Misplaced Pages

#509490

139-453: In various Asian religious traditions, the Nagas ( Sanskrit : नाग , romanized :  Nāga ) are a divine, or semi-divine, race of half-human, half- serpent beings that reside in the netherworld ( Patala ), and can occasionally take human or part-human form, or are so depicted in art. Furthermore, Nagas are also known as dragons and water spirits . A female naga is called a Nagi , or

278-507: A Nagini . Their descendents are known as Nagavanshi . According to legend, they are the children of the sage Kashyapa and Kadru . Rituals devoted to these supernatural beings have been taking place throughout South Asia for at least 2,000 years. They are principally depicted in three forms: as entirely human with snakes on the heads and necks, as common serpents, or as half-human, half-snake beings in Hinduism and Buddhism . Nagaraja

417-667: A Siddha Yoginī. For three Yugas She worshipped Śrī Kṛṣṇa and then She became a Siddha Yoginī. Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the Lord of the Gopīs, seeing the body of Manasā lean and thin due to austerities, or seeing her worn out like the Muni Jarat Kāru called her by the name of Jarat Kāru. Hence Her name has come also to be Jarat Kāru. Kṛṣṇa, the Ocean of Mercy, gave her out of kindness, Her desired boon; She worshipped Him and Śrī Kṛṣṇa also worshipped Her. Devī Manasā

556-545: A being is so advanced in realization that they can magically transform their body at will and demonstrate the emptiness of the physical form itself. However, many schools of Buddhism and classical, seminal Chinese exegeses interpret the story to repudiate this viewpoint, stating the story demonstrates that women can attain Buddhahood in their current form. According to tradition, the Prajñapāramita sutras had been given by

695-463: A class of superhumans taking the form of serpents who inhabit a subterranean world. Texts such as Manimekalai represent them as persons in human form. Stories of nāgas ( Khmer : នាគ , néak ) have been part of Khmer society for thousands of years, dating back to the Funan era ( នគរភ្នំ ). According to reports from two Chinese envoys, Kang Tai and Zhu Ying, the state of Funan was established in

834-936: 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." Kshira Sagara The "Ocean of Milk" is the English translation of the Sanskrit terms kṣīroda , kṣīrābdhi or kṣīrasāgara , from kṣīra "milk" and -uda , sāgara "water, ocean" or abdhi "ocean." The term varies across Indic languages, referred to as Khir Shaagor in Bengali , Tiruppāṟkaṭal in Tamil , and Pāla Samudram in Telugu . The Kshira Sagara

973-433: 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

1112-427: A frog. Now Vāsuki should be brought. The Devas and Gandharvas failed in that attempt also. Garuḍa who was haughty of his strength and speed, went to the city of the nāgas (serpents) and requested Vāsuki to come to the sea of Milk. Vāsuki replied that if the matter was so urgent he had no objection for being carried to that place. He took the middle part of Vāsuki in his beak and flew up higher and higher and reached beyond

1251-541: A halo of cobra hoods behind their head), as a partially human serpent, or as a whole serpent. Their domain is in the enchanted underworld, the underground realm filled with gems, gold and other earthly treasures called Naga-loka or Patala-loka . They are also often associated with bodies of waters — including rivers, lakes, seas, and wells — and are guardians of treasure. Their power and venom make them potentially dangerous to humans. However, in Hindu mythology , they often take

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

SECTION 10

#1732765253510

1668-454: 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

2085-578: 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

2224-538: 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

2363-439: 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

2502-428: A strong connection with nagas. The kingdom was believed to be built with aids of nagas, and thus, nagas were highly revered by the royal family. The kingdom, for a period of time, was renamed Yonok Nāga Rāj (lit. Yonok the nagaraja ) The nagas are also highly revered. The Buddhist temples and palaces are often adorned with various nagas. The term Nāga is also present in various Thai architecture terms including

