139-575: Kunti ( Sanskrit : कुन्ती , IAST : Kuntī ), born Pritha ( Sanskrit : पृथा , IAST : Pṛthā ), was the queen of Kuru in the Hindu epic Mahabharata . Kunti was married to Pandu and is the mother of Karna , Yudhishthira , Bhima , and Arjuna . She is depicted to possess beauty, intelligence and shrewdness. Originally born to the Yadava chief Shurasena , Pritha was adopted by her childless uncle, Kuntibhoja , and subsequently bestowed with
278-469: A Brahmin's family, her son Bhima would face the demon. Kunti engineered a plot where Bhima would be able to face and kill the demon. The powerful Bhima brought his might to the fore and defeated Bakasura. Later, Bhima slays the rakshasa Hidimba and he is beseeched by Hidimbi , Hidimba's sister, to wed her. Bhima is reluctant, but Kunti ordered Bhima to marry Hidimbi seeing merit in the woman. Hidimbi would go on to birth Ghatotkacha , who later takes part in
417-465: A broader pattern of dependent female characters in the Mahabharata , such as Ambika , Ambalika , and Gandhari , who conform to social or marital expectations. This is in contrast to a different class of characters called the kanyas , like Kunti, Draupadi , and Satyavati , who are powerful independent figures with great influence in shaping the narrative of the epic. Iravati Karve views Madri as
556-529: A child by them. She had kept this boon a closely guarded secret. During his exile, Pandu, hindered in fulfilling his religious duties due to his lack of an heir, discussed the matter with Kunti, urging her to "raise offspring in this time of distress." He cited six types of sons as recognised by religious doctrines, with an additional six types in a supplementary list. At this juncture, Kunti disclosed her boon, though she initially resisted using it. Only after Pandu’s fervent pleas did Kunti invoke her boon, resulting in
695-400: A common theme in such narratives. While discussing her desire for children with Pandu, Madri affirms that Kunti is her rival and does not shy away from expressing her sensitivity in seeking Kunti's favour. Bhattacharya points out that Kunti similarly expresses resentment over Madri’s ability to outmaneuver her, particularly at the moment of Pandu’s death when she finds Madri in his arms. This
834-545: 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." Madri Madri ( Sanskrit : माद्री , IAST : Mādrī ) is a princess from the Madra Kingdom mentioned in the Hindu epic, the Mahabharata . She became
973-566: A dowry, consisting of wealth, gold, elephants, and horses. Bhishma then brought Madri to Hastinapura , the capital of Kuru, where she was married to Pandu. Pandu had a first wife, Kunti , with whom Madri shared an amicable relationship, despite an underlying rivalry between the two. Shortly after his marriage, Pandu embarked on a series of military conquests to expand his kingdom’s influence. Following these successful campaigns, he went to tapovana (forest of austerities) south of Himalayas , accompanied by both his wives, Kunti and Madri. During
1112-593: A feeling intensified by Madri’s awareness of her own superior birth. She conveyed her grief over being childless and requested that Pandu seek Kunti’s assistance to allow her to become a mother. However, Madri was hesitant to approach Kunti directly, referring to her as her 'rival'. Upon Pandu's request, Kunti generously shared the boon with Madri, who invoked the twin-gods, the Ashvins , to beget Nakula and Sahadeva at once. The Kaunteyas (lit. 'sons of Kunti') and Madreyas (lit. 'sons of Madri') are raised together in
1251-433: 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
1390-591: 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
1529-658: 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
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#17327939802221668-454: 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
1807-479: 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
1946-546: 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
2085-488: A princess of Madra , which are presented as surpassing that of Kunti . According to Indologist and Mahabharata scholar Pradip Bhattacharya, Madri’s charms and physical appeal allowed her to win Pandu ’s favoritism, as seen when he grants her the freedom to choose her divine partner without the restrictions that were earlier imposed on Kunti. Other critics observe that Madri’s beauty, while notable, reduces her character in
2224-578: 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
2363-538: 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
2502-413: A result of Kindama's curse, he died. Madri committed suicide out of remorse that caused her husband's death. Kunti was left helpless in the forest with her children. After the death of Pandu and Madri, Kunti took care of all five Pandava children taking them back to Hastinapur. Dhritrashtra's sons never liked them. During their childhood, Duryodhana poisoned and tried to kill Bhima but he was saved. Kunti
