Listened to a talk by Balram Shukla where he defends Sanskritization of Indian languages in a novel way
"तत्समीकरण भारतीय भाषाओं की प्रवृत्ति है"
तत्समीकरण is not a brahminical vanity project
Rather it is the natural tendency of Indian languages as it aids wider comprehension!
"तत्समीकरण भारतीय भाषाओं की प्रवृत्ति है"
तत्समीकरण is not a brahminical vanity project
Rather it is the natural tendency of Indian languages as it aids wider comprehension!
This is a tendency one sees throughout Indian history
As Indo-Aryan culture colonized all parts of India moving out of its original ब्रह्मवर्त zone, the spoken languages did diverge, resulting in many Prakrit registers
But there was a countervailing tendency of Sanskritization
As Indo-Aryan culture colonized all parts of India moving out of its original ब्रह्मवर्त zone, the spoken languages did diverge, resulting in many Prakrit registers
But there was a countervailing tendency of Sanskritization
And this countervailing tendency prevented the Prakrits from diverging too much
It kept them tethered to Sanskrit through the process of तत्समीकरण
Not because this was mandated by elites. But because the Sanskritization facilitated discourse across regions
It kept them tethered to Sanskrit through the process of तत्समीकरण
Not because this was mandated by elites. But because the Sanskritization facilitated discourse across regions
Balram Shukla's defence of Sanskrit is also linked to this. But it is a "weak form" argument
He doesn't quite stress learning Sanskrit per se
But the process of Sanskritization. For e.g. संस्कृत निष्ठ Hindi can serve as an Indo-Aryan lingua franca
He doesn't quite stress learning Sanskrit per se
But the process of Sanskritization. For e.g. संस्कृत निष्ठ Hindi can serve as an Indo-Aryan lingua franca
I liked his train of thought, but felt this "weak-form" argument for Sanskritization without emphasizing Sanskrit per se can lead people to think that learning Sanskrit is about having a wide तत्सम vocabulary
That's too low a bar I feel
That's too low a bar I feel
But the point he makes about तत्समीकरण being a constant facet in India is valid
We see it in our own names, w.r.t. how they've have gotten extremely Sanskritized in last 100 years
Gone are the Prakrit names like Bansilal / Jawaharlal
Modernity has accelerated tatsamification
We see it in our own names, w.r.t. how they've have gotten extremely Sanskritized in last 100 years
Gone are the Prakrit names like Bansilal / Jawaharlal
Modernity has accelerated tatsamification
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