2641-796: A veiled manner, using the Nāga and the Garuḍa to represent the Lao and the Thai, respectively. The Nāga is incorporated extensively into Lao iconography, and features prominently in Lao culture throughout the length of the country, not only in Vientiane. Phaya Nak or Phaya Nāga ( Thai : พญานาค ; RTGS :  phaya nak ; lit.   ' lord of Nāga ' , phaya derived from Mon which mean high nobility ) or Nakkharat ( Thai : นาคราช ; lit.   ' king of Nāga ' ) in Thai beliefs, nagas are considered

2780-453: Is phaṇin ( फणिन् ). There are several words for "snake" in general, and one of the very commonly used ones is sarpá ( सर्प ). Sometimes the word nāgá is also used generically to mean "snake". The word is cognate with English 'snake', Germanic: *snēk-a- , Proto-IE : *(s)nēg-o- (with s-mobile ). Alternatively, an Indo-European etymology as a "hairless, naked animal" - cognate to English "naked" - would explain that

2919-520: Is a common feature in Ganesha iconography, and appears in many forms: around the neck, use as a sacred thread (Sanskrit: yajñyopavīta ) wrapped around the stomach as a belt, held in a hand, coiled at the ankles, or as a throne. Shiva is often shown garlanded with a snake. Maehle (2006: p. 297) states that "Patanjali is thought to be a manifestation of the serpent of eternity". Traditional In South India, termite hills are believed to be

SECTION 20

#1732765253510

3058-516: 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

3197-546: Is beneath the lower regions. Daityas and Dānavas are not capable of recounting his good qualities. He is honoured by Devas and celestial sages. He is spoken of as Ananta. He has a thousand hoods and he is clearly bedecked in Svastika ornaments devoid of impurities. He illuminates all quarters by thousand jewels on his hoods. The Kamba Ramayana describes the role of Vasuki in the Samudra Manthana : The devas and

3336-452: 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

3475-493: Is held in high reverence and fear across Thailand, is believed to be the border between the human world and the netherworld, and is frequently depicted in Thai folklore as the site of many hauntings, but more frequently is considered to be the home of the Nāga. According to Shan folklore of Nánzhào Kingdom (now southern China and Southeast Asia during the 8th and 9th centuries, which was centered on present-day Yúnnán in China),

3614-630: Is known in the Heavens, in the abode of the Nāgas (serpents), in earth, in Brahmāloka, in all the worlds as of very fair colour, beautiful and charming. She is named Jagad Gaurī as she is of a very fair colour in the world. Her other name is Śaivī and she is the disciple of Śiva. She is named Vaiṣṇavī as she is greatly devoted to Viṣṇu. She saved the Nāgas in the Snake Sacrifice performed by Pariksit, she

3753-582: Is named Nageśvarī and Nāga Bhaginī and She is capable to destroy the effects of poison. She is called Viṣahari. She got the Siddha yoga from Mahādeva; hence She is named Siddha Yoginī As in Hinduism, the Buddhist nāga generally has sometimes been portrayed as a human being with a snake or dragon extending over his head. One nāga, in human form, attempted to become a monk, and when telling it that such ordination

3892-532: 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

4031-479: 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,

4170-589: 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

4309-413: Is the site of the legend of the Samudra Manthana , the churning of the cosmic ocean. At the suggestion of Vishnu , the devas and asuras churned the primeval ocean in order to obtain amrita , the elixir of immortality. To churn the ocean, they used the serpent-king , Vasuki as the churning rope. They used Mount Mandara as a churning pole and placed it on the back of Kurma , an avatar of Vishnu. As

Nāga - Misplaced Pages Continue

4448-496: Is the title given to the king of the nagas. Narratives of these beings hold cultural significance in the mythological traditions of many South Asian and Southeast Asian cultures, and within Hinduism and Buddhism. Communities such as the Nagavanshi , Khmer and Eelamese claim descent from this race. In Sanskrit, a nāgá ( नाग ) is a snake, most often depicted by the Indian cobra ( Naja naja ). A synonym for nāgá