2641-632: A scholar of the Mahabharata and author of Panchakanya: "One-in Herself" Why Kunti Remains a Kanya , highlights her as a symbol of strong womanhood, noting her resolve, adaptability, and the critical role she played in her sons’ lives. Kunti’s agency is first demonstrated in her selection of Pandu at her svayamvara and her subsequent loyalty in following him into exile, despite his marriage to Madri . When Pandu requests that Kunti conceive sons through other men, she initially resists, revealing her personal integrity and resolve. She ultimately agrees, however,
2780-439: 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
2919-428: A sister. Pandu, while hunting in a forest, mistakenly shot and killed Rishi Kindama and his wife as they had taken the form of deer to mate. The dying sage then cursed him to die if he tries to embrace or touch his wives. Pandu renounced the kingdom and went into exile with Kunti and Madri. Pandu could not sire children with his wives due to the curse by sage Kindama . A remorseful Pandu met some sages and asked them
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#17327939802223058-399: A tragic figure, whose life is indirectly ruined by Bhishma. However, she also notes that Madri attains liberation from the more arduous life, which is endured by Kunti, who survives and faces various hardships and plots, while caring for both of Madri’s children, even more than her own. According to mythologist Devdutt Pattanaik , the distinction between the position held by Madri and Kunti in
3197-471: A way for heaven and salvation. They said, without children, one can never aspire for heaven. When Pandu expressed to Kunti his despair at the prospect of dying childless, she mentioned the boon granted to her. He happily advised her to beget children by suitable, illustrious men. Thus, Kunti used the boon granted to her by Sage Durvasa to bear three sons— Yudhishthira by Dharmaraja – god of Justice; Bhima by Vayu – god of wind , and Arjuna by Indra –
3336-508: A woman like alms. However, Draupadi accepted this as her fate. When Kunti, along with the Pandavas and Draupadi, returned to Hastinapura, they faced many problems including succession dispute between Yudhishthira and Duryodhana. On the advice of Bhishma , Pandavas were given a barren land to rule which was developed into Indraprastha . When the Pandavas lose the kingdom in a dice game and are forced to go into exile for thirteen years, Kunti
3475-646: Is a character of the Mahabharata , one of the Sanskrit epics from the Indian subcontinent . The work is written in Classical Sanskrit and is a composite work of revisions, editing and interpolations over many centuries. The oldest parts in the surviving version of the text may date to near 400 BCE. The Mahabharata manuscripts exist in numerous versions, wherein the specifics and details of major characters and episodes vary, often significantly. Except for
3614-464: 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
3753-607: Is believed to possess purifying qualities, capable of dispelling sin when recited. Kunti is lauded as the epitome of maturity, foresight, and dutiful womanhood. Kunti was the biological daughter of Shurasena , a Yadava ruler. Her birth name was Pritha . She is said to be the reincarnation of the goddess Siddhi. She was the sister of Vasudeva , Krishna's father. She shared a close relationship with Krishna. Her father gave Kunti to his childless cousin Kuntibhoja . Once Rishi Durvasa visited Kuntibhoja. Being extremely pleased by
3892-566: Is equal to or even exceeds Kunti in some ways. However, Madri finally accepts Kunti's nobility before her death, acknowledging her resilience and leadership. Bhattacharya sees Madri’s recognition of Kunti as an honest tribute to her own limitations, reflecting her lack of the “firmness of will” needed to rise above rivalry and ego. Madri is traditionally portrayed as a pativrata , or "devoted wife," who follows her husband's death out of love. For her decision to commit sati (self-immolation) after Pandu’s death, Bhattacharya positions Madri within
4031-556: Is forced by King Dhritarashtra to remain in the capital. She chose to stay in Vidura 's house rather than the royal palace. As war approached, Kunti met Karna and in desperation to keep her all children alive, asked Karna to leave the side of Duryodhana and join the Pandavas. Karna denied the offer, as he could not betray his friend. However, he promised Kunti that he would not kill any of his brothers except Arjuna, thus following both Mitra dharma and Putra dharma. He also promised that at
4170-452: 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
