Yama ( Sanskrit : यम , lit. 'twin'), also known as Kāla and Dharmarāja , is the Hindu god of death and justice, responsible for the dispensation of law and punishment of sinners in his abode, Naraka . He is often identified with Dharmadeva , the personification of Dharma , though the two deities have different origins and myths.
157-905: Sanjna ( Sanskrit : संज्ञा , IAST : Saṃjñā , also spelled as Samjna and Sangya ), also known as Saranyu ( Sanskrit : सरण्यू , IAST : Saraṇyū ), is a Hindu goddess associated with clouds and the chief consort of Surya , the Sun god. She is mentioned in the Rigveda , the Harivamsa and the Puranas . In Hindu mythology , Sanjna is the daughter of the craftsman god Tvashtr , often equated with Vishvakarma . Renowned for her beauty, virtue, and ascetic powers, Sanjna married Vivasvant (Surya); however, she could not endure his intense form and energy. To escape, she substituted herself with her shadow or maid, Chhaya , and ran away by transforming into
314-399: A shudra called Vidura due to being cursed by a sage for being too harsh in his punishments. From the A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada / Bhaktivedanta Book Trust (BBT) translation: As long as Vidura played the part of a śūdra, being cursed by Maṇḍūka Muni [also known as Māṇḍavya Muni], Aryamā officiated at the post of Yamarāja to punish those who committed sinful acts. Vidura,
471-407: 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." Yama In Vedic tradition, Yama was considered the first mortal who died and espied the way to the celestial abodes; as a result, he became
628-546: A deeper focus on the character's symbolic role. Samjñā represents more than just a fleeing or transforming figure—she embodies the concept of representation or identity. Indologist Wendy Doniger explains that the change from Saranyu to Samjñā reflects the evolving philosophical concerns in Hindu mythology. While Saranyu is tied to action, motion, and natural forces, Samjñā emphasizes duality—between reality and appearance, self and shadow. The transformation from Saranyu to Samjñā marks
785-561: A devotee of Krishna , is the main protagonist in the third canto. In this canto , after being thrown out of his home by King Dhritarashtra (his older half-brother) for admonishing the Kauravas' ignoble behaviour towards the Pandavas , Vidura went on a pilgrimage where he met other devotees of Krishna such as Uddhava and the sage Maitreya , the latter of whom revealed Vidura's true origin to him: I know that you are now Vidura due to
942-433: 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
1099-412: A gatherer of the people, who gave dead people a place to rest. Out of the three Rigvedic heavens, the third and highest belong to Yama (the lower two belong to Savitr ). Here is where the gods resides, and Yama is surrounded by music. In the ritual sacrifice, Yama is offered soma and ghee , and is invoked to sit at the sacrifice, lead the sacrificers to the abode of the gods, and provide long life. In
1256-420: A god with mortal aspects, to father Manu with her. This duality of Saranyu and her double is a major focus of later interpretations, as it touches on the complex intersection of divine and human procreation. Doniger also discusses the gender and power dynamics implicit in the story. In early Vedic literature, divine figures like Saranyu often operate in ways that question agency—was her flight an act of autonomy, or
1413-591: 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
1570-658: 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
1727-506: A mare and flees to the land of the northern Kurus, where she hides and grazes in an uninhabited region. Meanwhile, Vivasvant remains unaware of the substitution and continues his life with the shadow Samjna, believing her to be his true wife. Together, they have a son named Manu Savarni, meaning "of-the-same-kind" as the first Manu. The shadow Samjna, however, does not treat Samjna’s earlier children—Manu, Yama, and Yamuna—with equal affection. She favors her own son, Manu Savarni, while neglecting
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#17327839041701884-535: A mare and hides in the land of the northern Kurus. The story proceeds as Chhaya raises Samjna’s children, Manu, Yama, and Yamuna, but shows favoritism towards her own offsprings—Savarni Manu, Shani and Tapati . Yama, noticing this difference in treatment, confronts Chhaya, who in anger curses him. The curse, similar to the one in the Harivamsa , focuses on Yama’s foot: “Since you threaten your father’s wife with your foot, your foot will fall.” Yama suspects that Chhaya
2041-467: A mare. Upon discovering her absence, Surya had his radiance diminished and brought her back. Sanjna is recognized as the mother of several notable deities, including Yama , the god of death; Yamuna , the river goddess; Vaivasvata Manu , the current patriarch of humans; the twin divine physicians known as the Ashvins ; and the god Revanta . Saranyu (or Saraṇyū) is the first name used for the goddess and
2198-454: 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
2355-479: 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