4587-557: Is used for annual rainfall prediction. It is still practiced nowadays, most notably during the Royal Ploughing Ceremony . The oracle ranges from 1 nak hai nam (1 Nāga granted water); meaning that abundant rainfall should be observed that year, to maximum 7 nak hai nam (7 nagas granted water); meaning there might not be adequate rainfall that year. In northern Thailand, the Singhanavati Kingdom had

4726-540: 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

4865-580: 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

5004-629: The Four Heavenly Kings who guards the western direction. They act as guards upon Mount Sumeru, protecting the dēvas of Trāyastriṃśa from attacks by the asuras . Among the notable nagas of Buddhist tradition is Mucalinda , nagaraja and protector of the Buddha. In the Vinaya Sutra (I, 3), shortly after his enlightenment, the Buddha is meditating in a forest when a great storm arises, but graciously, King Mucalinda gives shelter to

5143-672: 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

5282-613: 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

5421-493: The Penataran temple complex contain a Candi Nāga , an unusual nāga-temple with its Hindu-Javanese caryatids holding corpulent nagas aloft. The later depiction since the 15th century, however, was slightly influenced by Chinese dragon imagery—although unlike its Chinese counterparts, Javanese and Balinese nagas do not have legs. Nāga as the lesser deity of earth and water is prevalent in the Hindu period of Indonesia, before

5560-753: 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

5699-532: 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 ,

Nāga - Misplaced Pages Continue

5838-531: 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

5977-640: The dvipas (islands) and sagaras (seas) depict the entire cosmos, though in cosmography, all the dvipas and sagaras are shown to lie in the Southern Hemisphere. In some of the satvata-tantras there is a description of the nine varshas and the predominating deity worshipped in each: Paramatma , the Supersoul, in the heart of all avatars that exist in the material universe live in the Kshira Sagara. According to some Vaishnava traditions,

6116-491: The nak sadung (นาคสะดุ้ง, the outer roof finial component featuring Nāga-like structure), and the nak than (นาคทันต์, the corbel with Nāga-shape). Moreover, nagas are sometimes linked to medicine. The naga Vasuki is present in the legend of the Samudra Manthana , in which Dhanvantari (god of Ayurveda ) and amrita (the elixir of eternal life) were churned from the Ocean of Milk . The nagas can also be founded substituting

6255-406: 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

6394-774: The snakes in either Rod of Asclepius or mistakenly Caduceus of several medical institutions' symbols. The former seal of Faculty of Medicine, Srinakharinwirot University , and the seal of Society of Medical Student Thailand are some notable examples using the Caduceus with nagas' presence instead of snakes. Thai folklore holds the Phaya nagas to be semi-divine, demi-creatures, which possess supernatural powers as has been described in Buddhist and Hindu cosmology . The " Kamchanod Forest " (ป่าคำชะโนด; RTGS :  Pa Khamchanot ) Ban Dung district , Udon Thani province , which

6533-500: 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

6672-576: The "Devadatta" chapter of the Lotus Sutra , the daughter of the dragon king, an eight year old longnü (龍女, nāgakanyā ), after listening to Mañjuśrī preach the Lotus Sutra, transforms into a male Bodhisattva and immediately reaches full enlightenment. Some say this tale appears to reinforce the viewpoint prevalent in Mahayana scriptures that a male body is required for Buddhahood, even if

6811-414: 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

6950-414: The 1st century CE when an Indian prince named Kaundinya I ( កៅណ្ឌិន្យទី១ ) married a nāga princess named Soma ( សោមា កូនព្រះចន្ទ saôma kon preah chan; "Soma, daughter of the moon god"; Chinese: Liuye ; "Willow Leaf"). The couple is symbolized in the story of Preah Thong and Neang Neak . As the legend goes, Kaundinya received instruction in a dream to take a magic bow from a temple and defeat Soma,