4309-428: Is further evident when Kunti, feeling betrayed by Madri's use of her generosity to outdo her in the number of children, refuses to share her mantra again. According to Baisakhi Ghosh, a Sanskrit scholar and author, their rivalry stemmed from Kunti's belief that Madri was favored by the king due to her beauty, while Madri felt that Kunti, as the chief queen, enjoyed a status she herself deserved, fueled her belief that she
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4448-463: 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
4587-625: Is recounted in the Adi Parva , the opening book of the Mahabharata . Madri was the daughter of the king of the Madra Kingdom and the sister of Shalya . Bhishma , a prominent statesman of the Kuru Kingdom and the grandsire of the royal family, traveled to Madra to secure Madri's hand in marriage for Pandu , the king of the Kuru Kingdom. The Madra king consented, but in accordance with Madra family custom, Bhishma presented him with
4726-479: 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,
4865-589: 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
5004-540: 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
5143-548: The Mahābhārata , where widows—aside from a few in later-added chapters—do not perform sati. Traditionally, it is believed that Madri committed sati by mounting Pandu’s funeral pyre, based on a specific verse (1.117.28) from the Mahābhārata . Yet a subsequent verse (1.117.30-31), found in all manuscript traditions, offers an alternative account. In this version, after Pandu’s death, sages bring both Pandu’s and Madri’s bodies to Hastinapura for proper funeral rites, contradicting
5282-605: The Bahlika clan, which originated from Bactria in Central Asia. Thus, she is also referred to as Bahliki ( Bāhlikī ) in few instances in the epic Mahabharata . When Madri is introduced in the epic, she is described as rūpeṇāsadṛśī , literally 'unparalleled in beauty'. Madri is mentioned as an incarnation of a minor goddess named Dhriti ('Endurance'). Madri is described being dark complexioned and exceedingly attractive. Her entire life, from her introduction to her death,
5421-580: 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
5560-675: 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
5699-525: 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
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5838-504: The Kauravas or figures from the other epic Ramayana like Tara and Mandodari , do not immolate themselves. These discrepancies suggest that later writers may have modified the scenes to reflect medieval values that promoted widow immolation as a mark of honor and loyalty. Regarding the alternative account, Pattanaik suggests that if Madri’s body was indeed delivered to Hastinapur, it is likely she died immediately alongside Pandu due to
5977-763: The Kurukshetra War . The Pandavas attended the swayamvara of Draupadi in Panchala . Arjuna was able to win Draupadi 's hand. The Pandavas returned to their hut and said that they have bought alms (signifying Kanyadan ). Kunti misunderstood them and asked the Pandavas to share whatever they had brought. Kunti was shocked after realizing the implications of her words, that is, all of the Pandavas married Draupadi thinking that they are obeying their mother's orders. Therefore, she scolded her children for treating
6116-520: The Kurukshetra war , Kunti lived with her sons for many years. After she felt that her job in the world was over, she moved to a forest near the Himalayas with her brothers-in-law Vidura and Dhritarashtra , Sanjaya and Dhritarashtra's wife Gandhari . Vidura died two years after they left. Later Sanjaya left for the Himalayas and those remaining perished in a forest fire. Pradip Bhattacharya,
6255-753: 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
6394-532: 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 ,
6533-531: 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
6672-406: 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
6811-500: 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
6950-588: The "Poona" edition, the "Calcutta" edition and the "south Indian" editions of the manuscripts. The most accepted version is one prepared by scholars led by Vishnu Sukthankar at the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute , preserved at Kyoto University , Cambridge University and various Indian universities. Apart from the Mahabharata, Madri is briefly referenced in later Puranic texts , particularly in discussions about
7089-414: 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
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#17327939802227228-471: 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