2512-553: A noose') and Dharmaraja ('lord of Dharma '). Yama and Dharmadeva, the god personifying the concept of Dharma , are generally considered to be one and the same person. Author Vettam Mani speculates a reason for this identification: " Vyasa has used as synonyms for Dharmadeva in the Mahabharata the words Dharmaraja, Vṛsa and Yama. Now among the synonyms for the two there are two words in common- Dharmaraja and Yama. This has led to this misunderstanding. Because Kala weighs
2669-546: 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
2826-582: A path to the "other world", where deceased ancestral fathers reside. Due to being the first man to die, he is considered the chief of the dead, lord of settlers, and a father. Throughout the course of Vedic literature, Yama becomes more and more associated with the negative aspects of death and eventually becomes the god of death. He also becomes associated with Antaka (the Ender), Mṛtyu (Death), Nirṛti (Decease), and Sleep. Yama has two four-eyed, broad nosed, brindled, reddish-brown dogs, Sharvara and Shyama , who are
2983-558: A plan to escape. She creates a magical double of herself—a shadow or chhaya —that resembles her but behaves differently. Samjna instructs this shadow to take her place and care for her three children: Manu , Yama , and Yamuna . She warns the shadow not to reveal the truth to Vivasvant, and then she flees to her father Tvashtr’s house. At her father Tvashtr’s house, Samjna seeks refuge but is met with harsh disapproval. Tvashtr tells her she must fulfill her marital duties and return to her husband. To avoid returning, she transforms herself into
3140-421: A reason not to commit incest, that Mitra - Varuna are strict in their ordinances, and that they have spies everywhere. By the end of the hymn, Yamī becomes frustrated but Yama remains firm in his stance. However, by RV 10.13.4, Yama is stated to have chosen to leave offspring, but Yamī is not mentioned. Vedic literature states that Yama is the first mortal, and that he chose to die, and then proceeded to create
3297-578: 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
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#17327839041703454-538: 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
3611-508: A shift from a dynamic, flowing goddess to a figure more concerned with identity and representation. In Samjñā, the myth explores the nature of identity, as the character is literally and metaphorically a sign or image of herself, especially through her surrogate, Chhaya , who is her shadow or reflection. Doniger also suggests that Samjñā can be understood as a riddle-like term for Sandhya, which represents dawn. In this interpretation, Samjñā’s doppelgänger symbolizes evening twilight, implying that
3768-439: 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
3925-608: A son, Yama, who will be the embodiment of restraint (samyama), a reflection of her own restrained vision. As her gaze flickers and darts about in fear, Samjna is further cursed to give birth to a daughter, Yamuna, who will become a river that flows in a similarly erratic manner. Unable to further tolerate her husband’s fiery energy, Samjna leaves behind her own personified shadow, named Chhaya , and goes to her father's house. Initially, Tvashtr welcomes Samjna; however, after she stays there for many years, he soon forces her to leave his home and return to her husband. Samjna then transforms into
4082-464: A water-buffalo. He holds a noose ( pāśa ) of rope in one hand, with which he seizes the lives of people who are about to die. He is also depicted holding a danda which is a Sanskrit word for "staff". Yama is the son of Surya and Saranyu . He is the twin brother of Yami , brother of Shraddhadeva Manu and the step brother of Shani and his son was Katila. There are several temples across India dedicated to Yama. As per Vishnu Dharmottara , Yama
4239-711: 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
4396-516: 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
4553-463: Is also known by the following names— Dyau ('sky'), Rājñī ('queen'), Tvaṣṭrī ('daughter of Tvashtr '), Prabhā ('light') and Lokamātaraḥ (mother of the realm or loka ). In some text, Samjna is also referred to by the name Suvarcalā ('resplendent'). In the Rig Veda (c. 1200-1000 BCE), Saranyu’s story unfolds as a cryptic narrative, focusing on her marriage to Vivasvant , the Sun god, and
4710-468: Is also provided, beginning with their seizure and journey to Yamaloka ( i.e. Hell ): As a criminal is arrested for punishment by the constables of the state, a personal engaged in criminal sense gratification is similarly arrested by the Yamadutas, who bind him by the neck with a strong rope and cover his subtle body so that he may undergo severe punishment. While carried by the constables of Yamaraja, he
4867-486: Is controlled by Him just as a bull is controlled by a rope in its nose. In the tenth canto, Krishna and Balarama travel to Yama's abode to bring back the dead son of their Guru, Sandipani Muni : Lord Janārdana took the conchshell that had grown around the demon’s body and went back to the chariot. Then He proceeded to Saṁyamanī, the beloved capital of Yamarāja, the lord of death. Upon arriving there with Lord Balarāma, He loudly blew His conchshell, and Yamarāja, who keeps