7089-532: 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

SECTION 50

#1732765253510

7228-670: The Buddha from the storm by covering the Buddha's head with his seven snake heads. Then the king takes the form of a young Brahmin and renders the Buddha homage. In the Vajrayāna and Mahāsiddha traditions, nagas in their half-human form are depicted holding a nagas-jewel, kumbhas of amrita , or a terma that had been elementally encoded by adepts. In Tibetan Buddhism , nagas are known as klu or klu-mo and they are associated with water and cleanliness, as they live in oceans, rivers, lakes, and springs, and do not want their environments to be disturbed or polluted. The two chief disciples of

7367-541: The Buddha to a great nāga who guarded them in the sea, and were conferred upon Nāgārjuna later. In Tibetan Buddhist literature, nagas are portrayed as guardians or owners of submerged treasure, which can be mere wealth or supernatural, "spiritual" treasures. In Thailand and Java , the nāga is a wealthy underworld deity. For Malay sailors, nagas are a type of dragon with many heads. In Laos they are beaked water serpents. In Tibet , they are said to be found in waterways and underground locations, and are susceptible to

7506-458: The Buddha, Sariputta and Moggallāna are both referred to as Mahānāga or "Great nāga". Some of the most important figures in Buddhist history symbolize nagas in their names such as Dignāga , Nāgāsēna , and, although other etymons are assigned to his name, Nāgārjuna . The Nāga Saṃyutta of the Pali Canon consists of suttas specifically devoted to explaining nature of the nagas. In

7645-425: 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

7784-532: 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

7923-521: 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

8062-476: 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

8201-519: 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

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

SECTION 60

#1732765253510

8618-472: The Nāga inhabited the Ěrhǎi lake and is the creator of the Mekong . In China , the Nāga ( Chinese : 那伽 ) is generally more considered to be a dragon. 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

8757-459: The Ocean of Milk in its verses: The Bhagavan Hari sometimes resides in Vaikuntha, sometimes resides in the sea of milk and enjoys pleasures, sometimes fights the powerful Danavas, sometimes performs extensive sacrificial ceremonies sometimes performs severe asceticism and sometimes takes to deep sleep under the guidance of Yoga Maya. Thus He never becomes free and independent. Cosmologically,

8896-610: The Sanskrit word nāga can also mean "cloud", "mountain" or "elephant". Nagas, as a serpent-shaped group of deities that often take form as cobras, are prominent in Hindu iconography , throughout the hindu texts (especially in the first book of the Mahābhārata ) and in local folk traditions of worship. In some regions of the Himalaya, nagas are regarded as the divine rulers of the region - as in Kullu Valley , in Berinag and in

9035-499: 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

9174-638: 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

9313-447: 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

9452-451: 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

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

9730-497: The artist of the gods (Visvakarma) decorated her person with heavenly ornaments. Thus bathed, attired, and adorned, the goddess, in the view of the celestials, cast herself upon the breast of Hari; and there reclining, turned her eyes upon the deities, who were inspired with rapture by her gaze. Not so the Daityas, who, with Vipracitti at their head, were filled with indignation, as Visnu turned away from them, and they were abandoned by

9869-478: The asura's consumption of the elixir, leaving his head and decapitated body immortal. Later, his head became known as Rahu and the beheaded part became known as Ketu . The churning of the ocean is told in several ancient texts, notably in the Valmiki's Ramayana Canto 45 and in the Mahabharata . The Vishnu Purana describes the origin of Lakshmi from the Sea of Milk: The sea of milk in person presented her with in wreath of never-fading flowers; and

10008-409: The asuras decided to get Amṛta (Ambrosia—the celestial honey of immortalily) by churning the sea of milk. The Devas went to bring Mandara-mountain, to be used as the churning rod. Their attempt was futile. The asuras made a trial with the same result. The Bhūtagaṇas (Guards) of Śiva also made a vain attempt. On the instruction of Viṣṇu, Garuḍa went and brought the mountain as easily as an eagle takes away

