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The Śiva-Śakti of Language
“I speak Hindī” – millions from north India would say this. But how true is that? Can they really speak Hindī? Do they speak Hindī? If we observe what we speak and how we speak then we will find that we are practically speaking English or some other language by using the grammar of Hindī. All our nouns, adjectives and adverbs have become either English or Farsi, Arabic, Turkish or Urdu. The same is true about any other Indian language including Gujarati, Telugu, Kannada, Bangla etc.
It is as if the very seed of our languages was changed and replaced with an alien seed. It seems as if words from alien languages, like colonists, have invaded our language, taking control of our words and imposing over our grammar. As if the Puruṣa principle, the Śiva tattva of our language is changed.
Our languages are colonised by alien words and ideas, just as our land was occupied by foreign invaders.
This was not always so of course. Before the advent of Christian and Islamic colonialism in India, it was Sanskṛta which provided the seed words to Indian languages. The universal element that Bhāratīya languages across India shared was their Sanskṛta Niṣṭha vocabulary, capable of taking Hindū darśana and Sanātana civilization to each and every corner of Bhāratavarṣa.
When did this change and how; and what impact did it have on Bhāratīya civilization, Sanātana culture and Hindū psyche; and what should we do about it – the answer to all these questions is hidden in our offering – Svarṇānjali. But before we talk about that, we need to discuss a few ideas.
The good thing is that our grammar is still our own. The Śakti element of our languages is still intact. Svarṇānjali is an effort to recombine the Śiva and Śakti elements of our languages. To understand that more deeply, we need to take a look at some historical aspects of the problem.
A Beautiful Continuum
Language is not just a means of communication; it is the carrier of culture and civilization. It contains the seeds of our history; the seeds of our philosophy; and the identity of our civilization. Language is most central to our cultural consciousness. In Bhāratavarṣa, the land of Sanātana dharma, the status of language has been even higher. Out of the six vedāṅga, four are related directly to language. In our culture, nāma is primary, not rūpa. Language is not just a carrier of knowledge. We have the concept of śabdabrahma, where language itself is knowledge. The chanting of mantras can reveal the knowledge which is hidden inside words. The entire Indian Knowledge System is based on this concept.
In Bhāratavarṣa, a unique experiment was done with language. Although this country is the birthplace of many great and classical languages, they all carry the soul of Sanātana dharma within them, even though they are very different from each other in many aspects.
The languages which evolved naturally in various regions of this land were completely capable of representing the desīya culture of the region, full of the peculiarities which give them their peculiar flavor. On the other hand, the constant input and guidance of Sanskṛta made sure that they would always carry the soul of Sanātana dharma within them. Thus despite being different, these languages never lost sight of the sacred center of our civilization – Sanātana dharma.
While Sanskṛta inputs made sure the philosophy that these languages conveyed would always be Sanātana, the manifestation of these languages always remained completely vernacular, regional and local, full of the desīya culture. No other culture or civilization can boast of such beautiful harmony between principle and manifestation; classical and vernacular culture; and classical language and regional languages. The classical and the vernacular have always been in conflict in Europe and in most other civilizations of the world. But in India, they were in a continuum.
In the middle ages however, after the arrival of the Islamic imperialism in India, this tradition broke down. Many regions of India came under the Islamic rule. A huge part of this area comprises the regions which are now Hindī speaking. Persian, Arabic and Turkic became the languages of the State. Administration, law and other important branches of the State and society completely banished Sanskṛta. As a result of this brutal linguistic colonialism even in spoken language the FAT (Farsi, Arabic, Turkish) words started creeping in. After that, the advent of British-Christian colonialism in India resulted in the invasion of English words in the regional languages of India.
This process became faster rather than slower after the independence of India, and by the end of the 20th century it was as if the entire seed of Indian languages was changed. We imported entire words, phrases, terms from FATE (Farsi, Arabic, Turkish and English) languages. Our words and seeds were no longer either Sanskṛta or Prākṛta. While the principle of the language became colonized, the manifestation still remained Indic, having the imprint of dharma. It was as if the Śiva tattva, the principle of the language was lost.
The continuum between the principle and the manifestation in Indian languages broke down.