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5024-416: Is derived from the Sanskrit root sar, meaning "to flow" or "to run," which suggests associations with movement, speed, or impetuosity. It is also the female form of the adjective saraṇyú , meaning "quick, fleet, nimble", used for rivers and wind in the Rigveda (compare also Sarayu ). This aligns with her mythological role, where she transforms and flees from her circumstances, often depicted as taking
5181-487: Is described as having a twin brother with three heads ( Trishiras ). She willingly leaves Vivasvant by creating a female who looks like her and entrusting her children to this substitute. While Vivasvant unknowingly has Manu with the savarna, he later realizes that Saranyu has left and goes after her in the form of a horse. Their union as horses produces the Ashvins, who are conceived in an unconventional manner—Saranyu inhales
5338-590: Is extremely beloved to Vivasvant. In contrast to earlier versions, the Markandeya Purana does not emphasize the Sun’s physical appearance, as noted in the Harivamsa . Instead, the narrative focuses on Samjna’s inability to tolerate the Sun's overwhelming splendor and fiery energy, referred to as tejas . Unable to endure this intensity, Samjna closes her eyes whenever she sees him. Vivasvant, angered by this reaction, curses her, declaring that she will give birth to
5495-452: 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
5652-643: Is identified with Yama) is the father of Yudhishthira , the oldest brother of the five Pandavas . Yama most notably appears in person in the Yaksha Prashna and the Vana Parva, and is mentioned in the Bhagavad Gita . In the Yaksha Prashna , Dharmadeva (Yama) appears as a yaksha (nature spirit) in the form of a crane to question Yudhishthira and test his righteousness. Impressed by Yudhishthira's strict adherence to dharma and his answers to
5809-413: Is not his real mother, as he notes that a true mother would not curse her child even in anger. Vivasvant eventually realizes that Chhaya is an imposter and seeks out the real Samjna, who is hiding in her mare form. Vivasvant, after having some of his fiery tejas reduced by the gods, transforms himself into a stallion and approaches Samjna in her mare form. The myth recounts their unusual reunion, resulting in
5966-559: Is overwhelmed and trembles in their hands. While passing on the road [to Yamaloka] he is bitten by dogs, and he can remember the sinful activities of his life. He is thus terribly distressed. In the sixth canto, Yama (not as Vidura nor with Aryama in the post; see third and fourth canto) instructs his messengers, the Yamadutas , when questioned about who has supreme authority in the universe since there are so many gods and demigods: Yamarāja said: My dear servants, you have accepted me as
6123-532: 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
6280-400: Is renamed Samjna, while the surrogate she creates is no longer described as merely of-the-same-kind ( savarna ) but is instead depicted as her chhaya —her shadow or mirror image. This change introduces a dynamic of inversion, where the shadow not only resembles Samjna but also contrasts with her in key ways. Samjna is portrayed as the daughter of Tvashtr , and she is married to Vivasvant ,
6437-456: Is said to be represented on a buffalo, with garments like of heated gold, and all kinds of ornaments. He has four arms with the complexion of rain clouds. Dhumorna, his wife, is represented sitting on the left haunch of Yama and she has the colour of a dark blue lotus. In the Rigveda , Yama is the son of a solar deity Vivasvat and Saraṇyū and has a twin sister named Yamī. He is cognate to
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6594-479: 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,
6751-421: Is the lokapala ("Guardian of the realms") of the south and the son of Surya . Three hymns (10, 14, and 35) in the 10th book of the Rig Veda are addressed to him. In Puranas, Yama is described as having four arms, protruding fangs, and complexion of storm clouds, with a wrathful expression; surrounded by a garland of flames; dressed in red, yellow, or blue garments; holding a noose and a mace or sword; and riding
6908-698: Is the mother of the king Vena. Sobhavati, the wife of Chitragupta , is sometimes mentioned to be Yama's daughter. In the Mahabharata, Yudhishthira , the eldest Pandava, was blessed by Dharma to his mother Kunti . Yama Dharmaraja Temple is a Hindu temple located at Thiruchitrambalam in the Thanjavur district of Tamil Nadu , India . The temple is dedicated to Yama. Mentioned in the Pāli Canon of Theravada Buddhism , Yama subsequently entered Buddhist mythology in East Asia , Southeast Asia and Sri Lanka as
7065-589: 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
7222-540: 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
7379-472: The Vishnu Purana , a similar legend is recited by sage Parashara , but here instead of Tvashtr, Samjna is identified as the daughter of Vishvakarman , the divine architect and craftsman. Additionally, Samjna’s departure is more explicitly linked to her desire to perform tapas (penance) in the forest to gain control over the Sun's heat. The Vishnu Purana, in contrast to other texts, also states that
