Comments on: Is Sanskrit really a “Indo-European” language? http://satyameva-jayate.org/2009/11/07/is-sanskrit-really-a-indo-european-language/ Dedicated to "Bharat" and "Dharma" Thu, 24 May 2012 11:29:35 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.3 By: T-money http://satyameva-jayate.org/2009/11/07/is-sanskrit-really-a-indo-european-language/comment-page-1/#comment-254984 T-money Fri, 04 Nov 2011 06:21:45 +0000 http://satyameva-jayate.org/?p=4137#comment-254984 Thanks for posting this article. I always thought that the Indo-European theory was overly broad because almost half the world's people speak a language from this supposed "family" while the other language families are much smaller. I'm glad that someone else finds a problem with the Indo-European theory like me. Thanks for posting this article. I always thought that the Indo-European theory was overly broad because almost half the world’s people speak a language from this supposed “family” while the other language families are much smaller. I’m glad that someone else finds a problem with the Indo-European theory like me.

]]> By: B Shantanu http://satyameva-jayate.org/2009/11/07/is-sanskrit-really-a-indo-european-language/comment-page-1/#comment-187370 B Shantanu Tue, 21 Jun 2011 14:56:38 +0000 http://satyameva-jayate.org/?p=4137#comment-187370 Placing this excerpt here for the record.. From http://www.huffingtonpost.com/suhag-a-shukla-esq/vedic-content-intonation-_b_877606.html "Peeling Back the Layers of Sanskrit and Vedic Chanting" ...Sanskrit words are often translated rather simplistically (or mistranslated), especially by many Western scholars of religion or linguistics who have gained only a cursory knowledge of Sanskrit. But each word in the Sanskrit lexicon, Dr. Joshi explained, has a much subtler, almost poetic meaning -- an understanding that can only emerge from full immersion in the language. He gave us the example of a basic word, shakha. Shakha is commonly translated as "branch," like a branch of literature or a physical branch of a larger organization. But delve deeper into the word, he explained, and one will find that shakha is the derivative of several roots -- kh means "sky," khe to kha then is "in the sky." Sh or shete means "that which lies down or flat across." Shakha is therefore, "that which lies flat across the sky." In this breakdown exercise of just one word, not only did our respect for Sanskrit grow another tenfold, but we gained a possible reason, aside from malintent and Freudian lenses, as to why we see so many translations of Hindu scripture from "experts" in unions like the American Academy of Religions that are completely divorced from their emic understandings. The true gem of the evening, though, was learning about Jatapatha. Jatapatha is a complex combination of the individual words of mantras from the Vedas. The Vedas, Hindus believe, contain eternal truths received or heard by the ancient rishis (seers) through Divine revelation and after years of meditation and contemplation. There are four Vedas, the Rig, Yajur, Sama and Atharva. These four tomes, in turn, consist of four sections, namely Samhitas (mantras or hymns), Brahmanas (methodology of ritual), the Aryanakas (special rituals) and the Upanishads (philosophy). Totaling 100,000+ verses, the Vedas, for thousands of years, have been transmitted orally from one generation to the next. In that vein, one could argue that the Vedas that we hear today, may not be the same as the original. But such an argument is moot because the ancient rishis foresaw this very potential of alteration, said Dr. Joshi, and came up with a built-in mechanism to prevent exactly that. And the way in which they did so can be described only as sheer mathematical ingenuity. To ensure that the Vedas remained unchanged in content, intonation, and inflection, a number of techniques of recitation with increasing complexity and difficulty were developed, including Jatapata. The first is Samhita, the simplest form of recitation that approaches the mantra as it is, for example,"the sky is blue" (abcd). Next is Padha, where each word is broken down, as in, "the/sky/is/blue" (a/b/c/d). Krama, the third technique, adds the first real level of difficulty into the recitation through a pattern of "the sky/sky is/is blue" (ab/bc/cd). Jatapatha, the first of the more challenging, alternates between a repetitious interposing and transposing of words to create a pattern of "the sky sky the the sky/sky is is sky sky is/is blue blue is is blue" (abbaab/bccbbc/cddccd). Between Jatapata and the last technique are six other techniques (called Mala, Shikha, Rekha, Dvaja, Danda and Ratha) that again are built-in combinations and permutations that have ensured that the order and words of the Vedas remain unchanged. The ultimate and most complex technique is called Ghanam. Its mind-boggling backwards and forwards pattern is, "the sky sky the the sky is is sky the the sky is/sky is is sky sky is blue blue is sky is blue" (abbaabccbaabc/bccbbcddcbbcd). Placing this excerpt here for the record..
From http://www.huffingtonpost.com/suhag-a-shukla-esq/vedic-content-intonation-_b_877606.html
“Peeling Back the Layers of Sanskrit and Vedic Chanting”
…Sanskrit words are often translated rather simplistically (or mistranslated), especially by many Western scholars of religion or linguistics who have gained only a cursory knowledge of Sanskrit. But each word in the Sanskrit lexicon, Dr. Joshi explained, has a much subtler, almost poetic meaning — an understanding that can only emerge from full immersion in the language. He gave us the example of a basic word, shakha. Shakha is commonly translated as “branch,” like a branch of literature or a physical branch of a larger organization. But delve deeper into the word, he explained, and one will find that shakha is the derivative of several roots — kh means “sky,” khe to kha then is “in the sky.” Sh or shete means “that which lies down or flat across.” Shakha is therefore, “that which lies flat across the sky.” In this breakdown exercise of just one word, not only did our respect for Sanskrit grow another tenfold, but we gained a possible reason, aside from malintent and Freudian lenses, as to why we see so many translations of Hindu scripture from “experts” in unions like the American Academy of Religions that are completely divorced from their emic understandings.

