This is in response to Sadje’s Weekly Photo Prompts on #Whatdoyousee.
Sanskrit is a dead language because it’s no more in use. But it is also said to be the mother of all languages. However, we took up Sanskrit in high school because it fetched marks quite easily with the help of a little bit of rote learning.
But in the past two months as I started reading the holy Shrimad Bhagawat Gita I realised how elementary my knowledge was. Sanskrit grammar is logical like any other grammar but becomes complex in application. The verbs have 3×3 different persons – first person singular, dual and plural – that is, it also has a different application for “we” referring to “two of us”. So, similarly it goes for “you” and “they” as in “two of you” and “two of them”.
Every noun accordingly has three distinct categories and added with prepositions it becomes a long (declension) table which we had to learn by heart. No, the complexities did not end there. Add to it the two genders, male and female, including “it” as a separate one, and the whole table, if I remember correctly, (i.e., with 8×3 cases) , changed !!
This is just to put it very sketchily. I guess, it must be a similar experience with Latin or Persian or Arabic. Though I don’t know any these languages, but just going by their ancientness, I presume learning them must be equally difficult. Do the other languages too have complicated portmanteau words ? And that very interesting colon sign : suffixed to every word not as a punctuation mark but as a phonetic (for breath expulsion) giving the word a “huh” sound in the end !!
***
In school translation was a big exercise in Sanskrit either way – Sanskrit to Bengali/Hindi and/or vice versa. The common thinking was put a colon after a Hindi or Bengali word and it becomes a word of Sanskrit. How wrong we were when the word “rat” had to be translated in Sanskrit. The Bengali girls wrote “indura:“ pronounced as ” indurahuh” and the Hindi speaking students wrote “chuha:” pronounced as “chuhahuh”. The actual word was mushika: pronounced as mushikaha – a word with a closeness to our dear old ‘mouse’.
But nothing to beat the ingenuity of one of our classmates when it came to translating a whole sentence in Hindi/Bengali to Sanskrit. The root sentence, given for translation, was (in English) :
“King Dasharatha had four sons”
In simple Sanskrit ideally it would be :
“Dasharathasya (Dasharatha’s) chatwaraha (four) putraah (sons)”
But our learned friend wrote :
“Dasharathasya choubaccha” and very knowledgeably put a colon after bachha.
Choubaccha in Bengali is not a portmanteau word but if bifurcated in two “Chou” can be a short colloquial form for four and “baccha” means a kid or toddler. But clubbed together the word means something totally different – a cemented trough to store water in the bathroom , or in very simple English, a bath tub.
So our dear friend’s translation actually meant King Dasharatha had a bath tub which the teacher hadn’t asked whether the king had or not.
Now going further back to a generation of our parents. In my father’s school the Sanskrit teacher was respectfully addressed as Pandit Mahashaya (Pandit from which the word Pundit comes) underscoring his expertise in the subject. Pandit Mahashaya was an imposing, austere figure. He not only taught but lived the language. He came to school dressed in an ankle high dhoti and short kurta, sported a long white beard and wore a kharau or kharam , that is, a wooden footwear worn by sages of yore and the (male) elders of that generation.
Notorious kids teasingly called him “beardie” behind his back which he happened to overhear one day. Entering the class he went straight to the blackboard and wrote in his big cursive handwriting:
When the teacher was coming to class in the morning a few notorious students happened to mock him by addressing him as “beardie” behind his back.
Finishing the sentence he turned to the class and commanded in his booming voice:
“Now students translate this sentence into Sanskrit“
Could there be a stricter punishment than that? 😂
PS : This was not an easy write given the difficult subject – memories of learning an ancient language which no longer has practical application or usage. If I have gone wrong somewhere, especially, the grammar part, I may please be corrected by my more knowledgeable readers and friends.
I hope I am able to put across the embedded humour and the difficulty in learning (read deeper understanding) a language which is only restricted to literature, scriptures and religious documents and does not find a place in colloquial conversation. Also comes in the generational and cultural gaps associated with the methods and modes of learning and the then and now student teacher dynamics. I guess, I have responded to both the prompts in the process. 😊
Staying present, for me, does not necessarily mean ‘staying in the present moment’ but also it implies ‘staying relevant’. How relevant is it to learn an ancient language? The answer is, yes, it is very relevant because it takes us back to our roots, culture, conventions, ancient wisdom and above all the very process of evolution. We cannot grasp our present, how progressive or regressive we have become, if we do not have a referral point to compare.