7536-599: The Vishnudharmottara describe Dhumorna (also known as Urmila) as his consort. In the Garuda Purana , Syamala is the name of Yama's wife. According to some other texts, Yama has three consorts—Hema-mala, Sushila and Vijaya. When identified with Dharmadeva, he also married 10 or 13 daughters of the god Daksha . According to the Brahma Purana , the name of Yama's eldest daughter is Sunita, who
7693-481: The Atman (i.e. the soul, self) and moksha (liberation). From the translation by Brahmrishi Vishvatma Bawra: Yama says: I know the knowledge that leads to heaven. I will explain it to you so that you will understand it. O Nachiketas, remember this knowledge is the way to the endless world; the support of all worlds; and abides in subtle form within the intellects of the wise. In the epic Mahabharata , Dharmadeva (who
7850-524: The Avestan Yima, son of Vīvanhvant. The majority of Yama's appearances are in the first and tenth book. Yama is closely associated with Agni in the Rigveda. Agni is both Yama's friend and priest, and Yama is stated to have found the hiding Agni. In the Rigveda, Yama is the king of the dead, and one of the two kings that humans see when they reach heaven (the other being Varuna ). Yama is stated to be
8007-580: 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
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#17327839041708164-665: The Harivamsa version of the Saranyu myth and its earlier Vedic counterparts. In this later text, the concept of the shadow ( chhaya ) takes on a more prominent role, symbolizing both resemblance and opposition. Doniger points out that the use of varna —meaning "color" or "class"—introduces themes of difference between Samjna and the Sun, particularly regarding his dark complexion, which is a cause of her dissatisfaction. This interpretation also ties into broader social meanings of varna in ancient texts, where it began to reflect both racial and class distinctions. Doniger further suggests that
8321-613: 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
8478-517: The Pitris (forefathers), Naraka (hell), or to be reborn on the earth. Yama is one of the Lokapalas (guardians of the realms), appointed as the protector of the south direction. He is often depicted as a dark-complexioned man riding a buffalo and carrying a noose or mace to capture souls. Yama was subsequently adopted by Buddhist , Chinese , Tibetan , Korean , and Japanese mythology as
8635-699: 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
8792-532: 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 ,
8949-476: 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
9106-406: 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
9263-500: 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
9420-414: 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
9577-532: 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
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#17327839041709734-428: The Ashvins embodying healing and life. This duality is reinforced by Saranyu’s dual identity as both the mother of Yama, the first mortal, and the divine Ashvins. Saranyu's role as the mother of both human and divine progeny also marks a significant moment in Vedic mythology. Before her, goddesses like Aditi give birth to immortal children, but Saranyu, through her double, introduces the birth of mortal beings, namely Manu,
9891-425: 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
10048-532: 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
10205-521: 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
10362-476: 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
10519-519: 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
10676-532: 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
10833-496: 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
10990-499: 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
11147-638: 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
11304-456: The Sun has two wives: dawn (Sandhya) and twilight (the double). The parallels between Samjñā and Sandhya are striking, as both are portrayed as wives of the Sun with complex, ambivalent relationships. Furthermore, both names carry linguistic significance: while "Samjñā" means "sign" or "image," "Sandhya" is linked to "twilight speech" in later Hindi poetry, which is marked by riddles, inversions, and paradoxes. According to Skanda Purana , Samjna
11461-663: The Sun's fiery nature, reducing his excessive heat and making his form more pleasant. Vivasvant then sets out to find the real Samjna, locating her in the form of a mare in the northern Kurus. To approach her, he takes on the form of a stallion and unite in their equine forms. However, fearing it might be another male, Samjna expels the Sun’s seed through her nostrils, giving birth to the twin gods— Ashvins . After this encounter, Vivasvant reveals his transformed, more appealing form to Samjna. Satisfied by his new appearance, Samjna reconciles with him, and they return to their life together. Wendy Doniger highlights several key differences between