The true gem of the evening, though, was learning about Jatapatha. Jatapatha is a complex combination of the individual words of mantras from the Vedas. The Vedas, Hindus believe, contain eternal truths received or heard by the ancient rishis (seers) through Divine revelation and after years of meditation and contemplation. There are four Vedas, the Rig, Yajur, Sama and Atharva. These four tomes, in turn, consist of four sections, namely Samhitas (mantras or hymns), Brahmanas (methodology of ritual), the Aryanakas (special rituals) and the Upanishads (philosophy).

Totaling 100,000+ verses, the Vedas, for thousands of years, have been transmitted orally from one generation to the next. In that vein, one could argue that the Vedas that we hear today, may not be the same as the original. But such an argument is moot because the ancient rishis foresaw this very potential of alteration, said Dr. Joshi, and came up with a built-in mechanism to prevent exactly that. And the way in which they did so can be described only as sheer mathematical ingenuity. To ensure that the Vedas remained unchanged in content, intonation, and inflection, a number of techniques of recitation with increasing complexity and difficulty were developed, including Jatapata.

The first is Samhita, the simplest form of recitation that approaches the mantra as it is, for example,”the sky is blue” (abcd). Next is Padha, where each word is broken down, as in, “the/sky/is/blue” (a/b/c/d). Krama, the third technique, adds the first real level of difficulty into the recitation through a pattern of “the sky/sky is/is blue” (ab/bc/cd). Jatapatha, the first of the more challenging, alternates between a repetitious interposing and transposing of words to create a pattern of “the sky sky the the sky/sky is is sky sky is/is blue blue is is blue” (abbaab/bccbbc/cddccd). Between Jatapata and the last technique are six other techniques (called Mala, Shikha, Rekha, Dvaja, Danda and Ratha) that again are built-in combinations and permutations that have ensured that the order and words of the Vedas remain unchanged. The ultimate and most complex technique is called Ghanam. Its mind-boggling backwards and forwards pattern is, “the sky sky the the sky is is sky the the sky is/sky is is sky sky is blue blue is sky is blue” (abbaabccbaabc/bccbbcddcbbcd).

]]> By: gajanan http://satyameva-jayate.org/2009/11/07/is-sanskrit-really-a-indo-european-language/comment-page-1/#comment-118667 gajanan Sun, 24 Oct 2010 23:10:24 +0000 http://satyameva-jayate.org/?p=4137#comment-118667 Shantanu, do you need Prof Sharmas article ( full). One of my friend has it has full pdf . I can email it to you or make arrangements for you to get it it to you. Shantanu, do you need Prof Sharmas article ( full). One of my friend has it has full pdf . I can email it to you or make arrangements for you to get it it to you.

]]> By: gajanan http://satyameva-jayate.org/2009/11/07/is-sanskrit-really-a-indo-european-language/comment-page-1/#comment-115921 gajanan Wed, 20 Oct 2010 23:06:54 +0000 http://satyameva-jayate.org/?p=4137#comment-115921 Yes , thats the one. The abstract which you have posted may not reveal much, but the article is very good. Do you have access to the full article? Yes , thats the one. The abstract which you have posted may not reveal much, but the article is very good. Do you have access to the full article?

]]> By: B Shantanu http://satyameva-jayate.org/2009/11/07/is-sanskrit-really-a-indo-european-language/comment-page-1/#comment-115374 B Shantanu Wed, 20 Oct 2010 06:30:44 +0000 http://satyameva-jayate.org/?p=4137#comment-115374 @Gajanan: Is this the one? http://jaar.oxfordjournals.org/content/73/3/843.abstract Just googled it..have not read it yet. @Gajanan: Is this the one? http://jaar.oxfordjournals.org/content/73/3/843.abstract

Just googled it..have not read it yet.

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