128-511: Traditional Kirtana ( Sanskrit : कीर्तन ; IAST : Kīrtana ), also rendered as Kiirtan , Kirtan or Keertan , is a Sanskrit word that means "narrating, reciting , telling, describing" of an idea or story, specifically in Indian religions . It also refers to a genre of religious performance arts, connoting a musical form of narration, shared recitation, or devotional singing, particularly of spiritual or religious ideas, native to
256-466: A sarangi ), and the chorus (which may include the audience as well) repeats the lines and provides musical accompaniment and keeps the rhythm (with percussion instruments like the tabla ). Sometimes the lead may have some solo lines, and the chorus can accompany them with a refrain . The performance may be punctuated by short sermons or stories. The song repertoire is generally drawn from medieval authors, but may include more recent additions. In temples,
384-606: A constitutional rights of protected speech, the Los Angeles airport also has a right to forbid any form of solicitation, out of "a legitimate interest in controlling pedestrian congestion and reducing the risk of fraud and duress attendant to repetitive, in-person solicitation of funds" by all groups including ISKCON. Sanskrit language Sanskrit ( / ˈ s æ n s k r ɪ t / ; attributively 𑀲𑀁𑀲𑁆𑀓𑀾𑀢𑀁 , संस्कृत- , saṃskṛta- ; nominally संस्कृतम् , saṃskṛtam , IPA: [ˈsɐ̃skr̩tɐm] )
512-475: A dead language in the most common usage of the term. Pollock's notion of the "death of Sanskrit" remains in this unclear realm between academia and public opinion when he says that "most observers would agree that, in some crucial way, Sanskrit is dead." Hari Hari ( Sanskrit : हरि ) is among the primary epithets of the Hindu preserver deity Vishnu , meaning 'the one who takes away' (sins). It refers to
640-433: A focus on Indian philosophies and Sanskrit. Though written in a number of different scripts, the dominant language of Hindu texts has been Sanskrit. It or a hybrid form of Sanskrit became the preferred language of Mahayana Buddhism scholarship; for example, one of the early and influential Buddhist philosophers, Nagarjuna (~200 CE), used Classical Sanskrit as the language for his texts. According to Renou, Sanskrit had
768-820: A formal worship ceremony ( arati ) may also follow. One important promoter of Vaishnava kirtan in Bengal was Chandidas (1339–1399), who introduced Vaishnava kirtan in Bengali and was very influential on later Vaishnava northern kirtan. Chandidas was instrumental in the Bengali Vaiṣṇava Sahajiyā tradition, a form of tantric Vaishnavism focused on Radha and Krishna which flourished in Bengal , Bihar , Orissa , and Assam . The Vaiṣṇava Sahajiyā tradition produced many great Bengali language poets and singers. The 16th century CE saw an explosion of Vaishnava kirtan in
896-476: A kind of drama, with its actors, its dialogues, its portion to be set to music, its interludes, and its climaxes." Generally speaking, kirtan, sometimes called sankirtana (literally, "collective performance"), is a kind of collective chanting or musical conversation. As a genre of religious performance art, it developed in the Indian bhakti movements as a devotional religious practice (i.e. bhakti yoga ). But it
1024-538: A language competed with numerous, less exact vernacular Indian languages called Prakritic languages ( prākṛta - ). The term prakrta literally means "original, natural, normal, artless", states Franklin Southworth . The relationship between Prakrit and Sanskrit is found in Indian texts dated to the 1st millennium CE. Patañjali acknowledged that Prakrit is the first language, one instinctively adopted by every child with all its imperfections and later leads to
1152-658: A limited role in the Theravada tradition (formerly known as the Hinayana) but the Prakrit works that have survived are of doubtful authenticity. Some of the canonical fragments of the early Buddhist traditions, discovered in the 20th century, suggest the early Buddhist traditions used an imperfect and reasonably good Sanskrit, sometimes with a Pali syntax, states Renou. The Mahāsāṃghika and Mahavastu, in their late Hinayana forms, used hybrid Sanskrit for their literature. Sanskrit
1280-454: A natural part of the earliest Vedic language, and that these developed in the centuries after the composition had been completed, and as a gradual unconscious process during the oral transmission by generations of reciters. The primary source for this argument is internal evidence of the text which betrays an instability of the phenomenon of retroflexion, with the same phrases having sandhi-induced retroflexion in some parts but not other. This
1408-607: A negative attitude towards music, possibly because it was considered sensual and inconsistent with its core monastic teachings. However, Mahayana and Vajrayana sources tend to be much more positive to music, seeing it as a suitable offering to the Buddhas and as a skillful means to bring sentient beings to Buddhism. Buddhist songs and chants make use of the following genres: sutras , mantras , dharani , parittas , or verse compositions (such as gathas , stotras , and caryagitis ). Examples of Buddhist musical traditions include
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#17327901763621536-479: A negative evidence to Pollock's hypothesis, but it is not positive evidence. A closer look at Sanskrit in the Indian history after the 12th century suggests that Sanskrit survived despite the odds. According to Hanneder, On a more public level the statement that Sanskrit is a dead language is misleading, for Sanskrit is quite obviously not as dead as other dead languages and the fact that it is spoken, written and read will probably convince most people that it cannot be
1664-546: A pan-Indo-Aryan accessibility to information and knowledge in the ancient and medieval times, in contrast to the Prakrit languages which were understood just regionally. It created a cultural bond across the subcontinent. As local languages and dialects evolved and diversified, Sanskrit served as the common language. It connected scholars from distant parts of South Asia such as Tamil Nadu and Kashmir, states Deshpande, as well as those from different fields of studies, though there must have been differences in its pronunciation given
1792-578: A refined and standardized grammatical form that emerged in the mid-1st millennium BCE and was codified in the most comprehensive of ancient grammars, the Aṣṭādhyāyī ('Eight chapters') of Pāṇini . The greatest dramatist in Sanskrit, Kālidāsa , wrote in classical Sanskrit, and the foundations of modern arithmetic were first described in classical Sanskrit. The two major Sanskrit epics, the Mahābhārata and
1920-538: A restrained language from which archaisms and unnecessary formal alternatives were excluded". The Classical form of the language simplified the sandhi rules but retained various aspects of the Vedic language, while adding rigor and flexibilities, so that it had sufficient means to express thoughts as well as being "capable of responding to the future increasing demands of an infinitely diversified literature", according to Renou. Pāṇini included numerous "optional rules" beyond
