dutta, Ishwarchandra Vidyasagar, Bankim Chandra Chatterji, Rabindranath Tagore, etc, in Bengali, Nannaya Podana, CC-0. Prof. Satya Vrat Shastri Collection,

Pedana, and Vishwanath Satyanarayana etc. in Telugu. Radhanath Ray in Oriya. Their writings were full of Sanskrit, so full that barring a few words here and there they all looked Sanskrit. A few passages from a few of such writers are reproduced here by way of illustration: From Hindi: First a few lines from the play Candragupta of Jaya Shankar Prasad, the doyen of Hindi literature: himadri tumga srrmga se prabuddha suddha bharati- svayam prabha samujjvala svatantrata pukarati amartya viraputra ho, drdha़ pratijna soca lo, prasasta punya pamtha hai- badha़े calo badha़े calo || asamkhya kirti - rasmiyam vikirna divya daha si | saputa matrbhumi ke - ruko na sura sahasi arati sainya sindhu mem- suvadavagni se jalo, ि TOTHE in the pravira ho jayi bano badha़े calo badha़े calo| A few lines now from the well-known poem Himalaya of Rastrakavi Ramdhari Singh Dinakar mere nagapati mere visala sakara divya gaurava virata paurusa ke pumjibhuta jvala

meri janani ke himakirita mere bharata ke divyabhala mere nagapati mere visala kaisi akhanda yaha cirasamadhi yativara kaisa yaha amara dhyana ? tu mahasunya mem khoja raha kisa jatila samasya ka nidana ulajhana ka kaisa visama jvala mere nagapati mere visala either A few lines now from the legendary Suryakant Tripathi Nirala from his poem Rama ki Saktipuja: ravi hua astah jyoti ke patra para likha amara raha gaya rama-ravana ka aparajeya samara | aja ka tiksnasaravidhrtaksiprakara vegaprakhara satasailasamvaranasila nilanabhagarjitasvara pratipala parivartita vyuhabhedakausalasamuha raksasaviruddha pratyusa kruddhakapivisamahuhu visvakchuritavahni rajivanayanahatalaksyabana lohitalocanaravanamadamocana mahiyana || From Punjabi bada़ा lobhi hai ruha da baniyam mera ihadelaihaukyamdavanajakaradam ihadelaimaladaharija़huram kichannakamadamairajbharadam mailabhbhadamahakakaliyamkamcciyamdi tebhaurahonatomvinaladaradam | sivakumara batalavi

isvara - stuti cuka pamda turade ika sira utte, utte ghoda़am ika savara bade | jo o cahe kare ika pala amdara, lila usa di aparampara bamde || pamjabi ramayana, rama lubhaya ananda, dilasada From Bengali: One of the foremost of the Bengali poets Michael Madhusudan Dutta was of the firm view that without words from Sanskrit the Bengali language cannot flourish. Without these it will degenerate into a language of farmers and fishermen. No wonder his poems have a heavy sprinkling of Sanskrit vocabulary as can be seen from an excerpt from one of his poems: sammukhasamare pada़ि viracudamani virabahu, cali yabe gela . yamapure akale he devi amrtabhasini kona birabare bari senapatipade pathaila rane punah raksah kulanidhi raghabari ki kausale raksasabharasa indrajit meghanade ajeyajagate urmilabilasi nasi indranih sakila || The same kind of Sanskritized Bengali is noticeable in the writings of Ishwarchandra Vidyasagar. As an illustration are reproduced a few lines from his Sitar Banabasa: ei sei janasthanamadhyavartti prasravanagiri | ei girirasikharadesa akasapathe satata sancaramana jaladharapatalasamyoge nibidanilimaya alamkrta | The same is the case with Bankim Chandra Chatterji: nidaghasese eka dina eka asvarohi purusa visnupura haite mandaranera pathe ekaki gamana karite chilena| dinamani astacalagamanodyogi dekhiya asvarohi drutavege asvasancalana karite lagilena |

The tradition continued even with Rabindra Nath Tagore whose following lines would make one think whether one is reading Sanskrit or Bengali: ayi bhuvanamanamohini ayi nirmalasuryakarojjvaladharani janakajananijanani nilasindhujala dhautacaranatala anilavikampita syamala ancala ambaracumbitabhala himacala subhratusarakiritini From Oriya: nira llianoil bot zomotol ed to SRO mot.a A few lines from the Oriya classic, the Cilika of Radha Nath Ray utkalakamalabilasadirghika maralamalini nilambucilika utkalara tuhi caru alamkara utkalabhuvane sobhara bhandara | | svabhave bhabukamanasaullasi digantabisari tira bari rasi prasannabadani ujjvala barana mukhasri dekhanti yahim digamgana | | nila amga tira citra antarale nasi, nalabana saila dvipamale | rial torre daksine misichi tora garbhe asi vol a booubongs From Assamese sagara samgamata sagara samgamata katana samtuvilo tathapito hova nai klanta tathapi manara mora prasanta sagara urmimala asanta oundation USA CC-0. Prof. Satya Vrat Shastri Collection, el