10147-440: 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

10286-527: 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

10425-614: 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

10564-560: The creative economy. The Naga is a mythical creature with long-standing beliefs and connections to the Thai people, and its designation as a national symbol is a significant step towards preserving and promoting Thai culture. The National Culture Commission and the Fine Arts Department developed a prototype image of the Naga that accurately represents Thai beliefs and traditions related to the creature. The prototype image features

10703-653: 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

10842-467: 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

10981-408: The devas and asuras churned the ocean, the poison halahala emerged from its depth and enveloped the universe with its poisonous fumes. The devas and asuras asked Shiva for help and he swallowed the poison into his throat. His consort, the goddess Parvati , tried to prevent the poison from spreading to the rest of his body and the strength of the poison turned Shiva's neck blue, thereby earning him

11120-440: The devas and asuras fought over it. However, Vishnu, in his form of the enchantress Mohini , managed to manipulate the asuras into allowing him to be the one to distribute the elixir, upon which he offered it only to the devas. Svarbhanu , an asura, disguised himself as a deva in order to partake of the amrita. Surya (the sun-god) and Chandra (the moon-god) alerted Vishnu of this deception. Vishnu then decapitated Svarbhanu after

11259-471: 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

11398-460: 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

11537-451: The dwelling place of female Nagammas, whereas Himalayan Nags and Naginis, such as Naiṇī Devī of Pindar Valley , are worshipped as underworld beings protecting water resources and the wellbeing of village and valley. The Mahabharata epic is the first text that introduces nagas; it describes them in detail and narrates their stories. The cosmic snake Shesha , the nagarajas (naga kings) Vasuki , Takshaka , Airavata and Karkotaka , and

11676-490: 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

11815-569: The earth. nagas symbolize the nether realm of earth or underworld. The Nāga ( Lao : ພະຍານາກ ) is believed to live in the Laotian stretch of the Mekong or its estuaries. Lao mythology maintains that the nagas are the protectors of Vientiane , and by extension, the Lao state. The association with nagas was most clearly articulated during and immediately after the reign of Anouvong . An important poem from this period San Leupphasun ( Lao : ສານລຶພສູນ ) discusses relations between Laos and Thailand in

11954-460: The epithet of Nilakantha (the blue-throated one). According to the Mahabharata , a number of ratnas (treasures) emerged during the churning of Kshira Sagara: Kamadhenu , the cow of plenty, Varuni , the goddess of wine, the tree Parijata , the apsaras , the crescent moon, the poison halahala , and Dhanvantari (the physician of the devas), holding a cup of amrita in his hand. He

12093-548: 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

12232-452: The forests, rivers, lakes, and lotus ponds, the cooing of the cuckoo and other sweet birds, the pleasing skies, the unguents and the continuous notes and sounds of musical instruments such as the lute, flute and Mṛdaṅga drums, O brahmins—all these and other beautiful things are enjoyed by virtue of their good luck by Dānavas, Daityas and Nāgas residing in Pātāla. The Tāmasī form of Viṣṇu, named Śeṣa

12371-412: 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

12510-452: The four families of Nagas, each with its unique color, and the largest Naga, Nak Vasuki ( Thai : นาควาสุกรี ), who is related to Buddhism and the Thai monarchy, The Naga is also believed to be a symbol of water and fertility and serves as a guardian of Buddhism. Due to the strong relation with everything water, the Nāga in Thai belief also plays a role in rain control. The concept of Nak hai nam ( Thai : นาคให้น้ำ ; lit. Nāga granting water)

12649-513: The goddess of prosperity (Laksml). The Ocean of Milk (Tiruppāṟkaṭal) is mentioned in Tiruvaymoli , a Vaishnava work of Tamil literature : Praise the lotus-eyed Lord Who is the form of the three gods Who is the first among the first three Who removes curses Who lies on the deep ocean Who is the Lord of the divine beings Whose bow burnt the beautiful Lanka and Who destroys our sins. The Devi Bhagavata Purana also refers to