2048-439: A similar phonetic structure to Tamil. Hock et al. quoting George Hart state that there was influence of Old Tamil on Sanskrit. Hart compared Old Tamil and Classical Sanskrit to arrive at a conclusion that there was a common language from which these features both derived – "that both Tamil and Sanskrit derived their shared conventions, metres, and techniques from a common source, for it is clear that neither borrowed directly from
2176-560: A social commentary or a philosophical/linguistic exposition" that includes narration, allegory, humor, erudition and entertainment—all an aesthetic part of ranga (beauty, color) of the kirtan. Kirtan is locally known by various names, including Abhang , Samaj Gayan , Haveli Sangeet , Vishnupad , Harikatha . Vaishnava temples in Assam and northeastern Indian have large worship halls called kirtan ghar —a name derived from their being used for congregational singing and performance arts. Kirtan
2304-792: A song, to a certain raga and accompanied with musical instruments. The Gurus themselves created numerous musical instruments including the Taus , the Sarangi , the Saranda and a modification of the Pakhawaj (called Jori ) creating an early form of the Tabla . A Shabad Kirtan refers to the musical recitation of the Guru Granth Sahib , the primary scripture in the Sikhism tradition which
2432-555: A wider popularity. Some Western kirtan singers have also adapted kirtan songs with influences from other styles, including rock music , new-age music , African music and latin american music. There are also Kirtan singers in the west who sing more traditional Indian style kirtan such as Kamini Natarajan and Sheela Bringi . Kirtan singing has also become popular among Westerners who consider themselves spiritual but who are not part of any specific religious institution or movement (" spiritual but not religious "). In this case, kirtan
2560-607: Is Lee Mirabai Harrington . The Bene Israel , a Jewish community in the Indian subcontinent, adopted the devotional singing style Kirtan from their Marathi Hindu neighbors. Their main traditional musical instruments are the Indian Harmonium and the Bulbul tarang . In the modern era, kirtan has also been adopted by several jews like Susan Deikman. These jewish kirtans replace Sanskrit Hindu lyrics with Hebrew songs and chants. The famed Bengali saint Paramahansa Yogananda
2688-610: Is kirt ( कीर्त् ). The term is found in the Samhitas , the Brahmanas , and other Vedic literature, as well as the Vedanga and Sutras literature. Kirt , according to Monier-Williams , contextually means "to mention, make mention of, tell, name, call, recite, repeat, relate, declare, communicate, commemorate, celebrate, praise, glorify". The term kirtan is found as anukirtan (or anukrti , anukarana , literally "retelling") in
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#17327901763622816-711: Is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages . It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late Bronze Age . Sanskrit is the sacred language of Hinduism , the language of classical Hindu philosophy , and of historical texts of Buddhism and Jainism . It was a link language in ancient and medieval South Asia, and upon transmission of Hindu and Buddhist culture to Southeast Asia, East Asia and Central Asia in
2944-420: Is a heterogeneous practice that varies regionally, according to Christian Novetzke , and includes varying mixtures of musical instruments, dance, oration, theatre, audience participation, and moral narration. In Maharashtra for example, Novetzke says, a kirtan is a call-and-response style performance, ranging from devotional dancing and singing by a lead singer and audience to an "intricate scholarly treatise,
3072-537: Is a major practice in Hinduism , Vaisnava devotionalism, Sikhism , the Sant traditions, and some forms of Buddhism , as well as other religious groups. Kirtan is sometimes accompanied by story-telling and acting. Texts typically cover religious, mythological or social subjects. The term kirtana ( Devanagari : कीर्तन) generally means "telling, narrating, describing, enumerating, reporting". The Sanskrit root of kirtan
3200-464: Is akin to that of Latin and Ancient Greek in Europe. Sanskrit has significantly influenced most modern languages of the Indian subcontinent , particularly the languages of the northern, western, central and eastern Indian subcontinent. Sanskrit declined starting about and after the 13th century. This coincides with the beginning of Islamic invasions of South Asia to create, and thereafter expand
3328-546: Is also sometimes called harinam (Sanskrit: harināma) in some Vaishnava traditions, which means "[chanting] the names of God ( Hari )." In regional languages, kirtan is scripted as Bengali : কীর্তন ; Nepali and Hindi : कीर्तन ; Kannada : ಕೀರ್ತನೆ ; Marathi : कीर्तन ; Punjabi : ਕੀਰਤਨ / کیرتن ; Sindhi: ڪِيرَتَنُ / कीरतनु ; Tamil : கீர்த்தனை ; Telugu : కీర్తన . Kirtans and bhajans are closely related, sharing common aims (devotion, faith, spiritual uplift and liberation), subjects, and musical themes . A bhajan
3456-478: Is arranged according to raga . Shabad Kirtan can be listened to silently or sung along with the gathered congregation. Kirtan in Sikh history has been the musical analog of Kathas recitation, both preferably performed by ragi jatha , or professional trained performers. A Sikh Kirtan is a religious, aesthetic and social event, usually held in a congregational setting on Sundays or over certain festivals to honor
3584-526: Is done in Sanskrit ), though this may include Sanskrit mantras. This style of vernacular singing became popular during the medieval era (1300–1550) and the early modern period (1550–1750). Hindu kirtan is influenced by the practices and teachings of the various devotional Bhakti movements , who emphasized emotional loving relationship with a personal God, and also by the figures of the Sant tradition (like Kabir , Ravidas , and Namdev ). Beginning with
3712-452: Is found in the writing of Bharata Muni , the author of the ancient Natya Shastra text. The early Jain scholar Namisādhu acknowledged the difference, but disagreed that the Prakrit language was a corruption of Sanskrit. Namisādhu stated that the Prakrit language was the pūrvam ('came before, origin') and that it came naturally to children, while Sanskrit was a refinement of Prakrit through "purification by grammar". Sanskrit belongs to
3840-486: Is freer, and can be a single melody performed by a single singer with or without musical instruments. Kirtan , in contrast, is generally a group performance, typically with a call and response or antiphonal musical structure, similar to an intimate conversation or gentle sharing of ideas. Kirtan also generally includes two or more musical instruments, and has roots in Sanskrit prosody and poetic meter. Many kirtans are structured for more audience participation, where
3968-476: Is not divided into parts like "Naradiya Kirtan". This form was effectively performed for years by personalities like Hari Bhakti Parayan (sincere devotee of god) Sonopant (mama) Dandekar, Dhunda maharaj Deglurkar, Babamaharaj Satarkar, Dekhanebuwa, and many others in modern times. An institute at Alandi near Pune offers training in this form of Kirtan. Naradiya Kirtan is divided into five main parts: naman (prayer), Purvaranga (the main spiritual lesson), chanting
