Sanskrit literature inspired western scholars

Western intellectuals spellbound by Sanskrit literature

               It is for the astounding richness of the Sanskrit language a renowned linguist Sir William Jones first translated Kalidasa’s Shakuntala from the original Sanskrit into English in 1789. This stirred the minds and hearts of the top European intellectuals that include Johann Goethe, Gottfried Herder, Friedrich Schiller, August Schlegel, Wilhelm von Humboldt, et al. Very impressed by the language and its philosophical plot the father of the German literature (J. Goethe) learnt the Sanskrit on his own. And, he plunged into this ancient play Shakuntala for the whole thirty years. He even wrote an insightful poem eulogizing this play. Again, George Forster translated this Kalidas’s work into German in 1791. In a span of some decades sprouted 46 translations into fourteen European languages.  On the other hand, the translation of the Bhagavad Gita by Charles Wilkin in 1784 and Upanishads by Anquetil Duperron in 1801 opened up unprecedented vistas for the philosophical regeneration hitherto unknown in the European literature. The doctrines of Vedanta such as ‘Oneness of the universe’, interdependence and interconnection of all entities and all particles seemed very plausible to the philosophically rational psyche of the western scholars.

                   Again, one of the fathers of Modern linguistic Franz Bopp and a great philosopher Friedrich Schlegel, both from Germany, laid the revolutionary foundation of the comparative linguistic by freely borrowing from Panini’s “Ashtadhyayi ” which was later further developed by the language giants like Ferdinand de Saussure, Leonard Bloomfield and Noam Chomsky. Panini, who was an enlightened sage of 4th BC India, was the first to systematically put down the comprehensive Grammar of Sanskrit language. This treatise consists of about 3959 sutras which can handle the nuances and intricacies of any languages in the universe, empirically and anatomically. 

                  Having been too bewitched by the Sanskrit language a most renowned American linguist Leonard Bloomfield exclaims --- “It was in India,

however, that there arose a body of knowledge which was destined to revolutionize European ideas about language. Panini Grammar taught Europeans to analyze speech forms; when one compared the constituent parts, the resemblances, which hitherto had been vaguely recognized, could be set forth with certainty and precision."  Yes, here at home we prefer to call Sanskrit a dead language, and instead, with enthusiasm and hubris choose to learn German.

                   There are countless western scholars and scientists who have overwhelmingly acknowledged the exceptional richness of Sanskrit language wherein they saw an immense scope in the development of any area of studies. Voltaire, Hegel, Schopenhauer, Emerson, Henry Thoreau, Leo Tolstoy, TS Eliot, Neils Bohr, Schrodinger, Heisenberg, Oppenheimer, Mark Twain, Car Jung, J. D. Salinger and others learnt Sanskrit or studied Sanskrit literature to strengthen their intellectual prowess.

            John Archibald Wheeler –a famous modern physicist who first coined Black Hole and Warm Hole and occupied the chair that had previously been held by Albert Einstein, enthuses – ‘One has the feeling that the thinkers of the East (INDIA) knew it all, and if we could only translate their answers into our language we would have the answers to all our questions.’  With the same vigor bursts out another physicist Erwin Schrodinger, known as the father of Quantum Mechanics --- “Some blood transfusion from INDIA to the West is a must to save Western science from spiritual anemia.”

                    Here are my few earnest questions -- had all these rational thinkers, scientists, writers --- whose theories, whose principles, whose literature, whose formulae and equations we study in schools and colleges and thus claim ourselves as academically qualified, gone crazy to heap high praise on Sanskrit and its literary treasure troves?  How can we claim to be INDIAN when we joyfully belittle and undermine our own heritage?  What is it that makes us to see only flaws in our Mother even without ever making a bit of genuine effort to know and realize her uncanny virtues?

                        I don’t think we have ever seen any country in the world that its citizens speak ill of their heritage, their tradition and values -- however archaic, rustic and crude they may be. Why does it touch our raw nerves when someone appreciates the values and culture of the native land? Sanskrit and the myriad scriptures produced in this grand language is as resplendent as the Sun ball over our head. Can you ignore the Sun? I don’t think François Voltaire was a big fool to announce with vehemence about 300 years ago  ---- ‘Everything has come down to us from the bank of GANGA’ , ‘The first Greeks traveled to India to instruct themselves’, ‘India, whom whole Earth needs, who needs no one, must by that very fact the most civilized land’.  Should it not call for a dispassionate introspection and thus our self-correction and reawakening?

