Bridging the gap between
Saraswati, sanskriti & Sanskrit

By A.P.N. Pankaj

HERITAGE of a people can be a burden. It can also be a treasure. From the tradition we can pick up the best that may sustain us through the millenia. The great Indian poet Kalidasa had, therefore, said, "All that is old is not necessarily good nor is everything new despicable. The wise critically examine the issues and decide while fools are easily led by the others."

Saraswati and Sanskrit, as part of our sanskriti have come to us as our legacy. Tracing the evolution of the concept of Saraswati and value of Sanskrit language helps in understanding our culture.

Ancient Indians lived close to nature. Water, which was available in abundance in Brahmavarta, where they lived, had a very special place in their hearts. A basic resource (land and cattle being others), of an agricultural society, water provided them not. Only physical sustenance, but also emotional strength. It also whipped up their creative talents. As meandering rivers descended from the Himalayas and, through the valleys, entered the plains the music, and resonance created by them; the sunlines shimmering through the waterfalls as they merged with the rivulets: all were a source of divine joy. Inspiration came, poetry and reverence followed.

Saraswati is the name given to a region abounding in lakes and pools. In the Rig Veda, it has been celebrated as a river and held as a goddess. Several hymns and scattered verses have been dedicated to it. Such was the fascination of the Indian mind with the rivers, that even other rivers were similarly personified. The personification of Saraswati goes further. She is the best of mothers of rivers and goddesses. "Her unfailing breast", summarises A.A. Macdonell, "yields riches of every kind and she bestows wealth, nourishment and offspring".

In post vedic literature, the river Saraswati recedes. She becomes unmanifest and joins Ganga and Yamuna in Prayag. She is increasingly identified with the goddess of speech. As if symbolising the pristine quality of water, she wears white and holds a rosary of crystal beads in her hand. She represents eloquence, learning, power of speech and wisdom.

The vedic seer was perhaps enchanted and awestruck by the sheer expanse of one of nature’s symbols of life. The sight and the sound of its waters filled him with celestial sentiments. These found an eloquent expression in vedic verses. It did not remain water in the mundane sense. It became speech. In due course of time, speech became identical with thoughts and ideas. Saraswati became a divine manifestation of these thoughts. This is the context, that, perhaps, conditioned the Indian psyche.

Our invocation to Saraswati, as the goddess of learning, needs to be seen in this context. Our prayer is for internalising, and expanding wisdom in all directions like the flow of a river.

Sanskriti, or culture, on the other hand, represents those value of a society that it cherishes and nurtures. Bharatiya Sanskriti or Indian culture is, in fact, the identity of a whole people living "to the north of the ocean and the south of Himalaya". From the pre-vedic times, there has been a continuity without a break. We have changed but have retained our moorings. A.L. Basham, in his book Wonder That Was India notes, "The ancient civilisation of India differs from those of Egypt, Mesopotamia and Greece, in that its traditions have been preserved without a break down to the present day ... Our impression is that in no other part of the ancient world, were the relations of man and man, and of man and the state, so fair and humane. In no other civilisation were slaves so few in number, and in no other ancient lawbook are the rights so well protected as in the Arthashastra. No other ancient law-giver proclaimed the noble ideals of fairplay in the battle as did Manu. In all her history of warfare, Hindu India has few tales to tell of cities put to the sword or of the massacre of non incombatants ... To us, the most striking feature of ancient Indian civilisation is its humanity".

There is, much in our tradition that needs to be preserved, nurtured and strengthened. Equally, there is a need for our children to know this and, as its inheritors, identify with it. To seek to ban all that is enshrined in our culture is to demonstrate monumental ignorance of some of the most sublime universal values.

"Humanity" as Basham says, "is the most striking feature" of our culture. It is necessary to appreciate that we are the descendants of the people who, as Swami Vivekananda said, spoke "every word .... with a blessing behind it and peace before it". This they did, not for a particular group or a society, but for entire humanity.

Sanskrit is the language in which our culture has found articulation and Saraswati has been celebrated. It is not the language of the Hindu religion alone. It is through the knowledge of this language that we penetrate the Indian mind. According to Macdonell, the European ‘impulse of the study of Sanskrit was given by the practical administrative needs ... Warren Hastings, at that time Governor General, clearly saw the advantage of this ...’ Sanskrit is the language in which this country gave expression to her genius in spheres other than religions.

Sanskrit was the medium of expression of this world-view of a common Indian. It was the language of India’s history and political life and thought. It was, for most part, in Sanskrit, that our ancients described life as it was in the cities, towns and villages. Sanskrit was the language of love, romance and erotica. Amorous couples, affectionate parents, garrulous partners, rival siblings, loving brothers used Sanskrit to express their feelings.

Works on cosmology and geography, astronomy and mathematics, aviation and navigation, physics, chemistry, physiology, medicine, logic and linguistics were written in Sanskrit. Modern research even shows that it is the most appropriate language for computers. It is indeed impossible to understand, appreciate, empathise or even criticise and denounce our heritage without the knowledge of Sanskrit. Sir William Jones, who pioneered Sanskrit studies in the West, said, "Sanskrit is more perfect than Greek and more copious than Latin and more exquisitely refined than both. It was with the spread of the knowledge of Sanskrit that the Science of Philology was developed.

As in our beliefs and rituals, degenerating processes also crept into the studies of Sanskrit language. A particular class and a set of people claimed proprietary rights over it. It became highly regimented and a completely grammar-driven language. It lost touch with the people. The spirit of the language was held prisoner to the physical embellishments. There were compelling reasons for it into which we need not go here.

There is so much of perennial beauty and value in it that compels attention and transports its student beyond scholastic pedantry. Lovers of Sanskrit must address themselves to revitalising Sanskrit so that it can breathe in freedom. Our children should learn it, because without its knowledge, it is not possible to understand the soul of India.