Language and Dharmic Consciousness
There is a deep connection between a language and the culture in which it evolved. And it is not only the language which owes to culture; culture owes to the language too. Some thoughts, some metaphors and core ideas of a civilization and culture are only possible to be conveyed in the words of a language which co-evolved with the native culture. Once that language disappears it is not just the loss of a medium, but also the loss of an entire thought system –linguicide is akin to ethnocide.
For example, ‘philosophy’ can scarcely convey the meaning that the word ‘darśana’ in Sanskṛta cultures and languages can convey. Darśana means ‘to see the truth’. A Dārśanika in Hindū culture is someone who has the experience of the ultimate truth through sādhana and meditation. Darśana in Hindū culture is not confined to the imagination of a philosopher. It is the ‘seeing’ of a ṛṣi.
One can attempt to call ‘ṛta’ as ‘cosmic rhythm’, but can any phrase in English express the truth about a ‘structure which keeps the entire universe and everything in it in dhārmika balance’ sufficiently?
‘Triguṇātīta’ in our culture is impossible to be conveyed in English. Neither is there an exposition of ‘three guṇas’ in the West, nor can they imagine a situation in which divinity or any other entity can transcend the limitations that any being with these three guṇas exhibit.
‘Sankoca’ is a process in Kashmir Śaivism which explains how the indivisible Śiva ‘contracts its supreme consciousness’ and becomes everything and everyone in the universe. The process of individuation here is seen as a process of contraction. In the West something similar would be called evolution. But one thing is clear that this entire idea, explaining perhaps the most central of Hindū concepts is impossible to be conveyed in English properly.
‘Nāgarika’ means someone who has interests in all the arts, like a rasikā, and who remains in the city, and while enjoying all these arts also takes care that they are nourished and protected. Can the word ‘citizen’ and its dry notification of the place of dwelling of a person convey what the word ‘nāgarika’ is capable of conveying?
Language and Creativity
Language is deeply connected to the process of creativity. Man became man, when he discovered language and started cogitating on deeper and more abstract problems related to life, existence and culture. A regional language is deeply intimate with the culture, society, politics, food and all other aspects of human culture of the people inhabiting that linguistic and cultural space and the metaphors and idioms that come out in a regional language are capable of expressing the peculiarities and uniqueness of those people and culture. Such a language is capable of conveying deep messages in short metaphors, as the connection with that audio-visual and mental image is instant in the users of that language.
Take an example of the saying in Hindī ‘na sāvan harae, na bhādon sūkhae…’
For an Indian, monsoon is a lived reality. He knows that once a year there are torrential rains and when even deserts turn green. An Englishman who is privy to occasional storms and low drizzles twice a year, would not be able to even understand that sāvana greens and bhādon dries.
When a colonial language like English is forced upon a people then their creativity is withered, stunted and finally killed.
The English language for example has many positive notes connected to summers which are seen wistfully as the best time of the year. This geographical reference would be culturally lost on anyone using English in India.
All these examples show that by replacing Indian languages or Sanskṛta words in Indian languages would kill the very soul of Bhāratīya culture and civilization. If we want to preserve our identity then we need to nourish regional and local languages. Our creativity depends upon the vitality of our regional languages and their Sanskṛta Niṣṭha vocabulary. Replacing them with English or FAT words will only result in the death of our creativity.
How Sanskṛta helps Dialects evolve into Languages
A dialect becomes a language when words and phrases for conveying the greatest of philosophical principles are created or imported and when great literature is written in that language. In India this process of vernacular languages becoming classical languages was overseen by Devabhāṣā Sanskṛta which provided the ready-made vocabulary for conveying some of the most fundamental ideas universal to all over Bhāratīya cultural regions, whether the language in question was Gujarati, Bangla, Telugu or Hindī.
Sanskṛta was the language in which all the scriptures of this country were written. It was the language of philosophy, of gods. The ṛṣis had meditated deeply on various aspects of life and created words and systems able to convey the deepest of thoughts that our species can have. That is why it informed the vernaculars in some of the most fundamental and crucial aspects of our culture and made them richer. It was through the input of Sanskṛta vocabulary which elevated these languages to classical level. This process happened all over India in various parts.
The input of Sanskṛta terminology and the creation of great literature is the process which elevates a language to classical level.
This should be enough to tell us how **Sanskṛta is vital for the survival of Sanātana dharma, for the continued linguistic diversity of India and for the creative genius of this great land.
