Jalesvava Jayamahe

Jalesvava Jayamahe

This is the motto of the Navy of Indonesia in Sanskrit. It is the language of the Devas!! Well, I think here the connotation is – language of our forefathers – at least 2 millenium ago.

It is common practice, to ascribe divinity to a language that has fallen in disuse, and is no longer the lingua franca, is spoken just by a handful of elite, and is not understood by common man. Once upon a time, such a language has been a language of the common man, and the import of creation or literature of such language were not considered so esoteric to require a scholars interpretation, but with passing eons, as the language falls into disuse, such interpretation becomes critical.

Increasing disuse and eventual dismissal as the language of everyday use, on one hand curbs the enrichment of the language, but at the same time, imparts an element of divinity to the language, a gain that no amount of literary effort and enrichment would have been able to impart.

The resistance that the Christian world faced from its ecclesiastical cadres against the translation of the Bible into English from Greek and later Latin is common knowledge. Similarly, the Koran cannot be in a language other than Arabic.

Such languages also become, what one may say, the exclusive preserve of a handful few, some of who pursue it with a curatorial quest and others who see it a vehicle to become a part of the infrastructure of divinity and godliness. It goes without saying, the latter do not bring any real value to the language but certainly do benefit from the knowledge they have of it.

Today Sanskrit, extolled internationally as one of the most scientific languages, is on the brink of extinction, as it has no students. An art or know-how which has only teachers and few students is bound to fade away.

Interestingly, there are about 2500 scholars of Sanskrit in MIT. Globally, there are some 4 millions speakers of this language, most of them outside the nation of its origin. In India till date, because of the colonial past and, because of the deprivation, the life of a common man is a struggle, the environment has not been conducive to pursue something that brings value other than that which can be monetized immediately or sometime in the future. English is obsessively pursued not because it is so rich, but because it can be a tool for earning wealth, station and or sometimes simply livelihood.

But, just for the simple preservation and advancement of the science behind this language - sanskrit - which the original speakers conceived, the study of this language should be encouraged. Interestingly, this is the only language in the world, which has tools like sandhi and samas.