12788-537: 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

12927-431: 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

13066-401: The horizon. Still the lower half of Vāsuki was lying on the ground. So he took Vāsuki in his beak as folded in two. Still the result was the same. Garuḍa became aware of the impossibility of carrying Vāsuki and returned, ashamed and disappointed. Viṣṇu rebuked him for his arrogance. After this, Śiva stretched his hand to Pātāla. Vāsuki became a small bangle on that hand. Thus Vāsuki was brought to

13205-486: 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

13344-518: The introduction of Islam. In Balinese tradition, nagas are often depicted battling garuḍas . Intricately carved nagas are found as stairs railings in bridges or stairs, such as those found in Balinese temples , Ubud monkey forest, and Taman Sari in Yogyakarta. In a wayang theater story, a snake-like god (nāga) named Sanghyang Anantaboga or Antaboga is a guardian deity in the bowels of

13483-432: 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

13622-412: 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

13761-514: 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 ,

13900-511: 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

14039-429: 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

14178-401: 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

14317-602: 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

14456-510: The nagas and many still believe the nāga exist today, destined to one day return and restore prosperity to their people. Although wars, nature, and the passage of time destroyed many temples from the Funan era, nāgas can still be seen in ancient temples dating to the Chenla and Angkor eras. For instance, the temple now called "The Coiled Nāgas Temple" ( ប្រាសាទនាគព័ន្ធ , Prasat Neak Poan )

14595-467: The nagas are depicted in their human form, but elsewhere they are depicted in animal shape. Early depictions of circa-9th-century Central Java closely resembled Indic nāga which was based on imagery of cobras . During this period, nāga-serpents were depicted as giant cobras supporting the waterspout of yoni - lingam . The examples of nāga-sculpture can be found in several Javanese candis , including Prambanan , Sambisari , Ijo , and Jawi . In East Java,

14734-417: The nagas that dwell in the river. Common explanations of their sightings have been attributed to oarfish , elongated fish with red crests; however, these are exclusively marine and usually live at great depths. In November 2022, the Thai government declared the Naga as the national symbol of Thailand , with the aim of promoting Thai culture and traditions and increasing the country's cultural capital to drive

14873-560: The number of their heads. Odd-headed nāgas embody masculinity, infinity, timelessness, and immortality, since all odd numbers derives from the number one (១). Even-headed nāgas denote femininity, physicality, mortality, temporality, and the Earth . Odd headed nāgas are believed to represent immortality and are carved and used throughout Cambodia. In Indian origin religions, there are four different Nāga races: All of them have great powers and can set off storms, rain, tempest and create lands from

15012-597: The numbers are thought to signify a wish to be aligned with the prestige of the language. Sanskrit has been taught in traditional gurukulas since ancient times; it is widely taught today at the secondary school level. The oldest Sanskrit college is the Benares Sanskrit College founded in 1791 during East India Company rule . Sanskrit continues to be widely used as a ceremonial and ritual language in Hindu and Buddhist hymns and chants . In Sanskrit,

15151-542: The nāga princess and daughter of the nāga king. During the ensuing battle, they fell in love and later married, establishing the royal lineage of the Funan dynasty. Kaundinya subsequently constructed the capital city of Vyadhapura , and the kingdom became known as Kambujadeśa or Cambodia ( កម្ពុជា , Kampuchea ). The love story between Kaundinya and Soma is the foundation for many standard practices in modern-day Khmer culture, including wedding ceremonies and other rituals. The Khmer people regard themselves as descendants of

15290-403: 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

15429-431: 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

15568-527: The patrons of water. Nagas are believed to live in either water bodies or in caves. According to a popular legend, the Mekong River in north-eastern Thailand and Laos was said to be created by two Nāga kings slithering through the area, thus creating the Mekong and the nearby Nan River . The Mekong is synonymous with the unexplained fireballs phenomenon which has long been believed to be created by

15707-414: 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

15846-439: 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

15985-594: The princess Ulupi , are all depicted in the Mahabharata. The Brahma Purana describes the reign of Adishesha as the king of the serpents in Patala: During the night the light of the moon is not utilised for its coolness but only for illumination. Since that passes away is not taken notice of by the Nāgas who enjoy with gaiety the foodstuffs and the edibles they consume and the great beverages they drink. Nor are Danujas and others aware of it. O brahmins,