11618-426: The Sun. Although she is virtuous, beautiful and has great ascetic powers, she becomes increasingly dissatisfied with her husband. Vivasvant’s radiant heat is excessive, rendering his form unappealing to Samjna. He is referred to as Martanda or "Dead-Egg." His intense radiance has disfigured his limbs and darkened his complexion ( syama varna ). Samjna, unable to bear the Sun’s overwhelming heat and appearance, devises
11775-818: The Sun’s heat is reduced after he finds and brings Samjna back. This reduction is prompted by her complaints to her father, Vishvakarman, regarding the unbearable heat of her husband. Vishvakarma reduces 1/8th of Surya's radiance and using it, he creates many celestial weapons including Vishnu 's disc , Shiva 's trident and Kartikeya 's vel . Most Puranic scriptures mention 6 children of Surya by Samjna— Vaivasvata Manu , Yama , Yamuna , Ashvins and Revanta . However, Kurma Purana and Bhagavata Purana gives Samjna only three children — Manu, Yama and Yamuna. Markandeya Purana as well as Vishnudharmottara Purana prescribe that Surya should be depicted in images with Samjna and his other wives by his sides. The Skanda Purana identifies Samjna’s mother as Rechana or Virochanā,
11932-456: The Supreme, but factually I am not. Above me, and above all the other demigods, including Indra and Candra, is the one supreme master and controller. The partial manifestations of His personality are Brahmā, Viṣṇu and Śiva, who are in charge of the creation, maintenance and annihilation of this universe. He is like the two threads that form the length and breadth of a woven cloth. The entire world
12089-520: The Vedas) emerged from the navel of Vishvakarman . During a conversation with his servant, Yama states that he is subordinate to Vishnu. While establishing the relationship between Vishnu and Lakshmi, the Chapter ;8 of Book 1 describes Dhumorna as Yama's consort. Varying information about Yama's consorts and children are found in Hindu texts. The Mahābhārata , the Vishnu Purana and
12246-447: 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
12403-451: 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
12560-459: 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
12717-481: The ancestor of humanity. This blending of divine and mortal realms in her offspring reflects a broader Vedic concern with the cyclical nature of life, death, and rebirth, as seen in the daily rise and fall of the sun—an event often associated with Vivasvant in later interpretations. In the Harivamsa , the appendix to the epic Mahabharata , the myth of Saranyu undergoes significant transformations from its earlier Vedic representations. In this later narrative, Saranyu
12874-466: The audience to decipher the underlying meanings and connections. This approach reflects the Vedic method of storytelling, where stories were often concealed and revealed in parts, requiring interpretation by the reader or listener. Maurice Bloomfield, as cited by Doniger, further explains that the passage about Saranyu belongs to a category of Vedic riddles or charades. The deliberate withholding of explanations about key events—such as Saranyu’s disappearance,
13031-573: The birth of the liminal Ashvins, who exist between mortal and immortal worlds. This also reflects the broader Vedic theme that divine procreation is not bound by human conventions. Another aspect scholars focus on is the concept of twinhood. Yama and Yami are born to Saranyu as mortal twins, while the Ashvins are born to her as divine twins in the form of horses. Doniger points out that the concept of twinhood extends beyond simple sibling relationships in Vedic mythology; it symbolizes duality, opposites, and complementary forces, with Yama representing death and
13188-531: The births were as usual." This led to an increase in the population and the Earth sinking down "for a hundred yojanas. And suffering pain in all her limbs." The earth sought the protection of Narayana , who incarnated as a boar ( Varaha ) and lifted her back up. In the Udyoga Parva , it is stated that the wife of Yama is called Urmila. In the Bhagavad Gita , part of the Mahabharata, Krishna states: Of
13345-440: 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
13502-525: The celestial Naga snakes I am Ananta; of the aquatic deities I am Varuna. Of departed ancestors I am Aryamaa and among the dispensers of law I am Yama, lord of death. Yama and his abode are frequently mentioned in the Puranas . Some Puranas like Agni Purana and Linga Purana mention him as son of Rajni and Surya. In the third and fourth cantos of the Srimad Bhagavatam , Yama was incarnated as
13659-527: 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
13816-589: The conception of the Ashvins. The Markandeya Purana also introduces a new character, Revanta , born from the Sun’s remaining seed after the Ashvins’ conception. Revanta becomes an important figure, riding a horse, symbolizing both Samjna’s equine transformation and the divine progeny she bears. After the birth of their children, Vivasvant reveals his true form to Samjna, now cleansed of his excessive energy. Satisfied with this transformation, she returns to her original form and reclaims her rightful place as his wife. In