manara prasanta Glimpses of History of Sanskrit Literature / 35 sagarara vaksata eka From jobarara nai aji anta ajasra lahare nava nava gatire ani diye asa aphuranta seye he manara mora prasanta sagarara urmimala asanta || prasanta parare maha maha jivanara santi aji akranta nava nava srstire daitya danave kare nisthuraghata avisranta seye he manara mora prasanta sagarara urmimala asanta || dhvamsara aghataka diche aji samghata srstira senani ananta samghate ane mora prasanta sagarata pragatira natuna diganta seye he manara mora prasanta sagarara urmimala asanta || gabhira prasanta sagarara saktime dhvamsaka kare digbhranta agajana manavara santira samadala srstikami jivanta seye he manara mora prasanta sagarara urmimala asanta || - bhupena hajarika snehe abhara sata sravanara snehei abhara sata sravanara dharasara brstira plavana ane- yauvana vasanara riktophula purna kare unmatta vane (vaneddha )- nirjana svabdha timirara para bhagi ucchala jivanara joyara ane

aparupa varisara taramga rasile nace nava srstira gane| vidyut ksipra nayane tomara mauna bhasara unmadana sane F nihsvase mora ajnara asvasata aga trptira paridhi namane- nira priti digavalayata gatisila gita gaum OFF vajrara garjane hara mane ne ins vrstira trnai maucumi khedi jaya abhara drstiye o laksya jane|| - bhupena hajarika From Gujarati : kanadi mamgala sabda tyam durathi mamgalasabda avato | satabdio ca cirasamta ghummato gajavato cetanamamtra avato | prakasana dhodha amodya jhilati dhape dhara nitya pravasa pamthe, jhumi rahi pachada amdhakarani tuti paड़े mekhada़ ardha amge xi - umasamkara josi amtama arambha ane arambhama amta panakharana haiyama tahuke basamta soda barasani vaya, kayamka koyalano laya, ke sudamno kona para uchaड़े pranaya ? bhale lage che ramka pana bhitara srimamta panakharana haiyama tahuke basamta aje to vanamam kona vivaha, eka eka vrksamam prakate diksava para ka a ki e

asirvada apava ave che santa panakharana haiyama tahuke basamta - narendra modi From Marathi : tini samja, sakhe, milalya, dei vacana tula ajapasuni jive adhika tu majhya hrdayala kanakagola ha maricimali jodi jo suyasa, cakavala he pavitra, ye ji samta gabhira nisa, trilokagami maruta, taisa nirmala dahi disa from line saksi aise amara karuni he tava kara kari dharila jyostutu svakare taruvara paphule udhalati priti - aksata ya, mamtrapatha ha jhulujhulu gato nirjhara ya karya, mamgalastake gati pakhare mamjula ya samaya sahasrakara ha dinakara svakare udhali gulalala, nada jasa venuta, rasa jasa sumdara kavanata gamdha jasa sumanata, rasa jasa bagha ya draksata pani jase motyata, manohara varna suvarnata, hrdayi mi sathavi tuja jasa jivita jo majala| jyostu te srimahanmamgale | sivaspade subhade svatamtrate bhagavati| tvamaham yasoyutam vamde ||dhr|| rastrace caitanya murta tum nitisampadamci svatamtrate bhagavati | srimati rajni tu tyamci paravasatecya nabhamta tumci akasi hosi svatamtrate bhagavati | camdani camacama lakhalakhasi || galavaracya kusumi kimva kusumamcya gali svatamtrate bhagavati | tuca ji vilasatase lali

