Emergence of the Sanskrit Language

Logic (nyaya), social code (smrti), Saḿskrta grammar and the science of spirituality were included in the educational curriculum of the then period.

But that which we call philosophy today had not yet been born.

The oldest philosophy in the world is the Samkhya philosophy of Kapila.

This was written down some time after the Mahábhárata period. But the philosophical trend had already crept into the minds of the people of that period.

The first world philosophy was formulated in India. It was prepared on the battlefield of the Mahábhárata.

The Vaedika era had spiritual teaching but no philosophy nor books.

The Mahábhárata era had spiritual teaching and books, but no philosophy.

After the Mahábhárata, due to Lord Krśńa’s teachings in the Giita, people began to think very seriously about:

• the origin of the world
• the duties of human beings

Due to these questions, people created the first philosophy after getting the answers.

Therefore Maharsi Kapila was after the Mahábhárata, not prior to it.

In the Mahábhárata age, education was given through Saḿskrta.

The Vaedika language was a dead language then.

The people’s language was Prákrta but teaching was not in the Prákrta medium.

Books in Prákrta were also very few. Generally people did not write in Prákrta.

The Prákrta language was reformed into Saḿskrta.

Saḿskrta is not the Vaedika language.

After the death of the Vaedika language, Prákrta was born.

The synthetic language which was made by rectifying the Prákrta language was known as Saḿskrta.

“Saḿskrta” means “reformed” – the reformation of the Prákrta language.

In the Vaedika age the expression of address was “Bho arya” – “arya” means “ respectable.”

In the Mahábhárata age, i.e., in Prákrta, “arya” became “ajja.”

In that age, after the death of the Saḿskrta language (meaning here the Vaedika language), there emerged 7 Prákrta languages.

1. Magadhii Prákrta was towards the east of Allahabad in East India
2. Shaorasenii Prákrta was towards the west of Allahabad and east of Delhi, i.e., in Northern Central India
3. Paeshacii Prákrta was in the Punjab, Kashmir and Himachal, i.e., to the northwest of Delhi
4. Pashcatya Prákrta was towards the west and north of this Paeshachii land (in Afghanistan and South Russia)
5. Pahlavii Prákrta was towards the south of Multan, i.e., in Sindh and South Baluchistan
6. Malavii Prákrta in Central India
7. Maharastrii Prákrta was in Southwest India, i.e., Maharastra and Goa

Educated persons did not use Prákrta. They wrote few Prákrta books.

The leaders of the Mahábhárata, the Pandavas and the Kaoravas, spoke in Shaorasenii Prákrta, but they did not write that language.

When the Pandavas were talking with Kuntii they used a blended language of Paeshacii and Shaorasenii Prákrta, but when they spoke with a gentleman they used reformed Shaorasenii Prákrta, i.e., Saḿskrta.

Saḿskrta was not the natural language (matrbhasa) of anybody nor had it ever been.

The natural language of Krśńa was Shaorasenii Prákrta.

With Vasudeva, Nanda and Yashoda He talked in this very language, but with the Pandavas and the Kaoravas in Saḿskrta.

In the Vaedika era a gentleman was addressed as “arya.”

In the Shaorasenii language, the natural language of Krśńa, the grandmother of Hindi (which is a matter of glory for Hindi) “arya” became “ajja.”

After that, when Shaorasenii died, “ajja” became “ajjii” in Ardha Shaorasenii, the mother of Hindi. “Ajjii” became “jii” in present Hindi.

The education in that period was in Saḿskrta, and people wrote on bhurja leaves, not palm leaves.

The famous book of that age is the Mahábhárata, a part of which is the Giitá.

In the Mahábhárata age, people began to write the Veda. But the writing was completed after a pretty long time.

The book Vaedika Upaniśads influenced the Giitá.

The portion of the Veda dealing with knowledge is the Upaniśads.