13973-440: The conditioned souls in check, came as soon as he heard the resounding vibration. Yamarāja elaborately worshiped the two Lords with great devotion, and then he addressed Lord Kṛṣṇa, who lives in everyone’s heart: "O Supreme Lord Viṣṇu, what shall I do for You and Lord Balarāma, who are playing the part of ordinary humans?" The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: Suffering the bondage of his past activity, My spiritual master’s son
14130-614: 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
14287-402: The cows and the defenceless creatures are My [Krishna's] own body. Those whose faculty of judgement has been impaired by their own sin look upon those as distinct from Me. They are just like furious serpents, and they are angrily torn apart by the bills of the vulturelike messengers of Yamaraja, the superintendent of sinful persons. A detailed account of the punishment of a sinner upon their death
14444-464: The creation of her double, and the birth of the Ashvins—suggests that these verses are meant to provoke thought rather than provide straightforward answers. According to Bloomfield, the text invites its audience to solve the riddle by connecting the clues offered, with Saranyu’s name being the final piece of the puzzle. One of the central themes scholars explore is the nature of Saranyu’s flight and
14601-501: The creation of her double. Doniger highlights that Saranyu, whose name means "flowing" (possibly hinting at a river or a swift-moving force), leaves behind a mortal double, the savarna . This act introduces a key tension between divine and mortal realms, particularly through the creation of the savarna , a mortal replacement for an immortal goddess. The double is described as "of the same kind"—either in appearance or nature—but crucially different in her mortal status, which allows Vivasvant,
14758-653: 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
14915-416: The curse but mitigates its effects by declaring that worms will consume part of Yama’s foot, sparing him from complete loss. Suspicious of the shadow’s behavior, Vivasvant confronts her and demands an explanation for her favoritism. Under pressure, the shadow reveals the truth: she is not the real Samjna but merely a shadow double. Infuriated, Vivasvant seeks out Tvashtr for assistance. Tvashtr, in turn, tempers
15072-427: The cursing of Māṇḍavya Muni and that formerly you were King Yamarāja, the great controller of living entities after their death. You were begotten by the son of Satyavatī , Vyāsadeva , in the kept wife of his brother. Krishna also states Yama punishes sinners, as relayed to Vidura (again, an incarnation of Yama) by Maitreya during their conversation about the origin and creation of the multiverse : The brahmanas ,
15229-471: The daughter of the pious daitya Prahlada and the wife of Tvashtr. Additionally, it equates Samjna with Rajni and Prabha, who are mentioned as distinct wives of Surya in a few different texts, particularly those related to his iconography. Sanskrit language Sanskrit ( / ˈ s æ n s k r ɪ t / ; attributively 𑀲𑀁𑀲𑁆𑀓𑀾𑀢𑀁 , संस्कृत- , saṃskṛta- ; nominally संस्कृतम् , saṃskṛtam , IPA: [ˈsɐ̃skr̩tɐm] )
15386-681: The depiction of the Sun as dark or black in the Harivamsa may have roots in Indo-European mythologies , which occasionally describe the sun as black due to its underworld journey or as a result of direct observation of its overwhelming radiance. Samjna's narrative is retold in multiple Puranas . Among them, the Markandeya Purana contains the most elaborate account. According to Wendy Doniger , this retelling serves an important function in Puranic literature, linking older Vedic deities with newer Puranic concepts, especially in relation to
15543-467: 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
15700-478: The dialogue hymn between Yama and Yamī (RV 10.10), as the first two humans, Yamī tries to convince her twin brother Yama to have sex with her. Yamī makes a variety of arguments, including continuing the mortal line, that Tvashtar created them as a couple in the womb, and that Dyaush and Prithvi are famous for their incest. Yama argues that their ancestors, "the Gandharva in the waters and the watery maiden," as
15857-471: 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
16014-460: 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
16171-490: 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
16328-450: The events that follow. Saranyu, the daughter of Tvashtr , gives birth to the twins Yama and Yami after marrying Vivasvant. Soon after, Saranyu mysteriously disappears, leaving behind a substitute—a savarna , or a female of the same kind. The text hints that this substitute, created to take her place, is given to Vivasvant, while Saranyu, in her own form, flees, taking on the guise of a mare. The Rig Veda narrates that after Saranyu assumes
16485-417: The evil and good in man he got the name Dharmaraja. Dharmadeva got that name because he is the incarnation of Dharma. The real name of Kāla is Yama. Dharmadeva got the name Yama because he possesses 'Yama' (control of the self for moral conduct)." Mani believes that Yama and Dharmadeva are two different deities, citing that the Puranic scriptures attest different myths about the deities — In Hinduism , Yama
16642-548: 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