So, yes, learning an or any ancient language like Sanskrit or Latin or Persian, in an indirect way, has its significance in becoming the yardstick to measure our human worth in the present because language, I believe, is the reflection of human civilization in all its varied and disparate aspects.
Geetashree Ji , this is absolutely brilliant! The progression from technical complexity to those hilarious mistranslations is perfect—and the ‘choubaccha’ story will stay with me forever. But what got me most was the Pandit Mahashaya moment. That teacher understood something profound: the best punishment for mockery is making it your curriculum. He didn’t humiliate those kids; he taught them. And now you’re doing the same—honoring both the complexity of the language and the humanity of those who taught it. This essay is a love letter to Sanskrit, to teachers, and to memory itself. 💙
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Khadija,
I am humbled by your appreciation and understanding.
How hardship gets translated into humour because of an intrinsic disinterest or shall I say hatred for a subject.
In earlier times, teaching was as creative as today but the only difference being today the reliance is on external instruments while in those days the personality of the teacher got somewhere intermixed into the process of imparting knowledge.
Thanks for your deep reading and deeper evaluation.
Indebted.
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Not indebted at all, this is mutual. Your writing teaches me something every time. The way you hold both the difficulty and the humor, the way you honor those teachers who knew that their very presence was part of the pedagogy, that’s a kind of literacy we need now more than ever. Thank you for writing with this depth and care. 💙
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What a brilliant piece! The teacher who commanded students to translate a long sentence to Sanskrit wasn’t punishing, but was actually teaching them to translate it. Those ancient languages, indeed, take us to our roots and culture.
Although my mother language was Arabic, it’s a difficult language to learn, you have so many grammatical rules and words, and so on. My school used old Arabic poems to teach the language to us.
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Thank you so much Aptivi for understanding the hardships of learning an ancient language.
It’s difficult because we no longer speak or hear others speak it. So much we learn by hearing and talking.
Same with Arabic and teaching it connecting to poems is a brilliant way of creating interest in the subject. It’s like learning classical music by listening to film songs based on it.
All these languages were tough and no scope for errors which indicates the austerity with which learning was associated.
Thanks a ton once again.
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You’re most welcome. You’re right, it’s really difficult to learn a language where we no longer speak it, especially if they’re tough. Exactly, poems really make learning such language interesting.
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Good luck to you with your Sanskrit studies! I think it’s wonderful that you’re working to learn this. I’ve heard of Sanskrit but I don’t think I’ve ever seen it written or heard it spoken.
Perhaps once you’ve mastered it, you can give us all a lesson! 🙂
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Hee… Hee…. The lesson giving part made me laugh 😂
Sanskrit is difficult to master. When we read our scriptures we couple it with translations either in our mother tongue or Hindi or English.
There are n number of videos on You Tube on Vedic Chants. You can hear them before going to sleep. It’s meditative.
Interestingly, the mantras in Sanskrit are not spoken but sung to a specifically stipulated cadence. This cadence, to say the least, works on body rhythm relaxing a person.
If you wish to have a deeper understanding you can visit the YT links of Swami Sarvapriyanandaji who explains non dualism in a scientific manner.
These are all suggestions if you are really interested.
Otherwise, just wait till I get my Sanskrit right 😂😂
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Oh, thank you for the information. I’ll look for those videos on YouTube. 🙂
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Thank you for not waiting for me 😆
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Your post is a story of language difficult to learn,of students who thought Chaubaccha will somehow be the right word and of great teachers like Pandit Mahashaya who had a unique way of punishing the students without losing temper and being harsh.
I too found Arabic difficult in many ways, particularly the grammar.
Recently my nephew’s son,a 9th class student in a CBSE school in Delhi told me to pray that we should be exempted from Sanskrit in board exams next year.Now I could guess why the boy was so perturbed.
The most important thing you have talked about in this post is how these ancient languages take us back to our roots, culture and ancient wisdom.
Best Post,Di
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Nusrat, I love language and every nuance of it, be any … Sanskrit, Bengali, Hindi, English….
