Sanskrit in translation means “enriched”, “pure”, “sanctified”. It is called the language of the gods. The ancient Indian texts about the Vedic gods were written in this language and gained fame throughout the world. The ancient Indian language of Sanskrit is based on the Devanagari alphabet, which also formed the basis of the modern languages of Hindi, Marathi and others.
Indian literature
The literature of India is a huge ancient layer of Indian history. Original, with great authority, it served as a source of ideas for a huge part of literature as a whole. Indian literature can be divided into three major periods:
- Vedic (tentatively until the 2nd century BC),
- epic period, transitional (until the 4th century AD),
- classic (to date).
Old Indian Vedic Literature
In India, 2 significant types of stories in religious literature are recognized:
- sruti (translated as “heard”), revealed as a result of the revelation of the deity;
- smrti (translated as "memory"), invented by man and having less significance.
Vedic texts consist of sruti and a small number of smrti. The most important and ancient Veda is rigveda (Veda of hymns), which contains 1028 hymns. They were performed during rituals to the gods. The main content is the praise of the gods and appeal to them with prayers.
Another ancient work of philosophy in India is the Upanishads. In them in a relaxed manner in the form of stories, puzzles or dialogues, deep ideas are revealed that later gave the basis of philosophical teachings and had a huge impact on religions (Buddhism, Hinduism, Jainism).
Epic literature and ancient Indian language of Asia
The language of late Vedic literature is significantly different from the archaic language of rigved and is close to classical Sanskrit. The two largest and most famous Sanskrit epics take plots from the Vedas, where they are presented in a concise version.
"Mahabharata" and "Ramayana" are the largest epics written in the ancient Indian language. They had a great influence on medieval and modern Hinduism and are classics of Sanskrit literature. Classical Sanskrit is subject to the rules laid down by grammarians led by Panini back in the 4th century. BC e. The language, decorated with complex stylistic turns, was used by Sanskrit poets, authors of philosophical treatises, and playwrights.
Ayurveda refers to the early representatives of the Indo-European language family. Close to ancient Iranian. In the history of the development of the language, the Vedic period is distinguished, later on the basis of it the Sanskrit was born.
Old Indian Sanskrit
Sanskrit is widespread in the countries of Southeast and Central Asia. Used in India as the language of religion, science and philosophy, it is the source of modern Indo-Aryan and Dravidian languages. The ancient Indian language Sanskrit was not a forerunner of the Central Indian languages, but developed in parallel with them. It is similar to Latin in the Middle Ages, was used more as a language of religion.
Sanskrit has been the official language of India for a long time . This is a well-developed literary language, where the rules are honed to perfection. In structure, it is an ancient Indian language, which was formed in the Middle Indian period and has retained its structural series to the present.
The grammatical structure of the language contains a rich composition of change of words: 8 cases, 6 moods, 3 pledges, 2 main conjugations and 10 verb classes, hundreds of verb forms, 3 numbers in names (singular, plural and dual). In terms of expressive abilities, he is many times superior to all modern languages.
Sanskrit vocabulary is extremely rich, contains a large number of synonyms. Another distinguishing feature is the use of complex words. Spoken language has a more simplified form and has less expressive means. Of all the languages of the world, Sanskrit has the largest vocabulary, while allowing you to make a sentence with the minimum required number of words.
Sanskrit in the modern world
As noted by linguists studying the ancient Indian language of Sanskrit, it is a perfect language, ideal for expressing the subtle nuances of thought. Therefore, it is called the language of nature, the language of consciousness.
In India, Sanskrit is considered the language of the gods, therefore, one who knows this language approaches the gods. It is believed that the Sanskrit sounds are in natural harmony with nature and the vibrations of the cosmos, therefore, even a simple listening to the texts in this ancient Indian language has a beneficial effect on a person and helps in spiritual development. All mantras that are used during the performance of yoga asanas are read in Sanskrit.
It is scientifically proven that the phonetics of the ancient Indian language has a connection with the energy centers of the human body, so the pronunciation of words in this language stimulates them, increasing energy and resistance to diseases, relieves stress. It is also the only language in a conversation in which all the nerve endings in the tongue are involved, which improves overall blood circulation and brain functioning.
Sanskrit universities exist in 17 countries. It is scientifically proven that learning this language improves brain activity and memory. Therefore, in many European schools, the study of Sanskrit began to be introduced as a compulsory subject of the program. Sanskrit is the only language in the world that has existed for millions of years. This language had a direct or indirect influence on 97% of all the languages of the planet.