16799-455: The form of a horse and mates with her, leading to the birth of the Ashvins. The text also introduces the birth of Manu , who is born from the savarna, Saranyu’s substitute. Manu becomes the progenitor of the human race, marking the transition from divine to mortal beings in Saranyu’s offspring. The Brhaddevata (composed few centuries after Nirukta) further elaborates on the story. Here, Saranyu
16956-410: The form of a mare and departs, Vivasvant takes on the form of a stallion and follows her. In their union as horses, Saranyu gives birth to the twin equine gods, the Ashvins . These gods, half horse and half human, are later described as liminal figures—connected to both the divine and the mortal realms. After giving birth to the Ashvins, Saranyu abandons both her mortal children, Yama and Yami, as well as
17113-541: The form of a mare. The imagery of flowing or running connects Saranyu to the idea of natural forces, perhaps even hinting at an ancient link with river goddesses. Sometimes, the name is interpreted as "the swift-speeding storm cloud". In later versions of the myth, particularly in the Harivamsa , the name Samjñā (also written as Sanjna and Sangya) replaces Saraṇyū. Samjñā is derived from the Sanskrit roots sam (together, complete) and jñā (to know), meaning "knowledge," "awareness," "sign," or "name." The shift in name signifies
17270-412: 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
17427-413: The god of Death Yama hastened to that place. He was holding his sceptre (rod of chastisement). His physical body was yellow in colour. In prowess he was comparable to none. He was unparalleled in brilliance, strength and power of demanding obedience. His limbs were well developed and he wore garlands. In the Garuda Purana , Yama and his realm where sinners are punished are detailed extensively, including in
17584-537: 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
17741-537: The highest heaven. The Atharvaveda states Yama is unsurpassable and is greater than Vivasvat. The Taittirīya Aranyaka and the Āpastamba Śrauta state that Yama has golden-eyed and iron-hoofed horses. In the Katha Upanishad , Yama is portrayed as a teacher to the Brahmin boy Nachiketa . Having granted three boons to Nachiketa, their conversation evolves to a discussion of the nature of being, knowledge,
17898-431: 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
18055-486: 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
18212-423: The king of hell. In modern culture, Yama has been depicted in various safety campaigns in India. The word " Yama " means 'twin' (Yama has a twin sister, Yami ), and later came to mean 'binder' (derived from " yam "); the word also means 'moral rule or duty' (i.e. dharma ), 'self-control', 'forbearance', and 'cessation'. Yama is also known by many other names, including Kala ('time'), Pashi (one who carries
18369-432: 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
18526-412: 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
18683-514: 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 ,
18840-511: 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
18997-429: 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
19154-401: 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
19311-602: 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
19468-577: The newly born Ashvins. The story in the Rig Veda presents these events in a fragmented and riddle-like manner, with no explicit explanations for Saranyu's actions or the creation of her double. In the Nirukta (c. 500 BCE) by the linguist Yaska , the story is expanded with additional details. Saranyu’s actions are clarified, and she is said to have taken on the form of a mare of her own volition. Vivasvant, upon discovering her transformation, follows her in
19625-545: 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,
19782-403: 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
19939-431: 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
20096-404: The others. This favoritism leads to conflict, especially with Yama, who becomes resentful. In a moment of anger, Yama raises his foot to strike the shadow mother, but refrains from doing so. Enraged by his action, the shadow curses Yama, declaring that his foot will fall off. Yama, distressed by the curse, turns to Vivasvant for help. Vivasvant, sympathetic to his son's plight, cannot entirely revoke
20253-414: 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
20410-439: 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
20567-480: 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
20724-609: 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
20881-497: 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,
21038-405: The riddles posed, Yama reveals himself as his father, blesses him, and brings his younger Pandava brothers back to life. The Yaksha [Yama] asked, "What enemy is invincible? What constitutes an incurable disease? What sort of man is noble and what sort is ignoble"? And Yudhishthira responded, "Anger is the invincible enemy. Covetousness constitutes a disease that is incurable. He is noble who desires