The battle between Sanskṛta and FATE languages for the domination of the Śiva tattva of our languages is the battle which will decide the cultural fate of Bhāratavarśa. The victory of Sanskṛta in this battle will mean the preservation of the Sanātana soul of India; the unification of its diverse peoples, regions and languages by providing the philosophical seed, the Śiva tattva of language; and the continued preservation and propagation of the kṣetrīya languages boosting originality, creativity and vitality of our tradition. The victory of Sanskṛta will be a linguistic equivalent of decolonization of India.
The victory of English or any other colonial language like Farsi, Arabic, Turkish or Urdu would signal, on the other hand, a bleak future where our souls, through the changing character of our languages will be available to conversion to alien ideas and religions; where the Śiva tattva of our languages will be lost; where all our languages and regions will fight with each other in a mutually destructive cultural war; and where the creative genius of this great land will die as its kṣetrīya languages die a slow death under the onslaught of English and FATE languages.
The Need for Svarṇānjali
But things are not so bad. The grammar of our languages is still alive. The structure that we use is still Indic, it is still Sanātana. From the Hindū point of view, the Śakti tattva of our languages, the manifestation is still our own, and from here we can make a start and bring back the Indic seed/ principle back to our languages.
Śrī Aurobindo said that the rise of Sanātana dharma is the rise of Bhāratavarṣa. When Sanātana dharma rises, India will rise, if Sanātana dharma shall fall then India will also fall. But he had no doubt that Sanātana dharma will rise. Another great philosopher of India, Śrī Ram Swarup too said that the soul of Sanātana dharma lies in the roots of our languages, in the names of our gods. The consciousness of our civilization lies in the names of our gods, which are directly connected to Indian languages. The rise of Sanātana dharma will also mean the rise of Indian languages.
And this is the opportunity for a new beginning. Time has come to rediscover the roots of our culture through our languages. Time has come for – Svarṇānjali .
The Hindū consciousness is no longer underground. It has started surfacing. The spark of Hindū renaissance is now turning into a huge flame. We are putting the Hindū eye to philosophy, society and politics. Time has come now for this Hindū consciousness to break into the level of arts and literature. Time has now come for us to discuss what does Hindū darśana say about arts and literature. Time has come to do this in regional Indian languages with all the regional richness and beauty that usually accompanies them. Time has come for the Hindū consciousness to take the next leap and reach each nook and corner of Hindū society, through our great tradition of story-telling, in regional languages.
Svarṇānjali is such a beginning. It is a weekly series from Bṛhat Culture Creatives, in which we will discuss literature, arts, drama, architecture, sculpture, cinema and other fine arts from the point of view of rasikā, in Sanskṛta Niṣṭha but very simple Hindī. The goal is to create rasa, to provide ānanda to the audience. Svarṇānjali will venture into feelings, experiences and problems which we all have, and will look at them from a dhārmika point of view, through the lens of art, language, literature and aesthetics.
Svarṇānjali aims to achieve:
- Creation of Beauty – This is the primary goal of the series. It wants its audience to experience rasa like a rasikā and a nāgarika.
- Reestablishment of Sanskṛta Niṣṭha Hindī – Its second goal is to re-infuse the spirit of Sanskṛta into Hindī language and to free it from FAT words, in order to bring dhārmika awareness.
- To look at Hindī literature and Indian arts from a Hindū perspective – The third goal of Svarṇānjali is to revisit literature, arts, drama, architecture, sculpture and cinema from a deep Hindū perspective.
- To aestheticize life – The last goal is to discuss individual problems and perspectives from the eye of Hindū aesthetics and in the process give them an elevating and uplifting experience which will also be cathartic.
The Tattva of Svarṇānjali
Hindī literature will be the main focus on Svarṇānjali in its inaugural season. We will discuss particular works, authors, eras of Hindī literature from the point of view of Hindū aesthetics.
Although Hindī literature has its roots in the Middle Ages, but what we now call as standard Hindī came into its literary form in 18th and 19th centuries when ‘Khaḍī Bolī’ was refined with Sanskṛta terminology and elevated to a higher level of discourse through literature. Before this literature abounded in Avadhī, Bṛja etc. but Khaḍī Bolī exploded into a literary consciousness upon the arrival of the 19th century.