7367-570: The Ashvins to obtain twins had she known. Concluding her response, Kunti insisted that Pandu "not come to [her] again" with requests to give Madri the mantra. During spring—the season linked with erotism in Hindu tradition—in the forest of Shatashringa, Pandu was deeply influenced by the intensity of the atmosphere. One day, while walking alone with Madri in this setting, Pandu saw her in translucent clothes and succumbed to desire. Despite Madri’s repeated protests, Pandu made love to her, forgetting
7506-425: 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
7645-532: 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
7784-521: 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
7923-476: 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
8062-519: 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
8201-634: The Kurukshetra War, Kunti encountered Karna, urging him to align with the Pandava faction upon discovering his true lineage. Despite Karna's refusal, she implored him to spare all her sons except Arjuna. Subsequent to Yudhishthira's ascension to the throne of the Kurus, Kunti retired to the forest, eventually passing away. Within Hindu tradition, Kunti is venerated as one of the panchakanya ("five maidens"), embodying ideals of female chastity. Her name
8340-532: 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
8479-496: 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
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#17327939802228618-499: 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
8757-638: 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
8896-829: The Southern recension of the Mahabharata, Pandu's death occurred on the day of Uttara Phalguni Nakshatra , coinciding with Arjuna's birthday. Madri, however, resisted Kunti’s request, stating that she felt bound to Pandu by an unfulfilled union, as he had approached her in desire at the time of his death. Madri expressed her wish to follow Pandu into the afterlife to fulfill his desire, also fearing she might not be able to raise Kunti’s children with equal dedication and affection. She appealed to Kunti to care for her own children, Nakula and Sahadeva, in her absence, trusting in Kunti’s ability to provide for them impartially. During Pandu's funeral, Madri jumped into Pandu's burning pyre, thus performing
9035-447: 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
9174-451: 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
9313-572: The act of sati . However, this account is contradicted by the very next stanza, which states that her dead body and that of her husband were handed over by sages to the Kaurava elders in Hastinapura for the funeral rites. The Svargarohana Parva (the final book of the Mahabharata ) mentions that in the afterlife, Madri resides in the heavenly realm of the god Indra . Assessments emphasize Madri’s renowned beauty and high status as
9452-406: The all comforts, patience, and devotion offered by Kunti, he offered her a mantra that would invoke any god of her choice and he would bless her with children. Out of impetuous curiosity, Kunti invoked the god Surya . Bound by the power of the mantra, Surya blessed her with a child. To her surprise, the child was born with his sacred armour on. Out of fear of the public and with no choice, Kunti put
9591-459: 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
9730-464: The archetype of the empowered single mother who navigates the vicissitudes of life with resilience and fortitude. Sanskrit language Sanskrit ( / ˈ s æ n s k r ɪ t / ; attributively 𑀲𑀁𑀲𑁆𑀓𑀾𑀢𑀁 , संस्कृत- , saṃskṛta- ; nominally संस्कृतम् , saṃskṛtam , IPA: [ˈsɐ̃skr̩tɐm] ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of
9869-502: The birth of her three sons— Yudhishthira , Bhima , and Arjuna —each fathered by a different god chosen by Pandu after an interval of one year each. When Pandu requested Kunti to bear more children, Kunti firmly refused, stating that doing so would diminish her dignity and reduce her to the status of a prostitude. Madri, in a private moment with Pandu, expressed that she felt overshadowed by Kunti, as her position seemed secondary to Kunti’s in both Pandu’s affections and household dynamics,
10008-440: 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
10147-581: The capital of Kuru. Surviving the perilous events at the Lakshagriha , Kunti, during their concealment, instructed Bhima to marry Hidimbi , a Rakshasi . A misunderstanding on Kunti's part led to the polyandrous union of Draupadi , the princess of Panchala , with the five Pandavas. Following the establishment of Indraprastha, Kunti continued to reside in Hastinapura, cultivating a harmonious relationship with her sister-in-law, Gandhari . Preceding
10286-589: The child in a basket and set him afloat the Ganga river. He later became famous as Karna . Kuntibhoja organised Kunti's swayamvara . Kunti chose King Pandu of Hastinapur , making her the Queen of Hastinapur. Soon after, during his mission to expand his empire, Pandu, on Bhishma's proposal, married Madri , a princess of Madra in order to secure the vassalage of Madra . Kunti was disturbed by her husband's actions, but eventually reconciled with him and treated Madri as