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4096-635: Is often part of Buddhist rituals and festivals in which they may be seen as offerings to the Buddha. Chants, songs and plays about the life of the Buddha by the Buddhists of Bengal are sometimes called Buddha-samkirtan or Buddha kirtan. Instruments like the Indian harmonium, flute, dotara , khol and kartal are used as accompaniment . Music has been used by Buddhists since the time of early Buddhism , as attested by artistic depictions in Indian sites like Sanchi . Early Buddhist sources often have
4224-532: Is rare in the later version of the language. The Homerian Greek, like Ṛg-vedic Sanskrit, deploys simile extensively, but they are structurally very different. The early Vedic form of the Sanskrit language was far less homogenous compared to the Classical Sanskrit as defined by grammarians by about the mid-1st millennium BCE. According to Richard Gombrich—an Indologist and a scholar of Sanskrit, Pāli and Buddhist Studies—the archaic Vedic Sanskrit found in
4352-467: Is seen as a social, expressive and holistic experience which helps one connect with the inner self. It is also considered egalitarian and manifests as an eclectic practice which draws on multiple cultures and is tolerant to most religions. Western spiritual kirtan can be found in Western yoga centers, new age groups, spiritual communes, and neo-shamanic circles. For some Western practitioners, kirtan
4480-616: Is seen as a way of socializing, relaxing, achieving meditative states, expressing oneself, attaining inner peace and positive emotions, getting to know one's inner self, and cultivating love for a deity and for others. In the United States case law, the term sankirtana has also been used to specifically refer to the promotional activities of ISKCON. ISKCON had sought the right to perform sankirtana in California airports such as in Los Angeles. The court ruled that while ISKCON has
4608-479: Is taken along with evidence of controversy, for example, in passages of the Aitareya-Āraṇyaka (700 BCE), which features a discussion on whether retroflexion is valid in particular cases. The Ṛg-veda is a collection of books, created by multiple authors. These authors represented different generations, and the mandalas 2 to 7 are the oldest while the mandalas 1 and 10 are relatively the youngest. Yet,
4736-658: Is the Radha -centered Radha-vallabha Sampradaya , whose singing style known as Haveli Sangeet is based on Hindustani classical forms like " dhrupad " and " dhamar ". Another kirtan style shared by the Braj traditions like the Vallabha, Haridasi , and Nimbarka is samaj gayan, which is a kind of collective singing. Kirtan as a genre of religious music has been a major part of the Vaishnavism tradition, particularly starting with
4864-712: Is the Name (of the Lord); rare are those who, as Gurmukh , obtain it. (SGGS, Ang.1313) In the Varan Bhai Gurdas , an early explanation and interpretation of Sikh theology, Bhai Gurdas also associates the name "ਹਰਿ" (Hari) in the form of Hari Krishan in the Dwapur Yuga with the letter "ਹ" (h) in "ਵਾਹਿਗੁਰੂ" (Waheguru). However, in the context of the Sri Guru Granth Sahib , the name "Hari" refers to
4992-589: Is the predominant language of one of the largest collection of historic manuscripts. The earliest known inscriptions in Sanskrit are from the 1st century BCE, such as the Ayodhya Inscription of Dhana and Ghosundi-Hathibada (Chittorgarh) . Though developed and nurtured by scholars of orthodox schools of Hinduism, Sanskrit has been the language for some of the key literary works and theology of heterodox schools of Indian philosophies such as Buddhism and Jainism. The structure and capabilities of
5120-540: The Bhagavata Purana , the Panchatantra and many other texts are all in the Sanskrit language. The Classical Sanskrit with its exacting grammar was thus the language of the Indian scholars and the educated classes, while others communicated with approximate or ungrammatical variants of it as well as other natural Indian languages. Sanskrit, as the learned language of Ancient India, thus existed alongside
5248-572: The Alvars of Sri Vaishnavism sub-tradition between the 7th to 10th century CE. After the 13th-century, two subgenres of kirtan emerged in Vaishnavism, namely the Nama-kirtana wherein the different names or aspects of god (a Vishnu avatar) are extolled, and the Lila- kirtana wherein the deity's life and legends are narrated. In the modern era, north Indian styles of kirtan are widely practiced in
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5376-555: The Avatara Katha mentions kirtan as one of nine forms of bhakti. Bhakti poets and musicians like Jayadeva (the 12th century author of the Sanskrit Gita Govinda ) were influential in the development of Indian devotional music genres like kirtan (which, though written in the vernacular, often imitated the style of Sanskrit bhakti poems). Jayadeva was a great classical composer and wrote devotional music in
5504-580: The Dalai Lama , the Sanskrit language is a parent language that is at the foundation of many modern languages of India and the one that promoted Indian thought to other distant countries. In Tibetan Buddhism, states the Dalai Lama, Sanskrit language has been a revered one and called legjar lhai-ka or "elegant language of the gods". It has been the means of transmitting the "profound wisdom of Buddhist philosophy" to Tibet. The Sanskrit language created
5632-673: The Ekasarana Dharma bhakti movement that emphasized Advaita Vedanta philosophy within the Vaishnava framework of the Bhagavata Purana . Shankaradeva helped establish Sattras (Hindu temples and monasteries) with kirtan-ghar (also called Namghar ), for Krishnaite singing and dramatic performance. Meanwhile, in the Braj region, Vallabha acharya launched a devotional movement which focused on kirtan songs about baby Krishna and his early childhood. One ofshoot of this tradition
5760-513: The Indian subcontinent . A person performing kirtan is known as a kirtankara (or kirtankar, कीर्तनकार). With roots in the Vedic anukirtana tradition, a kirtan is a call-and-response or antiphonal style song or chant , set to music, wherein multiple singers recite the names of a deity, describe a legend, express loving devotion to a deity, or discuss spiritual ideas. It may include dancing or direct expression of bhavas (emotive states) by
5888-613: The Indo-European family of languages . It is one of the three earliest ancient documented languages that arose from a common root language now referred to as Proto-Indo-European : Other Indo-European languages distantly related to Sanskrit include archaic and Classical Latin ( c. 600 BCE–100 CE, Italic languages ), Gothic (archaic Germanic language , c. 350 CE ), Old Norse ( c. 200 CE and after), Old Avestan ( c. late 2nd millennium BCE ) and Younger Avestan ( c. 900 BCE). The closest ancient relatives of Vedic Sanskrit in
6016-724: The Newari Buddhist Gunlā Bājan , Tibetan Buddhist music , Japanese Buddhist Shōmyō , modern Indian Buddhist bhajans , and Cambodian Smot chanting. As there are many different traditions of Buddhist music and chanting, the musical instruments used vary widely, from solely relying on the human voice , to many types of classic instruments used in Asian music (such as the ancient Indian veena ) as well as modern instruments ( harmonium , keyboards , guitars , etc). There are also some Western Buddhists who have recently adopted kirtan singing. One Western Buddhist kirtan artist