21195-620: The rise of goddess worship. Specifically, the Markandeya Purana uses the Samjna story to introduce the Devi Mahatmya , a text central to the worship of the Goddess ( Devi ), signaling the assimilation of female divinities from non-Sanskrit vernacular traditions into the classical Sanskrit canon. The myth of Samjna is narrated twice in the Markandeya Purana . Samjna, the daughter of Tvastr, marries Vivasvant, from whom she bears Manu, who
21352-562: 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
21509-457: The ruler of the departed. His role, characteristics, and abode have been expounded in texts such as the Upanishads , the Ramayana , the Mahabharata , and the Puranas . Yama is described as the twin of Yami , and the son of the sun god Surya (in earlier traditions Vivasvat ) and Sanjna . He judges the souls of the dead and, depending on their deeds, assigns them to the realm of
21666-496: 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
21823-529: The semen that had fallen on the ground, leading to the twins' birth. Wendy Doniger and other scholars have suggested that the cryptic nature of the Rig Veda 's narrative about Saranyu is not accidental but a deliberate feature of Vedic literature. Doniger, in particular, emphasizes that the story of Saranyu is shrouded in what the Vedas term brahmodya , or "mystical utterances." These are enigmatic verses that present mythological events in riddle-like form, leaving
21980-556: 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
22137-460: The shift in the nature of Saranyu's union with Vivasvant—from a divine, celestial marriage to a peculiar equine coupling—raises questions about the boundaries between human and divine sexuality. Doniger interprets this transformation as symbolic of the fluidity between forms and identities in Vedic myth. By fleeing as a mare and being pursued as a stallion, Saranyu and Vivasvant transcend the normal boundaries of human and divine relationships, leading to
22294-615: 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
22451-563: The sons of Saramā . However, in the Atharvaveda, one of dogs is brindled and the other is dark. The dogs are meant to track down those who are about to die, and guard the path to Yama's realm. Scholars who adhere to Theodor Aufrecht's interpretation of RV 7.55 state that the dogs were also meant to keep wicked men out of heaven. The Vājasaneyi Saṃhitā (the White Yajurveda) states Yama and his twin sister Yamī both reside in
22608-653: 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
22765-553: The twelfth chapter called ' The Realm of Yama '. In this text, the name of Yama's wife is Syamala. In the Matsya Purana , In addition to his battles against the asuras , Yama is mentioned extensively: In the Vishnu Purana , Yama is the son of sun-god Surya (named Vivasvan in the Vedas, also means 'sun') and Sandhya (named Saranya in the Vedas, is another name), the daughter of Vishvakarma (named Tvastar in
22922-408: 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
23079-564: 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
23236-458: The well-being of all creatures, and he is ignoble who is without mercy". In the Vana Parva , when Yudhishthira asks the sage Markandeya whether there has ever been a woman whose devotion matched Draupadi's , the sage replied by relating the story of Savitri and Satyavan . After Savitri's husband Satyavan died, Yama arrived to carry away his soul. However, Yama was so impressed with Savitri's purity and dedication to dharma and to her husband, he
23393-502: 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
23550-408: 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
23707-427: 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
23864-472: 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
24021-738: 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
24178-426: Was brought here to you. O great King, obey My command and bring this boy to Me without delay. Yamarāja said, "So be it," and brought forth the guru’s son. Then those two most exalted Yadus presented the boy to Their spiritual master and said to him, "Please select another boon." In the Brahma Purana , Yama is the lord of justice and is associated with Dharma . Mentions include: Riding on his terrible buffalo,
24335-590: Was convinced to instead bring Satyavan back to life. In the Tirtha-yatra Parva (Book 3, Varna Parva, CXLII), Lomasa tells Yudhishthira "in days of yore, there was (once) a terrible time in the Satya Yuga when the eternal and primeval Deity [ Krishna ] assumed the duties of Yama. And, O thou that never fallest off, when the God of gods began to perform the functions of Yama, there died not a creature while
24492-469: Was it imposed upon her by the gods or by circumstances? This question becomes central to later retellings of the myth. For example, in the Nirukta , Saranyu is said to have created the double herself and fled in her own volition. This narrative suggests that she was an active agent in her own escape and in the creation of the savarna , which complicates the traditional portrayal of women in Vedic literature as passive or controlled by male figures. Additionally,
24649-442: 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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