10425-459: The choice of divine progenitors is not hers; it rests with Pandu, underlining the limitations of her autonomy within her marriage. Bhattacharya emphasizes her strength and strategic wisdom in managing this role, as she conceals her pre-marital son, Karna , to safeguard Pandu’s honor and to preserve her reputation within the royal household. This contrasts her with her grandmother-in-law, Satyavati , who called upon her pre-marital son Vyasa to extend
10564-525: The claim that Madri perished with Pandu on the pyre. Nilakantha , a prominent 17th-century commentator on the Mahābhārata , tried to reconcile these conflicting verses by suggesting that the word " sarīra " (typically meaning "body") in the second verse actually refers to "asthi" (bones or remains). By this interpretation, Madri did indeed immolate herself with Pandu, and the “bodies” brought to Hastinapura were, in fact, their ashes or charred remains, not their intact corpses. This interpretation, while considered
10703-527: 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
10842-614: 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
10981-653: 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
11120-508: The curse placed upon him by the sage Kindama, which forbade him from intimate relations on penalty of death. The curse took immediate effect, and Pandu fell dead in Madri’s arms. Upon Pandu’s death, Madri cried out in sorrow, summoning Kunti but asking her to come alone, leaving the children behind. Kunti, seeing Pandu and Madri together, blamed Madri for the incident. Madri explained that despite her resistance, Pandu’s overwhelming desire fulfilled
11259-415: The curse's terms. Kunti sorrowfully noted that Madri was "fortunate" to have seen Pandu's face radiant in intimacy—a moment Kunti herself had never experienced Following this, Kunti, as the senior wife, claimed the religious duty to accompany Pandu in death, believing it her responsibility to follow him to the afterlife. She asked Madri to relinquish his body and take on the task of raising their children. In
11398-467: 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
11537-471: 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
11676-460: 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
11815-490: 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
11954-477: The end of the war she would still have five sons, the fifth one be either Arjuna or Karna himself. Despite supporting her children, Kunti stayed in the Kaurava camp along with her sister-in-law Gandhari . After the death of Karna, Kunti disclosed the secret of Karna's birth to the Pandavas. A grief-stricken Yudhisthira would curse the women of the world that they shall be unable to keep any secret anymore. After
12093-412: The epic is also reflected in the roles played by Madri’s and Kunti’s children, as the three Kaunteyas play far more important roles than the twins. Madri’s sati (the act of immolation of a widow on her husband's funeral pyre) has been studied by scholars as a way to gain insights into the practice of sati during the ancient epic period. However, her case stands out as an exceptionally rare instance in
12232-410: The epic to that of merely an "beloved wife," overshadowing her individuality and eventually leading to Pandu's demise. Madri is also recognized for her cleverness, managing to bear two children simultaneously in one chance, which unsettled Kunti and made her fear losing her status as the chief wife. Instances of rivalry and jealousy between the co-wives are frequently portrayed in the epic, reflecting
12371-417: The expedition in a forest, he observed a pair of deer in the act of coitus and desiring to hunt them, shot arrows at them. Upon approaching, he realized that the deer were, in fact, the sage Kindama and his wife, who had assumed the form of deer to enjoy privacy. As he lay dying, the sage pronounced a curse upon Pandu, decreeing that he would die instantly should he ever engage in sexual relations. Disturbed by
12510-548: 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
12649-411: The forest with Dhritarashtra and Gandhari , after her sons’ victory, symbolises a profound act of renunciation. Bhattacharya interprets this as Kunti’s transcendence beyond worldly attachments and family ties, an act that affirms her as a “ kanya ” or “one-in-herself”—a woman who has achieved independence of spirit and self-possession. Through this retreat, Kunti’s life comes full circle, as she embodies
12788-412: 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