6144-598: The Persian terms zar 'gold', Greek khloros 'green', Slavic zelen 'green' and zolto 'gold', as well as the English words yellow and gold . The same root occurs in other Sanskrit words like haridrā , ' turmeric ', named for its yellow color. In Hinduism, beginning with Adi Sankara 's commentary on the Vishnu sahasranama , hari became etymologized as derived from the verbal root hṛ "to grab, seize, steal", in
6272-802: The Ramakrishna mission , the Divine Life Society , and Yogananda's Self-Realization Fellowship . Western kirtan singers, some of who learned in India, have also popularized the practice. Western kirtan performers include Krishna Das , Bhagavan Das , Nina Rao, Wah! , Jai Uttal , Snatam Kaur , Lokah Music , Deva Premal , Jahnavi Harrison , Jim Gelcer , Jyoshna , Aindra Das , Gina Sala' , and Gaura Vani & As Kindred Spirits . Western Yoga centers report an increase in attendance at kirtans; according to Pure Music ’s Frank Goodman in conversation with Krishna Das in 2006, kirtan has taken on
6400-753: The Rigveda had already evolved in the Vedic period, as evidenced in the later Vedic literature. Gombrich posits that the language in the early Upanishads of Hinduism and the late Vedic literature approaches Classical Sanskrit, while the archaic Vedic Sanskrit had by the Buddha 's time become unintelligible to all except ancient Indian sages. The formalization of the Saṃskṛta language is credited to Pāṇini , along with Patañjali's Mahābhāṣya and Katyayana's commentary that preceded Patañjali's work. Panini composed Aṣṭādhyāyī ('Eight-Chapter Grammar'), which became
6528-532: The Rigveda , a collection of 1,028 hymns composed between 1500 BCE and 1200 BCE by Indo-Aryan tribes migrating east from the mountains of what is today northern Afghanistan across northern Pakistan and into northwestern India. Vedic Sanskrit interacted with the preexisting ancient languages of the subcontinent, absorbing names of newly encountered plants and animals; in addition, the ancient Dravidian languages influenced Sanskrit's phonology and syntax. Sanskrit can also more narrowly refer to Classical Sanskrit ,
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#17327901763626656-531: The Rāmāyaṇa , however, were composed in a range of oral storytelling registers called Epic Sanskrit which was used in northern India between 400 BCE and 300 CE, and roughly contemporary with classical Sanskrit. In the following centuries, Sanskrit became tradition-bound, stopped being learned as a first language, and ultimately stopped developing as a living language. The hymns of the Rigveda are notably similar to
6784-570: The Tamil Alvars and Nayanars in around the 6th century, bhakti spread outside Tamilakam after the 12th century. The foundations of the kirtan traditions are also found in works like the Bhagavad-gita which describes the bhakti marga (path of loving devotion to god) as a means to moksha . References to kirtan as a musical recitation are also found in the Bhagavata Purana , an important Vaishnava text. The story of Prahlada in
6912-406: The sandhi rules, both internal and external. Quite many words found in the early Vedic Sanskrit language are never found in late Vedic Sanskrit or Classical Sanskrit literature, while some words have different and new meanings in Classical Sanskrit when contextually compared to the early Vedic Sanskrit literature. Arthur Macdonell was among the early colonial era scholars who summarized some of
7040-500: The verbal adjective sáṃskṛta- is a compound word consisting of sáṃ ('together, good, well, perfected') and kṛta - ('made, formed, work'). It connotes a work that has been "well prepared, pure and perfect, polished, sacred". According to Biderman, the perfection contextually being referred to in the etymological origins of the word is its tonal—rather than semantic—qualities. Sound and oral transmission were highly valued qualities in ancient India, and its sages refined
7168-414: The 13th century, a premier center of Sanskrit literary creativity, Sanskrit literature there disappeared, perhaps in the "fires that periodically engulfed the capital of Kashmir" or the "Mongol invasion of 1320" states Pollock. The Sanskrit literature which was once widely disseminated out of the northwest regions of the subcontinent, stopped after the 12th century. As Hindu kingdoms fell in the eastern and
7296-532: The 7th century where he established a major center of learning and language translation under the patronage of Emperor Taizong. By the early 1st millennium CE, Sanskrit had spread Buddhist and Hindu ideas to Southeast Asia, parts of the East Asia and the Central Asia. It was accepted as a language of high culture and the preferred language by some of the local ruling elites in these regions. According to
7424-425: The Classical Sanskrit language launched ancient Indian speculations about "the nature and function of language", what is the relationship between words and their meanings in the context of a community of speakers, whether this relationship is objective or subjective, discovered or is created, how individuals learn and relate to the world around them through language, and about the limits of language? They speculated on
7552-532: The Dravidian languages borrowed from Sanskrit vocabulary, but they have also affected Sanskrit on deeper levels of structure, "for instance in the domain of phonology where Indo-Aryan retroflexes have been attributed to Dravidian influence". Similarly, Ferenc Ruzca states that all the major shifts in Indo-Aryan phonetics over two millennia can be attributed to the constant influence of a Dravidian language with
7680-521: The Dravidian words and forms, without modifying the word order; but the same thing is not possible in rendering a Persian or English sentence into a non-Indo-Aryan language. Shulman mentions that "Dravidian nonfinite verbal forms (called vinaiyeccam in Tamil) shaped the usage of the Sanskrit nonfinite verbs (originally derived from inflected forms of action nouns in Vedic). This particularly salient case of
7808-476: The Indo-Aryan language underwent rapid linguistic change and morphed into the Vedic Sanskrit language. The pre-Classical form of Sanskrit is known as Vedic Sanskrit . The earliest attested Sanskrit text is the Rigveda , a Hindu scripture from the mid- to late-second millennium BCE. No written records from such an early period survive, if any ever existed, but scholars are generally confident that
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#17327901763627936-519: The Indo-European languages are the Nuristani languages found in the remote Hindu Kush region of northeastern Afghanistan and northwestern Himalayas, as well as the extinct Avestan and Old Persian – both are Iranian languages . Sanskrit belongs to the satem group of the Indo-European languages. Colonial era scholars familiar with Latin and Greek were struck by the resemblance of
8064-954: The Kirtan Kul in Sangli, the Akhil Bharatiya Kirtan Sanstha in Dadar, Mumbai, the Narad Mandir at Sadashiv Peth, Pune and the Kalidas Mahavidyalay in Ramtek , Nagpur as well as at smaller schools in Goa, Beed and Ujjain. Kirtan ( Gurmukhi : ਕੀਰਤਨ Kīratana ) refers to devotional singing in Sikhism . It is typically performed at Gurdwaras (Sikh temples). Sikh scriptures and legends are usually recited in
