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thanks for noticing this.
it has been only for 3 weeks and already you found it 🙂
– shashi
Shantanu. RBI has come out with a circular on use of Hindi in Banks. My views on it.
As per the circular, it looks like they have a problem with Sanskrit and Devnagri Numerals as in few points they are trying extremely hard to discourage others from using these in day to day life.
unless in a field that is language specific (like story/essay/article in and on the language), the numerals are discourage for all languages. and i think this is true in other international languages as well.
the use of modern Hindu numerals as used in english are encouraged all over the world. so, this should not come as surprise.
🙂 or maybe, they want to make sure you don’t mess up the “amount”, doesn’t matter if the paper you are signing (in hindi) is to mortgage your ancestral possessions to the: o credit card company 🙂
the four poisons – http://practicalsanskrit.blogspot.com/2009/07/four-poisons.html
unless in a field that is language specific (like story/essay/article in and on the language), the numerals are discourage for all languages. and i think this is true in other international languages as well.
—
I don’t know how true this is because there are only so many popularly known numeral systems in the world. Personally, I have seen Islamists (Arabic or Urdu writers including Saudi, Indian & Pakistanis) preferably use Arabic numerals (Û° Û± Û² Û³…). Of course western countries use English (1 2 3 4…) or Roman (i ii iii iv) numerals. Chinese never had a defined numeral system so they used English numerals for financial texts. But for pride allot of them prefer to use this chinese pseudo-numeral system that they came up with. Which they also used for count down during recent olympics (〇 一 二 三…) to show off to the world. Greeks use their alphabets as numerals (αʹ βʹ γʹ δʹ…).
Call them chauvinist but they all take pride in their system. We don’t. Its weird enough to understand why it happened that these days none encourages us for using Devnagri numerals but at least don’t discourage us. Just have a look at all these so-called #1 Hindi Newspapers, News entertainment channels, Soap opera channels. When was the last time we saw them using Devnagri numerals? Some TV channel saying “देखिये सास बहॠसोमवार रात को १० बजे” instead of “देखिये सास बहॠMonday रात को 10 बजे” wouldn’t cause any financial goof ups. Heck, when was the last time we saw them using real Hindi! All they write in is either in Hinglish (as Shantanu pointed out in one of his post about his visit to Bharat) or in Urdu (in Devnagri lipi).
Lets not even talk about Bollywood movies. They should change its name to Urdu Film Industry from Hindi Film Industry. Its rare that one sees any film title or credits roll in Hindi. Or that famous समापà¥à¤¤ that was so readily used in the end of most of the old movies. If through some miracle you do see the film roll its title in Hindi it is always accompanied with its Urdu counterpart. As if producer is trying to prove his secular credentials to the censor board.
Once, when Pali became common language of communication, Shri Adi Shankracharya ji said that the best way to bring back Sanskrit is to be SuSamkratam in life and bring Sanskrit in your day to day talk. So it happened. Sanskrit revived and came back to be the lengua de comunicación. See I am bringing Spanish. 🙂
Although your example about credit card company does sound scary. What if I wrote ५०००० and some ignorant banker thought I meant 40000. That’s not cool.
A good move to cheer.
A-British-School-Makes-Sanskrit-Compulsory
There is a big problem. I completed my schooling from a very small village where there was no option to learn Sanskrit. I am aspiring to learn Sanskrit to its depth so that I can read and understand all of the Shastra. I don’t like to read it in English (nothing against English but I feel that its alien to me, English is no more than a bread-winner to me).
—
जय हिंद!
संदीप नारायण शेळके
कृषीदेश
Interesting article: Vedic village’s tryst with IT
dear shantanu,
i have uploaded a small talk by the Kanchi Acharya on Sanskrit being the mother of all Indo-european languages. there are more such references in other chapters.
http://sridharkrish.wordpress.com/2010/01/09/word-play-philology-depends-on-your-faith-a-speech-by-shri-chandrasekara-sarasvati-on-origin-of-sanskrit/
the closest topic i could locate was this. hope this is ok.
rgds/sridhar
Thanks Sridhar…I will have a look at the link but this may be a better/more relevant thread: https://satyameva-jayate.org/2009/11/07/is-sanskrit-really-a-indo-european-language/
Many of you will enjoy reading this: A new shastra: Sanskrit moves from pundits to people:
The latest report of the country’s apex body for Sanskrit learning under the HRD ministry — the Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan — says that between 2004 and 2006, over 2.5 lakh people learnt Sanskrit through its “non-formal courseâ€. Among them are 500 doctors, as many lawyers, 4,000 businessmen, 8,000 housewives and 20,000 retired professionals.
The trend is not region- or religion-specific. Recently, 32 Muslim youths approached the head of Kashmir University’s Sanskrit department, S Razdan, requesting her to help them learn the language. Surprised, Razdan wrote to the Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan’s Jammu coordinator, Prof. Vishwamurthy Shastri.
The Sansthan started the course in 2004 with 5,000 students at 100 centres. Today, there are over 1,000 centres. “It is remarkable that none who enroll do so for a degree, but for the love of the language. Remember it’s a non-formal course,†said Ratan Mohan Jha, the Sansthan’s national coordinator.
..Prof. Shastri said over phone from Jammu that students like MF Beigh wished to learn Sanskrit after learning about NASA consultant Rick Briggs’s study, which had found that Sanskrit sharpened mental faculties.
It appears that we missed the heart of the saying and stuck to semantics! As later participants said, we need to use an appropriate कणà¥à¤Ÿà¤• to rid a particular one. The crux of the issue is to get rid of the thorn sticking in the sides of the nation! Words or “All-Party” delegations will not help.
Dear Friends, don’t forget to have a look at Shashi Joshi’s new book: Attitude Shift: Sanskrit Maxims for Contemporary Life and Leadership
When you started this thread in 2009, Shantanu, there were 100 fans on Practical Sanskrit.
Today over 6600 on Facebook for something like Sankrit!
And yes please do check out the book at http://thinkingheartsonline.com and get some discount as well. You can also check out what others are saying about it, media news and reviews etc.
And, please don’t forget to like it on Amazon as well.
Regards
– Shashi
Author, Attitude Shift – Sanskrit Maxims for Contemporary Life and Leadership
Shantanuji, need your help in spreading word about this. Please see the sweet & bitter news-story below.
http://mangalorean.com/news.php?newstype=local&newsid=249761
Could you please ask your contacts to convince industrialists/businessmen and the Govt. of Karnataka to give paid advertisements in “Sudharma” newspaper that will keep this newspaper alive?
The ads can get a lot of domestic and international viewership, because this Sudharma newspaper has an internet edition too.
P.S: I am sure the Govt. Of Karnataka gives paid advertisements in local Urdu, Kannada, English, Marathi and Tamil language newspapers published inside Karnataka. So, why not Samskritam newspapers too?
Sanskrit advertisements can be very impactful and eye-catching. Please see this witty, Sanskrit “Bajaj Discover” TV advertisement that is quite popular. Just click on Youtube video link below ….The Sanskrit ad starts after 10 seconds: