ORIGIN OF WEST ASIAN LANGUAGES. By Basudeba Mishra
According to Taittiriya Brahmanm, वाचं देवा उपजीवन्ति विश्वे वाचं गन्धर्वाः पशवो मनुष्याः – meaning thereby, all life forms use languages for their survival. According to Maitrayani Samhita, वाग् हि वाजस्य प्रसवः । सा वै वाक् सृष्टा चतुर्था व्यभवत् एषु लोकेषु । त्रीणि तूरीयाणि पशुषु तुरीयम् – indicating that ¼ of languages belong to animals. Thus, Bharata in his Natya Shastra (Chapter 17 – 28 to 31), described languages as of four types: Atibhasha – अतिभाषा or देवभाषा, Aryabhasha – आर्यभाषा, Jaatibhasha – जातिभाषा and Anyantaribhasha- अन्यन्तरीभाषा.
अतिभाषा or देवभाषा – is छान्दस् – the language of the Vedas. Its grammar is described in Aindra Vyakaran – ऐन्द्र व्याकरण – which is contained in the प्रातिशाख्य of the respective Vedas. (Rhk Tantra – ऋक्तन्त्र and Pushpasootam – पुष्पसूत्रम् are the प्रातिशाख्य of सामवेद). Its alphabet is called ब्राह्म वर्णसमाम्नाय. The earlier grammarians referred to by Panini also wrote commentaries on this language.
Arya Bhasha (आर्यभाषा) is Prakrit and Sanskrit that have specific grammar. The grammar of Prakrit, which is much older than Sanskrit (प्राक् कृत), covers the books written by Rishis, such as Shaakalya, Kaahola, etc., and one book written by Ravan, whose abridged available edition is called प्राकृत कामधेनु. This book hints at the earlier book (विस्तरात् गदितं पूर्वं संक्षेपाद् अधुनोच्यते). The other books include कातन्त्र व्याकरण and प्राकृत प्रकाशः of Vararuchi, an elder relative of Paanini, as recorded in कथा सरित् सागर. It is the deformation (विपर्यस्त संस्कार) of Vedic grammar to make it simplified for general public. Even Paanini in his Shikshaa Text writes: त्रिषष्टिश्चतुःषष्टिर्वा वर्णाः सम्भवतो मताः । प्राकृते संस्कृते चापि स्वयं प्रोक्ताः स्वायम्भूवा । This shows that during the time of Panini, Prakrit was occupying an exalted position for which, he wrote it before Sanskrit. Bharata also does the same. It is a Vedic tradition that the more important is named first. For example, in the Vedas, we find इन्द्राग्निम्, but never अग्नीन्द्रम्.
Edward Byles Cowell of Oxford had edited Prakrit Prakaashah of Vararuchi, which was published by Stephen Austin. He refers to some books No. 1120, 1503, etc., kept in the East-India House Library. From these, he refers to the works like Praakrita Sanjivani of Vasantaraja. He also refers to other works like the Prakrit Grammar of Kramadishwara and Hemachandra. He also refers to a book called Prakrit Sarvaswa of Markandeya Kaveendra, from which he quotes: “शाकल्यभरतकोहलवररुचिभामहवसन्तराजाद्यैः प्रोक्तान् ग्रन्थान् …. अव्याकीर्णं विशदं सारं …. प्राकृतसर्वस्वमारभते । This shows that many ancient Rishis like शाकल्य and कोहल also wrote Grammar on Prakrit, which is no available now.
Cowell writes in his Introduction: “a knowledge Prakrit …. (is) essential to the explanation of many forms in the modern languages in India – supplying, as it does, the connecting link between these and the ancient Sanskrit ….”. The “ancient Sanskrit” referred to by him is Vedic Chhands, as there is nothing like ancient Sanskrit, though there is ancient thoughts. Thus, according to Cowell, Prakrit is a link between Vedic language and Sanskrit. He further goes on to write: “When the Greeks, under Alexander, came in contact with India, Prakrit seems to have been the spoken dialect of the mass of the people. The language of the rock inscription of King Ashoka, which recorded the name of Antiochus and other Greek Princes about 200 BC, is also a form of Prakrit; and similarly, we find it in the bi-lingual coins of the Greek Kings of Bactria. It also plays an important part in all the ancient Hindu dramas; for while the heroes speak Sanskrit, the women and attendants use various forms of Prakrit; the dialectical variations being more or less regular and euphonious according to the rank of the speaker”.
The above statement implies:
- The time of Panini was variously put at in between 6th to 4th BC. Alexander’s time period is from 356 BC to 323 BC. Since Prakrit was spread to Greek by that time, it could not have evolved from Sanskrit to spread so much widely within so short a span of time.
- Prakrit and not Sanskrit was used the bi-lingual coins of the Greek Kings of Bactria. This shows the important position occupied by Prakrit, when Sanskrit was being born.
- In ALL Sanskrit dramas, while the heroes speak Sanskrit, the women and attendants use various forms of Prakrit. This only shows that both the languages existed together. While the cultured class used Sanskrit, Prakrit was the language of the masses. When a new form of teaching or education or language is created, the educated use that language, while common people use the earlier language. For example, modern science uses a language that is not used by the common persons. This does not mean that common language is a derivative of scientific language.
- Even Kalidasa did not know Sanskrit. He learnt Sanskrit only after he was humiliated by his wife, when he failed to pronounce a camel properly (उष्ट्रे लुम्पति रम्वा षम्वा । तस्मै दत्ता विपुलनितम्वा).
- Even Kaatantra or Kaumaara Vyakarana had its origin when the King Satavahana was splashing water on his queen during water sports. The queen requested the King not to do it by telling “मोदकैस्ताडय – do not splash me with water” (according to another version – मोदकं देहि देवः – do not throw water at me). The King thought she is asking for Laddoos. Hence called for the sweet and splashed the queen with it. A distressed queen said loudly that she is unfortunate to marry a fool. The King felt greatly humiliated and called for the Scholars to teach him Sanskrit in as short a time as possible. While Gunadhya said it will take 12 years, and others said it could be up to 6 years, Sarvavarma said he could teach him in six months. Then with the blessings of Kumaraswamy, he could succeed. This shows that even Kings spoke Prakrit.
The grammar of Sanskrit (अपर संस्कार – literally reformed) is that of Panini. It is the reformation of Prakrit using Chhandas principles, when Prakrit was too diluted to the extent of being unintelligible for others speaking different variations of it. Tamil is an off-shoot while Sanskrit grammar was being formulated. I have described it elaborately in a paper titled Origin of Tamil Language.
Jaati Bhasha (जातिभाषा) is the other languages developed from Prakrit in India and all other countries including Arabic, Hebrew and other Semitic languages. Later they learnt to develop their grammar in accordance with local variations. The first such language with a grammar was called होढाचक्र by मयासुर, which became the base for the language used in Avesta. I will write about it separately. Anyantari Bhasha (अन्यन्तरीभाषा) is the language of the domestic and wild animals, birds, etc. The 14 Maheshwari Sootras (माहेश्वरी सूत्र) covers genesis of all these languages. Thus, you can trace Vedic roots in all languages.