8192-417: The Muslim rule in the form of Sultanates, and later the Mughal Empire . Sheldon Pollock characterises the decline of Sanskrit as a long-term "cultural, social, and political change". He dismisses the idea that Sanskrit declined due to "struggle with barbarous invaders", and emphasises factors such as the increasing attractiveness of vernacular language for literary expression. With the fall of Kashmir around
8320-433: The Muslim rulers. Hindu rulers such as Shivaji of the Maratha Empire , reversed the process, by re-adopting Sanskrit and re-asserting their socio-linguistic identity. After Islamic rule disintegrated in South Asia and the colonial rule era began, Sanskrit re-emerged but in the form of a "ghostly existence" in regions such as Bengal. This decline was the result of "political institutions and civic ethos" that did not support
8448-420: The Saṃskṛta language, both in its vocabulary and grammar, to the classical languages of Europe. In The Oxford Introduction to Proto-Indo-European and the Proto-Indo-European World , Mallory and Adams illustrate the resemblance with the following examples of cognate forms (with the addition of Old English for further comparison): The correspondences suggest some common root, and historical links between some of
8576-406: The South India, such as the great Vijayanagara Empire , so did Sanskrit. There were exceptions and short periods of imperial support for Sanskrit, mostly concentrated during the reign of the tolerant Mughal emperor Akbar . Muslim rulers patronized the Middle Eastern language and scripts found in Persia and Arabia, and the Indians linguistically adapted to this Persianization to gain employment with
8704-447: The Vedic Sanskrit in these books of the Ṛg-veda "hardly presents any dialectical diversity", states Louis Renou – an Indologist known for his scholarship of the Sanskrit literature and the Ṛg-veda in particular. According to Renou, this implies that the Vedic Sanskrit language had a "set linguistic pattern" by the second half of the 2nd millennium BCE. Beyond the Ṛg-veda, the ancient literature in Vedic Sanskrit that has survived into
8832-451: The Vedic Sanskrit's bahulam framework, to respect liberty and creativity so that individual writers separated by geography or time would have the choice to express facts and their views in their own way, where tradition followed competitive forms of the Sanskrit language. The phonetic differences between Vedic Sanskrit and Classical Sanskrit, as discerned from the current state of the surviving literature, are negligible when compared to
8960-407: The alphabet, the structure of words, and its exacting grammar into a "collection of sounds, a kind of sublime musical mold" as an integral language they called Saṃskṛta . From the late Vedic period onwards, state Annette Wilke and Oliver Moebus, resonating sound and its musical foundations attracted an "exceptionally large amount of linguistic, philosophical and religious literature" in India. Sound
9088-440: The capacity to understand the old Prakrit languages such as Ardhamagadhi . A section of European scholars state that Sanskrit was never a spoken language. However, evidences shows that Sanskrit was a spoken language, essential for oral tradition that preserved the vast number of Sanskrit manuscripts from ancient India. The textual evidence in the works of Yaksa, Panini, and Patanajali affirms that Classical Sanskrit in their era
9216-527: The close relationship between the Indo-Iranian tongues and the Baltic and Slavic languages , vocabulary exchange with the non-Indo-European Uralic languages , and the nature of the attested Indo-European words for flora and fauna. The pre-history of Indo-Aryan languages which preceded Vedic Sanskrit is unclear and various hypotheses place it over a fairly wide limit. According to Thomas Burrow, based on
9344-585: The complicated instrumental and vocal compositions of Indian classical ensembles. The focus of kirtan is on the lyrics or mantras, which deliver religious messages and stories. Guy Beck, writing on the northern kirtan tradition, states that "melody and rhythm are important, but devotional singers normally deplore musical virtuosity for its own sake, in contrast with the classical Hindustani and Karnatak traditions, which emphasize improvisation and technical mastery . A large variety of musical styles and forms exist, and no single formula has ever been mandated by custom to
9472-558: The context of Vaishnavism interpreted as "to take away or remove evil or sin", and the name of Vishnu rendered as "he who destroys samsara ", which is the entanglement in the cycle of birth and death, along with ignorance, its cause; compare hara as a name of Shiva , translated as "seizer" or "destroyer". The name "ਹਰਿ" (Hari) is frequently used as a name for Waheguru in the Sri Guru Granth Sahib : ਹਰਿ ਹਰਿ ਹਰਿ ਹਰਿ ਨਾਮੁ ਹੈ ਗੁਰਮੁਖਿ ਪਾਵੈ ਕੋਇ ॥ Hari, Hari, Hari, Hari
9600-481: The context of a Yajna (Vedic ritual offering), which meant a dual recitation of Vedic hymns in a dialogue style that was part of a ritual dramatic performance. The Sanskrit verses in the Shatapatha Brahmana (chapter 13.2, c. 800–700 BCE), for example, are written in the form of a riddle play between two actors. According to Louis Renou, in this text, "the Vedic sacrifice ( yajna ) is presented as
9728-614: The context of a speech or language, is found in verses 5.28.17–19 of the Ramayana . Outside the learned sphere of written Classical Sanskrit, vernacular colloquial dialects ( Prakrits ) continued to evolve. Sanskrit co-existed with numerous other Prakrit languages of ancient India. The Prakrit languages of India also have ancient roots and some Sanskrit scholars have called these Apabhramsa , literally 'spoiled'. The Vedic literature includes words whose phonetic equivalent are not found in other Indo-European languages but which are found in
9856-653: The crystallization of Classical Sanskrit. As in this period the Indo-Aryan tribes had not yet made contact with the inhabitants of the South of the subcontinent, this suggests a significant presence of Dravidian speakers in North India (the central Gangetic plain and the classical Madhyadeśa) who were instrumental in this substratal influence on Sanskrit. Extant manuscripts in Sanskrit number over 30 million, one hundred times those in Greek and Latin combined, constituting
9984-467: The detailed and sophisticated treatise then transmitted it through his students. Modern scholarship generally accepts that he knew of a form of writing, based on references to words such as Lipi ('script') and lipikara ('scribe') in section 3.2 of the Aṣṭādhyāyī . The Classical Sanskrit language formalized by Pāṇini, states Renou, is "not an impoverished language", rather it is "a controlled and
10112-457: The dhruvapada style (which is similar to dhrupad ). There are various forms of Hindu kirtan, including northern traditions (often influenced by Hindustani music and Bengali music ) and southern ( Carnatic ) traditions. Speaking of the Bengali kirtan tradition, Peggy Holroyde writes that "kirtans do not strictly adhere to the raga scale and they incorporate a chorus led by a leader. Much of
10240-471: The differences between the Vedic and Classical Sanskrit. Louis Renou published in 1956, in French, a more extensive discussion of the similarities, the differences and the evolution of the Vedic Sanskrit within the Vedic period and then to the Classical Sanskrit along with his views on the history. This work has been translated by Jagbans Balbir. The earliest known use of the word Saṃskṛta (Sanskrit), in
10368-460: The distant major ancient languages of the world. The Indo-Aryan migrations theory explains the common features shared by Sanskrit and other Indo-European languages by proposing that the original speakers of what became Sanskrit arrived in South Asia from a region of common origin, somewhere north-west of the Indus region , during the early 2nd millennium BCE. Evidence for such a theory includes
10496-490: The early medieval era, it became a language of religion and high culture , and of the political elites in some of these regions. As a result, Sanskrit had a lasting impact on the languages of South Asia, Southeast Asia and East Asia, especially in their formal and learned vocabularies. Sanskrit generally connotes several Old Indo-Aryan language varieties. The most archaic of these is the Vedic Sanskrit found in
10624-416: The exclusion of others. Musicians and religious leaders thus freely compose religious and devotional songs." However, some kirtan styles are highly refined and technical, like dhrupad and Bengali padavali kirtan, which is considered by Bengalis to be the most cultured religious music. Regarding the arrangement, most kirtan performances are done by a group, with a choir led by a lead singer sitting on
10752-548: The first language of the respective speakers. The Sanskrit language brought Indo-Aryan speaking people together, particularly its elite scholars. Some of these scholars of Indian history regionally produced vernacularized Sanskrit to reach wider audiences, as evidenced by texts discovered in Rajasthan, Gujarat, and Maharashtra. Once the audience became familiar with the easier to understand vernacularized version of Sanskrit, those interested could graduate from colloquial Sanskrit to
10880-400: The floor, though sometimes, kirtan is done by standing group in temples, religious processions, or on the street. Generally speaking, the performance may begin with recitations of Sanskrit mantras, like Om , names of deities, and may also include some Sanskrit prayers. Then the lead singer sings a song or a mantra while accompanying himself with a versatile instrument (like a harmonium or
11008-412: The foundation of Vyākaraṇa, a Vedānga . The Aṣṭādhyāyī was not the first description of Sanskrit grammar, but it is the earliest that has survived in full, and the culmination of a long grammatical tradition that Fortson says, is "one of the intellectual wonders of the ancient world". Pāṇini cites ten scholars on the phonological and grammatical aspects of the Sanskrit language before him, as well as
11136-537: The gods Varuna, Mitra, Indra, and Nasatya found in the earliest layers of the Vedic literature. O Bṛhaspati, when in giving names they first set forth the beginning of Language, Their most excellent and spotless secret was laid bare through love, When the wise ones formed Language with their mind, purifying it like grain with a winnowing fan, Then friends knew friendships – an auspicious mark placed on their language. — Rigveda 10.71.1–4 Translated by Roger Woodard The Vedic Sanskrit found in
11264-431: The historic Sanskrit literary culture and the failure of new Sanskrit literature to assimilate into the changing cultural and political environment. Sheldon Pollock states that in some crucial way, "Sanskrit is dead ". After the 12th century, the Sanskrit literary works were reduced to "reinscription and restatements" of ideas already explored, and any creativity was restricted to hymns and verses. This contrasted with
11392-498: The historical Gurus, but major temples in the Sikh tradition recite Kirtan every day as a mark of daily bhakti (devotional remembrance) of God's name. This congregational setting is called a Sangat or Satsang , a word that in ancient Indian texts means "like minded individuals, or fellow travelers on a spiritual journey". Numerous Buddhist traditions use vocal music with instrumental accompaniment as part of their rituals and devotional practices. Buddhist vocal music and chanting
11520-486: The intense change that must have occurred in the pre-Vedic period between the Proto-Indo-Aryan language and Vedic Sanskrit. The noticeable differences between the Vedic and the Classical Sanskrit include the much-expanded grammar and grammatical categories as well as the differences in the accent, the semantics and the syntax. There are also some differences between how some of the nouns and verbs end, as well as
11648-432: The largest cultural heritage that any civilization has produced prior to the invention of the printing press. — Foreword of Sanskrit Computational Linguistics (2009), Gérard Huet, Amba Kulkarni and Peter Scharf Sanskrit has been the predominant language of Hindu texts encompassing a rich tradition of philosophical and religious texts, as well as poetry, music, drama , scientific , technical and others. It
11776-412: The linguistic expression and sets the standard for the Sanskrit language. Pāṇini made use of a technical metalanguage consisting of a syntax, morphology and lexicon. This metalanguage is organised according to a series of meta-rules, some of which are explicitly stated while others can be deduced. Despite differences in the analysis from that of modern linguistics, Pāṇini's work has been found valuable and
11904-514: The literary works. The Indian tradition, states Winternitz , has favored the learning and the usage of multiple languages from the ancient times. Sanskrit was a spoken language in the educated and the elite classes, but it was also a language that must have been understood in a wider circle of society because the widely popular folk epics and stories such as the Ramayana , the Mahabharata ,
12032-455: The modern age include the Samaveda , Yajurveda , Atharvaveda , along with the embedded and layered Vedic texts such as the Brahmanas , Aranyakas , and the early Upanishads . These Vedic documents reflect the dialects of Sanskrit found in the various parts of the northwestern, northern, and eastern Indian subcontinent. According to Michael Witzel, Vedic Sanskrit was a spoken language of
12160-771: The modernist movements of Swami Sivananda , Anandamayi Ma , Sri Aurobindo , and A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada . In Andhra Pradesh , the compositions of the Tallapaka Annamacharya , a 14th-century Vaishnava mystic, represent the earliest known southern music called "sankirtana". He wrote in praise of Lord Venkateswara , the deity of Seven Hills in Tirumala . During his long and prolific career, he reputedly composed and sang 32,000 Sankirtanas and 12 Shatakas (sets of hundred verses) in both Telugu and Sanskrit . There are three main styles of Marathi kirtan , Varkari, Naradiya and Jugalbandi. Varkari Kirtan
12288-429: The more advanced Classical Sanskrit. Rituals and the rites-of-passage ceremonies have been and continue to be the other occasions where a wide spectrum of people hear Sanskrit, and occasionally join in to speak some Sanskrit words such as namah . Classical Sanskrit is the standard register as laid out in the grammar of Pāṇini , around the fourth century BCE. Its position in the cultures of Greater India
