Sanskrit is soul of Indian languages: Prof Uma

Tirupati: The entire Indian languages are based on Sanskrit hence, the ancient language is considered as the soul of Indian languages, said Prof Uma Vaidya, former Vice-Chancellor of Kavikulaguru Kalidas Sanskrit University, Maharashtra while speaking after inaugurating a two-day national seminar on inter-relation between Sanskrit and Indian literatures, here on Friday.

The seminar jointly organised by Rashtriya Sanskrit Vidyapeetha (RSVP), Tirupati and Sahitya Akademi, New Delhi. “For example, if we see Indian languages, particularly the Mahabharata written in Telugu by Nannaya and also the grammar in Telugu by Chinnaya Suri, are considered to be based on Sanskrit only. So, Sanskrit is having real entity across the Indian languages.

Even in Marathi, Gujarathi, Odia etc., most of their literatures based on Sanskrit,” She averred. Viswanath Prasad Tiwari, former president of Sahitya Akademi, who was the guest of honour said, “India knows two languages, one is Ramayana and another is Mahabharata. Because, in every Indian language literature, the stories, fables and so on are taken from these two epics only. These two are in Sanskrit,”. He stated westerners like William Jones consider Sanskrit is more than that of Greek and Latin.

Tiwari mentioned Max Mueller told to his students to learn Sanskrit first to know about India. In his presidential address, RSVP Vice-Chancellor Prof V Muralidhar Sharma said the whole world is now giving respect to Sanskrit and even recommends the study of the language which is a scientific language while stressing on sustained efforts for the promotion of the language.

Sahitya Akademi Secretary Dr K Srinivasa Rao, RSVP Academic Dean Prof Rani Sadasiva Murthy, Programme Coordinator Dr Bharat Bhushan Rath and others also spoke.