Sanskrit is difficult and if anyone who doesn’t have an inclination towards it should not be forced to learn.
As a teacher you must be fully understanding and appreciative of Pandit Mahashaya’s way of transforming a prank into something learn-able.
Yes, these languages are our benchmarks for today and tomorrow.
Thanks a ton 😊 for reading and commenting and deeply and truly understanding.
Makes it worth to post…
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A wonderful and humorous reflection! 😊 The Sanskrit translation stories made me smile, while your thoughts on ancient languages and staying relevant gave the post a deeper meaning. 🌸
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Thank you so much Maha. I am glad that I am able to get across to you brilliant readers and writers. Stay bright and beautiful as always.
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My dad’s favourite book was the Bhagavad Gita. He also, according to my mum, sang her Urdu love songs when they were courting. (He had been in India with the British Army).
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Whoa! Whoa! Small world..Great to know this personal information of yours. Awesome 👍
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A fun read. You took me back to my school days and instantly i thought of “Nadi Shabd Roop”. I don’t know how many times have we recited this in class.
We see the complexity 😊
नदी शब्द के रूप (Inflection and Number)
इस तालिका में नदी शब्द के विभिन्न कारक (cases) एवं वचन (number) रूप भरे गए हैं।
कारक (Case) एकवचन (Singular) द्विवचन (Dual) बहुवचन (Plural)
प्रथमा (Subject) नदी नद्या/नदीयोः नद्यः
द्वितीया (Object) नदीम् नद्योः नदीन्
तृतीया (Instrumental) नद्याः नदीभ्याम् नदीभिः
चतुर्थी (Dative) नद्यै नदीभ्याम् नदीभ्यः
पंचमी (Ablative) नद्याः नदीभ्याम् नदीभ्यः
षष्ठी (Possessive) नद्याः नद्योः नदीनाम्
सप्तमी (Locative) नद्याम् नद्योः नदीनाम्
सम्बोधन (Vocative) हे नदि। हे नद्यौ! हे नद्यः।
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😊😊😊😊
The street lings were more difficult than the purusha lings.
पुरानी यादें ताजा हो गईं ।
Thanks Rupali. I will learn it by heart again 💞💞
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A fun read. Languages especially the ones where the gender changes the word make it so hard to remember. I have always had a trouble in Hindi even now, Train aa rahi hai, train aa rahan hai!! That way Bengali being Gender neutral is so easy, and so is English. I have learnt, and still learning, and even the grammar concept there, the gender makes it quite tricky.
I remember at school the synonyms and antonyms during Hindi lessons and one day the Teacher decided a surprise test and we had to write the synonym for Kama Deva and what I wrote for which I was given an earful was Pyaar Deva and Prem Deva 😀
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Heee….Heeee……. 😂😂😂 😂
I had a good laugh …the synonyms!!!
Hindi is tricky with its gender differentiations.
Bangla and English are comparatively easy.
But any grammar requires in-depth study.
Gender changing the verb and preposition is just too much !!!
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That was my problem with Latin
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I know all ancient languages are so tough.
Conversation must have been very difficult.
Thanks so much Derrrick 🙏
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Most impressive, Geeta – a great read!
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Thank you very much Chris.
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Geeta, I loved this post. The humor is infectious. We learned Arabic in school but it was modern Arabic not that of Quran, though there is quite an overlap. The grammar in Arabic is quite difficult and we learned it by memorizing it. Thanks for joining in.
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Thank you very much Sadje. Your prompts were brilliant
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And so was your post. It took me back to grade 6-8 where learning Arabic was compulsory and we would memorize ( rata) the grammar. What fun in retrospect.
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Yes, in Sanskrit we too did a lot of ratta. It was fun though
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Yes, it was fun- in retrospect.
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As a person learning sanskrit for the past six years thoroughly enjoyed it! There is an organization in Bangalore called Vyoma amd they are doing immense work to revive the language. I also follow a number of posts on facebook which has jokes and everyday conversations in sanskrit. My niece is studying in French and she said unless you speak at home it is hard to remember the grammar rules 😀 and I think it applies to sanskrit too🙂!
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Yes, as I said in one of the comments it’s difficult to learn a language which is not colloquially used.
It’s good to hear the the language is being revived because it is so rich.
Good that the post made you laugh.
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