12927-427: The genealogy of the Pandavas. Indologist Monier Monier-Williams explains that the Sanskrit feminine name Mādrī is derived from Madra (lit. 'joy' or 'happiness'), the name of her native kingdom in the northwestern Indian subcontinent. Therefore, Mādrī means 'princess of Madra'. According to anthropologist Iravati Karve , the term is more of a title, granted to every princess of the kingdom. Madri belonged to
13066-537: 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
13205-560: The gravity of his actions and seeking repentance, Pandu chose to relinquish his royal duties and live an ascetic life in the forest. Both Kunti and Madri accompanied him in his self-imposed exile. After travelling to various pilgrim sites, they settled in the Shatashringa forests under the care of sages who lived there. Kunti , the first wife of Pandu , possessed a mantra granted by the sage Durvasa prior to her marriage, which allowed her to summon any deity of her choice and bear
13344-507: The hermitage, and they are collectively referred to as the Pandavas . After some time, Madri, through Pandu, asked Kunti for the assistance to bear more children. However, Kunti firmly refused the request, expressing her frustration by noting that Madri had "deceived" her by using a single mantra to gain two sons. She voiced her regret, fearing that Madri might end up with more children than herself, and admitted she would have also summoned
13483-431: 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
13622-672: The house of lac with the help of Vidura through a secret tunnel. After surviving from the Lakshagriha Kunti and five Pandavas lived in Ekachakra village . During their stay, Kunti and the Pandavas become aware of a demon, Bakasura , who ate people. Villagers had to send one member of their family and food to Bakasura, who devour both. When Kunti heard the cries of a Brahmin – who had provided her and her son's shelter in Ekachakra, Kunti consoled him and suggested that instead of
13761-486: 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
13900-429: The internal contradictions and the challenge of reconciling the two accounts. Building on Sukthankar and Hopkins, scholar M. A. Mehendale contends that the conflicting accounts are due to textual conflation from an interpolation, where an external narrative was inserted into the text without consideration for internal consistency. He rejects Nilakantha’s explanation and, based on internal and external evidence, suggests that
14039-625: The king of Kuru , as her husband. However, her marital harmony was disrupted by the inclusion of Madri , the princess of Madra , as Pandu's second wife. Pandu, cursed to perish instantly upon attempting intimacy with his wives, retired to the forest with Kunti and Madri. Responding to her husband's entreaty, Kunti employed her mantra, resulting in the birth of Yudhishthira, Bhima, and Arjuna. Later, she shared this mantra with Madri, who bore Nakula and Sahadeva . Following Pandu's demise and Madri's self-immolation, Kunti assumed responsibility for her stepsons and relocated with her children to Hastinapura ,
14178-502: The king of Svarga (Heaven). She also invoked Ashvins for Madri on her behest and Madri gave birth to twin sons, Nakula and Sahadeva . Kunti gave special care to Madreyas (sons of Madri) especially Sahadeva, the youngest one. Madri gave tribute to Kunti by saying "You are blessed. There is none like you you are my light, my guide , most respect-worthy , reater in status, purer in virtue." One day, Pandu, forgetting his curse, attempted to embrace his wife Madri. But, as
14317-432: 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
14456-412: 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
14595-456: 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 ,
14734-511: 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
14873-429: 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
15012-401: 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
15151-602: 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
15290-550: The most compelling explanation, has not gained widespread acceptance. While the scene is included in the Critical Edition of the Mahābhārata , V. S. Sukthankar , the General Editor of the Critical Edition, expressed his dissatisfaction with Nilakantha’s interpretation, drawing on the views of Edward Washburn Hopkins . Although Sukthankar did not explicitly argue that the verses were spurious, he acknowledged
15429-489: The name Kunti. During her adolescence, she garnered the favour of the sage Durvasa , receiving a divine mantra which she could use to invoke any god and bear his child. Intrigued, she employed this mantra to invoke the sun god Surya , resulting in the birth of her son, Karna. Faced with the societal stigma associated with bearing a child out of wedlock, Kunti found herself compelled to relinquish her son to safeguard her honour. Upon attaining marriageable age, Kunti chose Pandu,
15568-545: 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,
15707-403: 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