tum suryace teja udadhice gambhiryahi tumci svatamtrate bhagavati | anyatha grahana nasta temci || moksa mukti hi tujhiva rupem tulaca vedamti svatamtrate bhagavati | yogijana parabrahma vadati je je uttama udatta unnata mahanmadhura temtem svatamtrate bhagavati| sarva tava sahacari hote || jyostutu kanakagola ha maricimali jodi jo suyasa cakravala · he pavitra, ye ji samta gabhira nisa trilokagami maruta, taisa nirmala yahi disa- saksi aise amara karuni he tava kara kari dharila EXP - bha . ra . tambe he adhama-raktaramjite, sujana pujite, sri svatamtrate tujasathi marana te janana, tujavina janana te marana tuja sakala caracara sarana, caracara sarana, sri svatamtrate vamde tvamaham yasoyutam vamde From Kannada: - svatamtryavira savarakara Mor Deniss First a few lines from the Gadayuddha of Rama who together with Pampa and Ponna forms the three gems of Kannada poetry: raseyam kalagnirudram poramaduvavolamta saromadhyadimaa | sahasagarvalamkrtam nattane poramattelladam bhimanedenu || deseyam nodutte mattadbhutanatanitilalolakilaksivotada- llime koparaktanetram nibhujagadeyam tugidam dhartarastram|| Now a few lines from another great Kannada poet Kumara Vyasa who composed the immortal classic the Karnata-Bharatakatha-Manjari : srivaniteyarasane vimalarajivapinapitane jagakatipavanane sanakadisajjananikaradatara

ravanasuramathana sravanasudhavinutana kathanakarana kavudamatajanavamadugina viranarayana From Telugu: First a few lines from Adikavi Nannaya's Srimadandhramah- abharatamu: adusyantainantasattvadu samastasantamatamgamaryadalamkrtanaina bhuvalayamatmayattamai yudumgan adityamsusamiradurgamamahograranya- desalinonadiksatracaritranele najitumde bahuviryambunan | A few lines now from another great Telugu poet Potana from his Mahabharatamu: saradaniradendughanasarapatiramaralamallikaharatusaraphenarajatacalakasasudhapayodhi- sitatamarasamaravahini subhakaratanoppu ninu judaganennadu kalgu bharati | Some lines from his Srimadandhramahabhagavata: andhendudayamul mahabadhirasamkharavamul mukasadgranyadhyapanamul napumsakavadhukamksal krtaghnavalibandhutvambulu bhasmahavyamulu lubdhadravyasamkasamul krodasadgandhambulu haribhaktivarjitatulariktavyarthasamsaramul | A few lines from anther great Telugu poet Peddana from his Manucaritra: apuri bayakumdu makaramkasasamkamanojnamurti, bhasaparasesabhogi, vividhadhvaranirmalanityakarmadiksaparantruhu amburuhagarbhakulabharanambu, anaratadhyapanatatparudu, pravarakhyudu, alekhyatanuvilasudai | From Malayalam: An excerpt from Ejuttaccana's Adhyatmaramayana: vedt cidrupadvayan mrtyunjayan paran bhadrapadan bhagavan bhavabhanjanan rudraniyakima devikkutan ramabhadra saram kotuttappok vidruma tulyadhariyaya gauriyamadrisutayumanamda vivasayay bharttrpadapranamam cetu sampurna bhaktiyotum punarevamaruk ceytu narayanan nalinayatalocanan narijanamanomohanan madhavan naradasevyan nalinasanapriyan narakarati nalinasaragurunathan narasakhan nana jaganmayan nadavidyatmakan namasahasravan

nalikaramyavadanan narakari nalikabamdhavavamsasamudbhavan sriramadevan paran purusottaman karunyavaridhi kamaphalapradanan raksasavamsavinasanakaranan saksat mukundamanandapradan puman | alokanartham mahamuni naradan bhulokamappolalukarincitinan | mugdhasaraccandratulya tejassotum suddhasphatikasukasariranaya satvaramambarattimkal nintadarat tatraiva vegalavataraccitinan| sriramadevanum sambhramam kaikontu naradanekkante kunetu sadaram | A stanza from Srikrsnacarita of Nambiar: puraharanamalan muraridevan puramurasasana sunubhutanathan | dharini suramahajanakum me varamarulituka vanchitanukula|| wist A aid mon Of late writers in vernaculars are distancing themselves from Sanskrit, for one, that they are not as knowledgeable of Sanskrit as their predecessors were and for the other, they are being swayed by the mistaken notion that Sanskrit comes in the way of the natural evolution and growth of vernaculars which for that reason need to be freed from it. They have started using more of Desi words little realizing that their shortsightedness and parochial approach will deprive the vernaculars, which they so dearly love, of the inexhaustible store of vocabulary that Sanskrit provides. Moreover, it will result in course of time of schism in literature, one part of it in highly Sanskritized diction and the other inching away from it. But try as much as they can, they cannot take the vernacular writing away from Sanskrit. There is a large corpus of words that has passed into common use and is taken to be as much indigenous as the non-sanskrit one. Their writings have to have social matrix and it is society who owns these Sanskrit words as part of its ethos. Like the perennial Ganga Sanskrit continues to nourish the Indian languages by providing them with vocabulary, idioms, proverbs and themes. It courses through them all meandering its way from the lofty Himalayas to the sea-washed shores of this great multilingual, multi cultural and multi-ethnic country. .