16124-480: 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

16263-609: 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

16402-497: 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,

16541-435: The role of benevolent protagonists; in the Samudra Manthana , Vasuki , a nagaraja who abides on Shiva 's neck, became the churning rope for churning of the Ocean of Milk . Their eternal archrival is the Garuḍa , the legendary semi-divine bird-like deity. Vishnu is originally portrayed in the form sheltered by Sheshanāga or reclining on Shesha, but the iconography has been extended to other deities as well. The serpent

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

16819-496: 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

16958-690: The sea. In Javanese , Sundanese , and Balinese culture , Indonesia , a nāga is depicted as a crowned, giant, magical serpent, sometimes winged. It is similarly derived from the Shiva -Hinduism tradition, merged with Javanese animism . The nāga in Indonesia mainly derived and influenced by Indic tradition, combined with the native animism tradition of sacred serpents. In Sanskrit, the term nāga literally means snake, but in Java it normally refer to serpent deity, associated with water and fertility. In Borobudur ,

17097-556: 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

17236-509: The shore of the sea of Milk. The Devi Bhagavata Purana describes the legend of Manasa: Manasā is the mind-born daughter of Maharṣi Kaśyapa; hence she is named Manasā; or it may be She who plays with the mind is Manasā. Or it may be She who meditates on God with her mind and gets rapture in Her meditation of God is named Manasā. She finds pleasure in Her Own Self, the great devotee of Viṣṇu,

17375-615: 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

17514-564: The suffering caused by human carelessness towards the natural environment. The Naga people were believed to be an ancient tribe and origins of Sri Lanka . According to V. Kanakasabhai , the Oliyar, Parathavar , Maravar , and Eyinar, who were widespread across South India and North-East Sri Lanka , are all Naga tribes. There are references to them in several ancient texts such as Mahavamsa , Manimekalai , and also in other Sanskrit and Pali literature . They are generally represented as

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

17792-744: The valley of the Pindar River , which is believed to be ruled by the ninefold Naiṇī Devī . Both in the Nilamata Purana of Kashmir and in the Swayambhu Purana of Kathmandu , the respective region begins its history as a lake, populated by nagas, which is later drained. Ancient Sanskrit texts such as the Mahabharata, the Ramayana , and the Puranas describe the nagas as a powerful, splendid and proud semi-divine species that can assume their physical form either as human (often with

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

18209-502: 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

18348-408: 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

18487-427: 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

18626-472: 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

18765-738: 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

18904-418: Was followed by Lakshmi , the goddess of prosperity, the horse Uchchaishravas , the gemstone Kaustubha , the elephant Airavata , the wish-granting tree Kalpavriksha , and the conch Panchajanya . The Puranas include the emergence of Alakshmi , the goddess of misfortune, Riddhi and Siddhi , Pushkara, and a number of botanical substances. When the amrita finally emerged along with several other treasures,

19043-433: Was impossible, the Buddha told it how to ensure that it would be reborn a human, and so able to become a monk. The nagas are believed to both live on Nagaloka , among the other minor deities and in various parts of the human-inhabited earth. Some of them are water-dwellers, living in streams or the ocean; others are earth-dwellers, living in caverns. The nagas are the followers of Virūpākṣa (Pāli: Virūpakkha), one of

19182-472: Was previously named, "Emperor's Wealth Temple" ( ប្រាសាទរាជ្យស្រី Prasat Reach Srey ). In Khmer culture, nāgas symbolize rain, and represent a bridge between the mortal realm ( ឋានមនុស្ស ) and the realm of devas (Heaven; ឋានទេវតា / ឋានសួគ៌ ). They have the ability to transform into half or fully human and act as protectors against invisible forces, deities, or malicious intentions. Furthermore, Cambodian nāgas possess numerological symbolism based on

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

#509490