In the जातिभाषा category, prominent is the language of मयासुर. It is called होढाचक्र. It had 37 letters as follows:
- 20 प्रस्तीर्य वर्णाः – अ, ब, क, ह, ड, म, ट, प, र, त, न, य, भ, ज, ख, ग, स, द, च, ल. ( संवृत अकार – व्यञ्जनतूल्य) ।
- 5 मात्रा वर्णाः – अ, इ, उ, ए, ओ (विवृत अकार – स्वर वर्णाः) ।
- 12 परिशिष्ट वर्णाः – घ, ङ, छ, य़, ण, ठ, ध, फ, ढ, थ, झ, ञ ।
When the मात्रा वर्णाः are applied to the प्रस्तीर्य वर्णाः, the total variants become 100. For example:
अ, ब, क, ह, ड, म, ट, प, र, त, न, य, भ, ज, ख, ग, स, द, च, ल. इ, बि, कि, हि, डि, मि, टि, पि, रि, ति, नि, यि, भि, जि, खि, गि, सि, दि, चि, लि. उ, बु, कु, हु, डु, मु, टु, पु, रु, तु, नु, यु, भु, जु, खु, गु, सु, दु, चु, लु. ए, बे, के, हे, डे, मे, टे, पे, रे, ते, ने, ये, भे, जे, खे, गे, से, दे, चे, ले. ओ, बो, को, हो, डो, मो, टो, पो, रो, तो, नो, यो, भो, जो, खो, गो, सो, दो, चो, लो.
The Arabic letters are also pronounced by adding vowels after them like in होढाचक्र. For example, they add eh after the letters ب (beh), ت (teh), ز (reh), ف (feh), (heh), ي (yeh). Since the European languages like Greek and Latin developed their script from ancient Hebrew, and since modern English was developed from these languages, they retain some of its features, even though they have ceased to be phonetic languages. For example, the English letters b, c, d, g, p, t, v, use the vowel i after its pronunciation: such as bi, ci, di, etc. Similarly, j, k, use the vowel e after its pronunciation: such as je, ke, etc., whereas f, h, l, m, n, s, etc, use e before its pronunciation: such as ef, eich, el, em, en, etc. In some cases aa is used before it, such as r is pronounced as aar. Similarly, in Avesta, there is a letter अँ, which has a suppressed pronunciation as a combination of अ and एँ. In English, e in gardener, u in measuring, and o in history are similarly, pronounced.
The other prominent Jati Bhasha (जातिभाषा) is the language called अबजद, (whose letters were अबजद, हव्वज, हुत्ती, कलमन्, etc). It is no more in use.
The languages of Avesta and ancient Hebrew along with Persian and Arabic are its variants. For example, the Arabic letter (alef) and the Hebrew letter א (alef) are nothing but a variation of the अ लिपि or अबजद. In Avesta, the total number of letters are 46, out of which, 14 are vowels – स्वरवर्णाः, 31 are consonants – व्यञ्जनवर्णाः, and 1 compound letter – संयुक्तवर्णः. In ancient Persian, there were 3 vowels – स्वरवर्णाः with dual pronunciation (ह्रस्व and दीर्घ) each, and 33 are consonants – व्यञ्जनवर्णाः, which are pronounced along with vowels – स्वरवर्णाः. Of these, 22 are pronounced along with अ, 4 are pronounced along with इ, and 7 are pronounced along with उ. Some of these correspond to यमाः of Sanskrit.
The similarities of Avesta and Sanskrit language are striking. For example:
In Avesta: तँम् अमवन्तँम् यजन्तँम् । सूरँम् दामोहु सँविश्तम् । मिथ्रँम् यजाइ जओथ्राव्यो ।
In Sanskrit: तम् अमवन्तम् यजतम् । शूरम् धामसु शविष्ठम् । मित्रम् यजे होत्राभ्यः ।
Meaning: I will worship the powerful and benevolent Mitra with ceremonial sacrifice.
In Avesta: कसँ. ध्वाँम्. बित्यो हओंम्. मश्यो अस्त्वइथ्याइ. हुनूत्. गएथ्याइ । का. अम्हाइ. अषिश्. ऋनावि. चित्. अम्हाइ. जसत्. आयप्तम् ।
In Sanskrit: कस्त्वां द्वितीयः सोम मर्त्यः अस्थन्वत्यै सुनुत जगतै । का अस्मै आशीः ऋनावि किम् अस्मै गच्छत आप्तम् ।
Meaning: Who is this second Soma, (दिक् सोम Soma and भास्वर सोम) who changed the fermions to bosons? Who fulfilled its desire? What benefit did it get?