15846-431: 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
15985-414: 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
16124-439: 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
16263-480: 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
16402-609: 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
16541-497: 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,
16680-562: 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
16819-592: The royal line of Hastinapura without hesitation. Her refusal to bear a fourth child, invoking scripture as justification, showcases her deep understanding of dharma , which she uses both to assert her autonomy and to protect her dignity. Within the complex social structure of the Hastinapura court, Kunti carefully navigates adversities, often relying on her confidant Vidura . Bhattacharya highlights her strategic acumen in orchestrating Draupadi’s marriage to all five Pandavas, ensuring unity among her sons and forestalling potential conflicts. This decision, based on customs of
16958-496: 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
17097-633: The second wife of Pandu , the king of the Kuru Kingdom , and was the mother of the twins Nakula and Sahadeva , the youngest of the five Pandava brothers who play a central role in the epic. Madri was also the sister of Shalya , and her marriage to Pandu was arranged by Bhishma , the elder of the Kuru dynasty. Following a curse placed upon Pandu, which would lead to his death if he engaged in intimate relations, Madri accompanied him in his self-imposed exile, along with Pandu's first wife, Kunti . With Pandu's consent and Kunti's divine assistance, Madri invoked
17236-530: The sections containing the Bhagavad Gita which is remarkably consistent between the numerous manuscripts, the rest of the epic exists in many versions. The differences between the Northern and Southern recensions are particularly significant, with the Southern manuscripts more profuse and longer. Scholars have attempted to construct a critical edition , relying mostly on a study of the "Bombay" edition,
17375-556: 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
17514-615: 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
17653-653: 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
17792-557: The twin deities Nasatya and Darsa, collectively known as the Ashvins , receiving their blessing and subsequently giving birth to her sons, Nakula and Sahadeva. Madri was renowned for her beauty and is described in the epic as being exceptionally attractive; as a result, Pandu one day succumbed to desire and attempted to make love to her, which led to his death due to the curse. Overcome with remorse and grief, Madri entrusted her sons, Nakula and Sahadeva, to Kunti’s care and chose to jump into Pandu's funeral pyre, joining him in death. Madri
17931-408: 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
18070-564: 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
18209-428: The verses regarding Madri’s self-immolation are likely spurious. Devdutt Pattanaik argues that such inconsistencies reflect later cultural and textual interpolations during the medieval period. Pattanaik points to further contradictions in Mahābhārata episodes, such as the account of Krishna’s death, where some of his wives perform sati while others choose asceticism, and other episodes in which widows, like those of
18348-502: 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
18487-579: The “northern Kurus,” is portrayed as a calculated move that consolidates family loyalty by centering it around a single wife, underscoring Kunti’s commitment to her sons’ shared purpose. Her pragmatism as a mother is further reflected in her morally complex actions to protect her family’s welfare, as seen in her plea to Karna before the war, where she secures his promise to spare all the Pandavas except Arjuna. Though Karna rejects her, Kunti’s determination to shield her sons from harm exemplifies her selfless devotion and emotional resilience. Kunti’s final retreat to
18626-408: 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
18765-427: 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
18904-472: 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
19043-738: 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
19182-416: Was hurt by this but was consoled by Vidura . Later the Kuru princes were sent to train under Drona . After the princes finished their training, they returned to Hastinapura. After some time Duryodhana and his maternal uncle Shakuni tried to burn Pandavas alive along with Kunti for which they built the palace out of lac ( Lakshagriha ) in a village named Varanāvata. The Pandavas, though, managed to escape
19321-442: 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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