12416-401: The most advanced analysis of linguistics until the twentieth century. Pāṇini's comprehensive and scientific theory of grammar is conventionally taken to mark the start of Classical Sanskrit. His systematic treatise inspired and made Sanskrit the preeminent Indian language of learning and literature for two millennia. It is unclear whether Pāṇini himself wrote his treatise or he orally created
12544-602: The most archaic poems of the Iranian and Greek language families, the Gathas of old Avestan and Iliad of Homer . As the Rigveda was orally transmitted by methods of memorisation of exceptional complexity, rigour and fidelity, as a single text without variant readings, its preserved archaic syntax and morphology are of vital importance in the reconstruction of the common ancestor language Proto-Indo-European . Sanskrit does not have an attested native script: from around
12672-420: The musical value is subordinated to the sentimental emotion expressed in the words of the song." Regarding the southern (Carnatic) traditions of kirtan, they are generally "less ornate" than northern kirtan, making less use of " grace , trills and arabesques ", but they are also much more structured musical forms. While kirtan is influenced by the practice of Indian classical music, they are much simpler than
12800-615: The names of God, katha or Akhyan (a story to support the lesson), final prayer. The Naradiya Marathi Kirtan popular in Maharashtra is most often performed by a single performer, and contains the poetry of saints of Maharashtra such as Dnyaneshwar , Eknath , Namdev and Tukaram . Learned poets from 17th and 18th century such as Shridhar, Mahipati , and Moropant contributed to develop this form of kirtan. A Naradiya kirtan performance can last for period of any length, from half an hour to three hours. Attendees may wear traditional clothing and
12928-495: The north. During this time, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu popularized Krishna based kirtan in Bengal , promoting and teaching the singing of Vaishnava songs which celebrate the love between Radha and Krishna, understood as being the love between the soul and God. Chaitanya is also known as the father of padavali singing, a highly developed and complex musical tradition. About the same time, Shankaradeva (1449–1568) in Assam inspired
13056-597: The numbers are thought to signify a wish to be aligned with the prestige of the language. Sanskrit has been taught in traditional gurukulas since ancient times; it is widely taught today at the secondary school level. The oldest Sanskrit college is the Benares Sanskrit College founded in 1791 during East India Company rule . Sanskrit continues to be widely used as a ceremonial and ritual language in Hindu and Buddhist hymns and chants . In Sanskrit,
13184-687: The one who removes darkness and illusion, the one who removes all obstacles to spiritual progress. The name Hari also appears as the 650th name of Vishnu in the Vishnu Sahasranama of the Mahabharata and is considered to be of great significance in Vaishnavism . The Sanskrit word " हरि " (Hari) is derived from the Proto-Indo-European root "* ǵʰel- to shine; to flourish; green; yellow" which also gave rise to
13312-403: The oral transmission of the texts is reliable: they are ceremonial literature, where the exact phonetic expression and its preservation were a part of the historic tradition. However some scholars have suggested that the original Ṛg-veda differed in some fundamental ways in phonology compared to the sole surviving version available to us. In particular that retroflex consonants did not exist as
13440-431: The other." Reinöhl further states that there is a symmetric relationship between Dravidian languages like Kannada or Tamil, with Indo-Aryan languages like Bengali or Hindi, whereas the same relationship is not found for non-Indo-Aryan languages, for example, Persian or English: A sentence in a Dravidian language like Tamil or Kannada becomes ordinarily good Bengali or Hindi by substituting Bengali or Hindi equivalents for
13568-492: The performers use instruments like the Indian harmonium, drums, and string instruments of various types mostly "Zanz", "chipali", "Tal" or "Chimata". Naradiya kirtan performers are usually very learned in literature, music, dance, acting and comedy. Jugalbandi Kirtan is performed by two persons, allowing question-answer, dialogue and debate. Performance requires skill in music, dance, comedy, oratory, debate, memory, general knowledge and Sanskrit literature. Training takes place at
13696-414: The possible influence of Dravidian on Sanskrit is only one of many items of syntactic assimilation, not least among them the large repertoire of morphological modality and aspect that, once one knows to look for it, can be found everywhere in classical and postclassical Sanskrit". The main influence of Dravidian on Sanskrit is found to have been concentrated in the timespan between the late Vedic period and
13824-439: The previous 1,500 years when "great experiments in moral and aesthetic imagination" marked the Indian scholarship using Classical Sanskrit, states Pollock. Scholars maintain that the Sanskrit language did not die, but rather only declined. Jurgen Hanneder disagrees with Pollock, finding his arguments elegant but "often arbitrary". According to Hanneder, a decline or regional absence of creative and innovative literature constitutes
13952-480: The problems of interpretation and misunderstanding. The purifying structure of the Sanskrit language removes these imperfections. The early Sanskrit grammarian Daṇḍin states, for example, that much in the Prakrit languages is etymologically rooted in Sanskrit, but involves "loss of sounds" and corruptions that result from a "disregard of the grammar". Daṇḍin acknowledged that there are words and confusing structures in Prakrit that thrive independent of Sanskrit. This view
14080-609: The regional Prakrit languages, which makes it likely that the interaction, the sharing of words and ideas began early in the Indian history. As the Indian thought diversified and challenged earlier beliefs of Hinduism, particularly in the form of Buddhism and Jainism , the Prakrit languages such as Pali in Theravada Buddhism and Ardhamagadhi in Jainism competed with Sanskrit in the ancient times. However, states Paul Dundas , these ancient Prakrit languages had "roughly
14208-497: The relationship between various Indo-European languages, the origin of all these languages may possibly be in what is now Central or Eastern Europe, while the Indo-Iranian group possibly arose in Central Russia. The Iranian and Indo-Aryan branches separated quite early. It is the Indo-Aryan branch that moved into eastern Iran and then south into South Asia in the first half of the 2nd millennium BCE. Once in ancient India,
14336-562: The role of language, the ontological status of painting word-images through sound, and the need for rules so that it can serve as a means for a community of speakers, separated by geography or time, to share and understand profound ideas from each other. These speculations became particularly important to the Mīmāṃsā and the Nyaya schools of Hindu philosophy, and later to Vedanta and Mahayana Buddhism, states Frits Staal —a scholar of Linguistics with