Starting from Bhāratendu Harishchandra and continuing till Jaishankar Prasad, Suryakant Tripathi ‘Nirālā’, Maithilisharan Gupt, Vrindavan Lal Verma, Acharya Chatursen, Agyeya, Amritlal Nagar, Mahadevi Verma, and Ramdhari Singh ‘Dinkar’ etc., there was creative explosion in Hindī literature and many great pieces of literature were created on Hindū culture, civilization and the life of common man in India, during a period of 150 years. Many of these works are aligned to the spirit of Sanātana dharma and many show the influence of alien ideologies and modernist influences on Hindū literary consciousness. Svarṇānjali will discuss all these aspects of these literary gems in detail, analyzing them with a Hindū aesthetic point of view.
By keeping the subject matter of Svarṇānjali close to literature and aesthetics in Sanskṛta Niṣṭha Hindī, an attempt will be made to elevate our daily language to a higher level.
Cinema is also a great carrier of public consciousness. Svarṇānjali will discuss some gems from the golden age of Hindī cinema, movies which portray Sanātana dharma and culture positively and analyze human values and principles deeply. Svarṇānjali will also discuss various others arts which display Indic consciousness.
Svarṇānjali will do a pūrva pakṣa of Western art from a Hindū aesthetic perspective. So far only Hindū art has been analyzed from the point of view of Western aesthetics, but Svarṇānjali seeks to reverse this and start a new tradition of looking at Western art from a Hindū point of view.
The Prism of Svarṇānjali
Hindū culture respects the connoisseur as much as the artist. A rasikā is someone who takes rasa, ānanda(high pleasure) in arts and in general in life. Hindū civilization is neither one to reject pleasure seeking completely and turn into a penal code of dos and don’ts, nor is it a civilization which is limited to hedonistic pleasure seeking. Instead it has found a middle path of leading its followers to the highest path of knowledge while enjoying what the world has to offer. Here, a rasikā can also be a mumukṣu, one who wants to proceed on the path of knowledge.
A Hindū can walk on the path of knowledge even while enjoying saṃsāra. The concept of rasa niṣpatti proves this. Reflecting the entirety of human experience, the eight rasas intend to give us the joy of life, and the ninth rasa, the śānta rasa aims to take us to the highest knowledge. It is supposed to contain all other rasas inside it.
Svarṇānjali will look at literature, arts and life from the point of view of a Hindūrasikaā. The goal will be to bring the audience to a level of elevated pleasure and at the same time lead them to the core principles of Hindū darśana, through the age-old Hindū tradition of story-telling.
Svarṇānjali views its audience also as a nāgarika, which translates to citizen in English but is much more in Hindī and Sanskṛta. In Hindū culture, nāgarika is not simply a person who lives in a city. Nāgarika is someone who is deeply interested in arts, architecture, sculpture, dance etc. When a bhakta goes to a temple, his only goal is to have darśana of the deity in front of the garbhā-gṛha. He is unconcerned with the beauty of the sculpture, the philosophy behind the architecture and the paintings on the wall of the temple. His only goal is to have darśana in the garbhā-gṛha and that is the primary goal of going to a Hindū temple.
But like always, Sanātana dharma does not ignore the world even in this aspect. Instead it turned the process of enjoying the world into a means of acquiring knowledge. In Hindū culture, a nāgarika is someone who would go to a temple, and along with having darśana of the deity, he will also admire the beauty of sculpture, architecture, painting and everything else. He will enjoy the world, while at the same time aiming to transcend worldly limitations.
The job of a nāgarika is to respect and promote art, to take pleasure in life and world along with knowledge seeking. Svarṇānjali seeks to turn its audience into nāgarikas given to elevated pursuits in arts and literature.
Edward O. Wilson, the evolutionary biologist, says that man became man when he discovered language and started using language to tell stories to each other at the campfire during evenings. This made individuals rise above their individual consciousness towards the universal consciousness. It was language which made us capable of cogitating on some of the deepest questions like Who are We?, Why life? Why death? What is the reason for our existence and the existence of the universe?
It is story-telling which made us humans. It is story-telling which created culture as we know it, which created the cultural and civilizational consciousness of humankind and of Bhāratavarṣa. It was language which gave us our cultural identities.
So let us gather together around the civilizational campfire called Svarṇānjali and let us discuss the stories of our culture, our history, our civilization, our arts and our life.
Svarṇānjali welcomes you to this cultural flowering.