Ahmedabad: Aristotelian logic has held sway in European and US universities from the very beginning. Sanskrit began to attract western scholars fairly early during the colonial era but it is in the last decade that scholars have decided to go to its roots, study original Sanskrit texts and come to new interpretations.
This reemergence of Sanskrit studies as a discipline prompted the three-day seminar, 'Udaharana, Drashtanta and Nyaya in Sanskrit: Texts and Contexts', organized, from February 25 to 28, at LD Institute of Indology in the city by Veraval-based Somnath Sanskrit University. Scholars and researchers from prominent universities of India and countries such as Japan, Austria, Germany, France and Australia are taking part in the seminar.
Luitgard Soni, an Indologist from University of Marburg, Germany, told TOI that apart from linguistics, other disciplines have also started taking interest in the language. "We have nearly 40 students in Sanskrit Studies at the bachelor level and more than five in post-graduate studies. We consider this a good number. Apart from linguistics and religion-specific studies, there is interest in branches of Indian philosophy such as Nyaya and logic," she said.
Love for Sanskrit
F Grimal, director of French Institute of Indology at Pondicherry, and his colleagues have so far published five volumes of examples and counterexamples given in the commentaries on Panini's classic grammar of Sanskrit, Ashtadhyayi. The team hopes to publish 20 volumes.
"My area of study was Sanskrit grammar. We decided to collect nearly 40,000 examples and counterexamples given in the four primary commentaries on the Ashtadhyayi - Siddhanta Kaumudi, Kasikavrtti, Bhasavrtti and Mahabhashya. It will be difficult to find a parallel to this work anywhere in the world. It [their work] will be useful in understanding the socio-political situation at the time the scriptures were written," he said.
Prof V K Sastry, vice-chancellor of Sanskrit University, said that new scope for research in Sanskrit is opening up in the West but in India new talent is not attracted to the ancient language. "The reason is lack of jobs for linguistics graduates. Few departments in the country can boast of good staff strength or original research. It is our effort to revive Sanskrit studies," he said.
Luitgard Soni, an Indologist from University of Marburg, Germany, told TOI that apart from linguistics, other disciplines have also started taking interest in the language. "We have nearly 40 students in Sanskrit Studies at the bachelor level and more than five in post-graduate studies. We consider this a good number. Apart from linguistics and religion-specific studies, there is interest in branches of Indian philosophy such as Nyaya and logic," she said.
Love for Sanskrit
F Grimal, director of French Institute of Indology at Pondicherry, and his colleagues have so far published five volumes of examples and counterexamples given in the commentaries on Panini's classic grammar of Sanskrit, Ashtadhyayi. The team hopes to publish 20 volumes.
"My area of study was Sanskrit grammar. We decided to collect nearly 40,000 examples and counterexamples given in the four primary commentaries on the Ashtadhyayi - Siddhanta Kaumudi, Kasikavrtti, Bhasavrtti and Mahabhashya. It will be difficult to find a parallel to this work anywhere in the world. It [their work] will be useful in understanding the socio-political situation at the time the scriptures were written," he said.
Prof V K Sastry, vice-chancellor of Sanskrit University, said that new scope for research in Sanskrit is opening up in the West but in India new talent is not attracted to the ancient language. "The reason is lack of jobs for linguistics graduates. Few departments in the country can boast of good staff strength or original research. It is our effort to revive Sanskrit studies," he said.
Link: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ahmedabad/West-has-revived-interest-in-Sanskrit-logic-rhetoric/articleshow/31184749.cms
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