14464-496: The same relationship to Sanskrit as medieval Italian does to Latin". The Indian tradition states that the Buddha and the Mahavira preferred the Prakrit language so that everyone could understand it. However, scholars such as Dundas have questioned this hypothesis. They state that there is no evidence for this and whatever evidence is available suggests that by the start of the common era, hardly anybody other than learned monks had
14592-556: The semi-nomadic Aryans . The Vedic Sanskrit language or a closely related Indo-European variant was recognized beyond ancient India as evidenced by the " Mitanni Treaty" between the ancient Hittite and Mitanni people, carved into a rock, in a region that now includes parts of Syria and Turkey. Parts of this treaty, such as the names of the Mitanni princes and technical terms related to horse training, for reasons not understood, are in early forms of Vedic Sanskrit. The treaty also invokes
14720-506: The singer calls a spiritual chant, a hymn or a devotional theme, the audience responds by repeating the chant or by chanting back a reply of their shared beliefs. Musical recitation of hymns, mantras and the praise of deities has ancient roots in Hinduism, and may be found in the Vedic literature . A key feature of popular Hindu kirtan is that it is mostly sung in vernacular languages like Hindi and Bengali (unlike Vedic chanting , which
14848-489: The singer. Many kirtan performances are structured to engage the audience where they either repeat the chant, or reply to the call of the singer. A kirtan performance includes an accompaniment of regionally popular musical instruments, especially Indian instruments like the Indian harmonium , the veena , sitar , or ektara ( strings ), the tabla (one-sided drums ), the mrdanga or pakhawaj (two-sided drum), flute ( woodwinds ), and karatalas or talas ( cymbals ). It
14976-615: The social structures such as the role of the poet and the priests, the patronage economy, the phrasal equations, and some of the poetic metres. While there are similarities, state Jamison and Brereton, there are also differences between Vedic Sanskrit, the Old Avestan, and the Mycenaean Greek literature. For example, unlike the Sanskrit similes in the Ṛg-veda, the Old Avestan Gathas lack simile entirely, and it
15104-653: The turn of the 1st-millennium CE, it has been written in various Brahmic scripts , and in the modern era most commonly in Devanagari . Sanskrit's status, function, and place in India's cultural heritage are recognized by its inclusion in the Constitution of India 's Eighth Schedule languages . However, despite attempts at revival, there are no first-language speakers of Sanskrit in India. In each of India's recent decennial censuses, several thousand citizens have reported Sanskrit to be their mother tongue, but
15232-408: The variants in the usage of Sanskrit in different regions of India. The ten Vedic scholars he quotes are Āpiśali, Kaśyapa , Gārgya, Gālava, Cakravarmaṇa, Bhāradvāja , Śākaṭāyana, Śākalya, Senaka and Sphoṭāyana. In the Aṣṭādhyāyī , language is observed in a manner that has no parallel among Greek or Latin grammarians. Pāṇini's grammar, according to Renou and Filliozat, is a classic that defines
15360-564: The vernacular Prakrits. Many Sanskrit dramas indicate that the language coexisted with the vernacular Prakrits. The cities of Varanasi , Paithan , Pune and Kanchipuram were centers of classical Sanskrit learning and public debates until the arrival of the colonial era. According to Lamotte , Sanskrit became the dominant literary and inscriptional language because of its precision in communication. It was, states Lamotte, an ideal instrument for presenting ideas, and as knowledge in Sanskrit multiplied, so did its spread and influence. Sanskrit
15488-502: The Ṛg-veda is distinctly more archaic than other Vedic texts, and in many respects, the Rigvedic language is notably more similar to those found in the archaic texts of Old Avestan Zoroastrian Gathas and Homer's Iliad and Odyssey . According to Stephanie W. Jamison and Joel P. Brereton – Indologists known for their translation of the Ṛg-veda – the Vedic Sanskrit literature "clearly inherited" from Indo-Iranian and Indo-European times
15616-408: Was a spoken language ( bhasha ) used by the cultured and educated. Some sutras expound upon the variant forms of spoken Sanskrit versus written Sanskrit. Chinese Buddhist pilgrim Xuanzang mentioned in his memoir that official philosophical debates in India were held in Sanskrit, not in the vernacular language of that region. According to Sanskrit linguist professor Madhav Deshpande, Sanskrit
15744-427: Was a spoken language in a colloquial form by the mid-1st millennium BCE which coexisted with a more formal, grammatically correct form of literary Sanskrit. This, states Deshpande, is true for modern languages where colloquial incorrect approximations and dialects of a language are spoken and understood, along with more "refined, sophisticated and grammatically accurate" forms of the same language being found in
15872-472: Was adopted voluntarily as a vehicle of high culture, arts, and profound ideas. Pollock disagrees with Lamotte, but concurs that Sanskrit's influence grew into what he terms a "Sanskrit Cosmopolis" over a region that included all of South Asia and much of southeast Asia. The Sanskrit language cosmopolis thrived beyond India between 300 and 1300 CE. Today, it is believed that Kashmiri is the closest language to Sanskrit. Reinöhl mentions that not only have
16000-738: Was also the language of some of the oldest surviving, authoritative and much followed philosophical works of Jainism such as the Tattvartha Sutra by Umaswati . The Sanskrit language has been one of the major means for the transmission of knowledge and ideas in Asian history. Indian texts in Sanskrit were already in China by 402 CE, carried by the influential Buddhist pilgrim Faxian who translated them into Chinese by 418 CE. Xuanzang , another Chinese Buddhist pilgrim, learnt Sanskrit in India and carried 657 Sanskrit texts to China in
16128-567: Was an early proponent of kirtan in the West . He chanted Guru Nanak Dev 's Hey Hari Sundara ("Oh God Beautiful") with 3,000 people at Carnegie Hall in 1923. Kirtan became more common with the spread of Indian religious movements in the West in the 1960s. Movements which were influential in bringing Indian kirtan to West include the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), 3HO (Sikh followers of Yogi Bhajan ),
16256-525: Was pioneered by Sant Namdev (1270–1350) in Maharashtra . It is usually based on the works of seven famous Maharashtri saints: Saint Nivruttinath, Sant Dnyaneshwar , Sopandev, Muktabai, saint Eknath, Saint Namdev, and Saint Tukaram . Marathi kirtan is typically performed by one or two main performers, accompanied by harmonium and tabla . It involves singing, acting, dancing, and story-telling. The show goes for two or three hours as time permits and
16384-442: Was visualized as "pervading all creation", another representation of the world itself; the "mysterious magnum" of Hindu thought. The search for perfection in thought and the goal of liberation were among the dimensions of sacred sound, and the common thread that wove all ideas and inspirations together became the quest for what the ancient Indians believed to be a perfect language, the "phonocentric episteme" of Sanskrit. Sanskrit as
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