-- by :  Salil Gewali,
Shillong (Meghalaya)

sgewali@gmail.com

Moral bankruptcy and rise of sexual perverts

                   The glitter of modernity is not without a taint of depravity. What’s too upsetting lately is a new breed of perverts who have been wreaking havoc with the society and the modesty of womanhood.  They prey upon any females, even kids, anywhere any time. How disgusting, the instances of roadside molestation hardly raise the eyebrows of the pedestrians. To rub salt on the wound of a section of biased media and modern folks follow the sermons from the political leaders hinting that cases of such molestation are not unexpected when females go around at night without fathers, brothers with short dresses. This is how the womenfolk are round-the-clock under threat.

Again, pornography --- in which females are mercilessly humiliated, is doubtlessly another dreadful nuisance which has blotted the pristine landscape of the society now. Though it is never shown in the media as one of the main causes of the increasing menace in the society many sensible NGOs and dispassionate analysts have come up with conclusive findings that reveal ---  ‘The rise in pornography viewing is directly proportional to the rise in the number of rape cases, sexual violence and the social degeneration’  ---  as also claimed by a noted gynecologist Dr. Shaibya Saldanha of Bangalore.

There are various kind of rape cases in the country now. A very horrendous news we have heard from Inchauli, Meerut a few months back. A 10 year’s boy allegedly raped a six years old girl. Where did so young boy get to learn about the indecent acts? What has brought him to like such outrageous stuffs and what finally drove him to walk along the forbidden path? He might have initially become acutely inquisitive for several reasons which we --
one-sided sensible lot, just tend to shrug aside. 

 

Yes, if we are truly honest the causes are not too indistinct to be noticed.  Well, is it not for an easy accessibility of the pornography on the internet that can be accessed with our android phones? A series of obscene movie footages which repeated boom in our drawing rooms could easily get the tender minds to think what they should not. Again, regular news of fathers/step-fathers stalking upon their own daughters, and school teachers eyeing their students for sexual fulfilment (Kendriya Vidyalaya incident in Meghalaya) have sent chill down our spine about a month back.  This kind of shocking story greets us every morning through our local dailies.

Here a serious question, let’s not ignore. Why is there a sharp rise in the viewing of the pornography in INDIA in the past few years? What is so much hot that is sizzling in the country now which never fails to kindle the curiosity of even the teenage to open up the filthy pages on the net? Let’s not bury our head in the sand in the face of this dangerous development --- at least for the sake of our descendants, for the sake of the humanity. Or else, we will be equally culpable sinners. Well, will our willful silence against the rise of pornography viewing not bring forth the days of bestiality in which our own children and grandchildren will be living and growing? Will their lives not get devastated by the endless debaucheries, rapes, sexual atrocities, family discords and mental chaos --- already a major distress pulling the society down? In such environment, the millions of poor “single” mothers will be forced to lead traumatic lives as in the West.

              Well, our mere saying “sick minded rapists”, or arresting and hanging the perverts will not at all solve the problem permanently.  We all have to adopt, with all sensibility and sincerity, the comprehensive measures as well that will be helpful to keep the society in a good stead.    

              Let me beg for your considerate attention here. When an epidemic “dengue” strikes our town, what do we do? Do we not clean our surrounding? This is what the medical doctors suggest first. Apart from vaccinating the sick person, we immediately take all prescribed preventive measures. We extremely exercise caution as to their food intake.  We install screens not to let a single mosquito in, and stop leaving the stagnant water in the open such that it never becomes a breeding hotbed and so on and so forth.

              Exactly in the same manner, let’s honestly ask ourselves if we have really been doing anything to prevent the evil of  “porny-dengue”  and the like entering into our society, more precisely, into the mindset of our tender kids and the general masses? Who knows yesterday’s good boy has become pervert today? Has the Government initiated anything that will help prevent us from the sharp stings of “porn-bugs” which might have injected many with the carnal virus?  Have we ever put pressure upon the entertainment houses not to immorally sexualize and objectify the womanhood? What is uncomfortably awkward here is that hardly any women organizations in India have protested to ban the evil of pornography. Why are they silent against this dreadfully filthy underworld where females are inhumanely humiliated and heartlessly hurt?

Yes, apart from the rigorous punishment to the sex perverts, better hanging, the government should consider to initiate the movement to detox the mindset of the masses.  “Healthy attitude and healthy acts for healthy and decent society” should be the prime slogan. No sexual predator should strangulate the sacred womanhood and take the society hostage.

-       Salil Gewali, Shillong
 Writer may be contacted as : sgewali@gmail.com