The similarities between the roots of many words in Sanskrit, Greek and Latin are striking:
Sanskrit Root Greek Latin Anglo-Saxon English
अगि άγγελοζ angelus engel angel.
लिप άλείφω, λιπαοός lippus libban life.
अव άμνος,όίς ovis ēvis ewe
We can find the Vedic thoughts replicated in Greek & Latin scriptures. Here is one example: स ईक्षत लोकान्नु सृजा इति – ऐतरेय उपनिषद् – 1-1.
Deus intelligentiam in animo inclusit. (God has sheathed intelligence within soul). – Cicero, Univ.3
…άλλα δέ ούχ έοτι παρά ταύτα ούδαμη ούδαμώς, άλλά μάτην έχάοτοτε είναί τί φαμεν είδος έχάοτου νοητόν, τό δ’ ούδέν άρ’ ην πλην λόγος – Timaeus 51C 3-5
(… but is the intelligible form of each thing, which we vainly suppose on every occasion, absolutely nothing other than a word?)
The English word ‘Alphabet’ has originated from the first two letters in Greek alphabet, Alpha and Beta, which were borrowed from the Hebrew alphabets aleph and beth. The letters of the English alphabet are borrowed from Latin or through one of the Romance languages, which itself were borrowed from the Greek. Ancient Rome was called Latium. The language spoken by its people was called Latin. The Romance languages, such as French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Romanian, Provencal, etc. came from Hebrew through Greek and Latin. Thus, Hebrew, which gave rise to Greek alphabet, is the mother language of Europe as Sanskrit is the mother language of most Indian languages. This can be easily proved as follows.
The Greek adapted the alphabets of the Hebrew and the Arabs through Phoenicians sometime between the eighth century and the twelfth century BC. The Phoenicians learnt their script from the Semites, who borrowed the Egyptian hieroglyphic form for writing their alphabet. The Semitic language has three major categories:
a) North East Semitic, such as Akkadian, which was spoken by the Hittites of Babylonia.
b) North West Semitic, such as Hebrew, which was spoken by the people of Syria and Israel, Aramaic, the language spoken by Jesus Christ, and Eblaite etc.
c) Central and South Semitic, such as Arabic, South Arabian, and Ethiopian etc.
Hebrew is a dialect of Canaanite branch of North West Semitic language. In sound, it has characteristics of both Arabic and Aramaic. It is pronounced in various ways. However, the Ashkenazic (central European) and the Sephardic (Mediterranean) systems are most prominent. The main differences between the systems occur in the pronunciation of certain vowels and in the accent of various words. Since Greek alphabet was borrowed from the Semitic languages through the Phoenicians, there were two main forms of the ancient Greek alphabet; the Eastern and the Western. The Eastern alphabet with 24 letters is still used, but with a different pronunciation. It is the ancestor of the Cyrillic alphabet, which is used in the Russian, Bulgarian and Serbian languages. The Western alphabet spread to ancient Italy, where it gave rise to Etruscan, Oscan and Umbrian etc. The Etruscans, who moved to central Italy from the Eastern Mediterranean region around 1000 BC, subsequently gave rise to the Latin script with 23 alphabets, which is used in English today. The letters j, u and w were added to the English alphabet from other sources.
The modern concept of language families introduced by some European linguists is a myth because there is no scientific basis to accept this theory. In fact even a cursory examination would prove the contrary. This theory has been advocated by some on the ground that the words in certain languages have marked similarities signifying a common origin. They point out, for example, to the words like “maataa” or “maatrh” in Sanskrit, “meter” in Greek, “mater” in Latin, “madre” in Spanish, “mutter” in German, “mat” in Russian, “madä” in Digor, “mad” in Iron languages and “ma” in northern Chinese on a level tone. Similarly, the word “hamsa” is called chn in Greek, “ghans” in Indo-European, “anser (hanser)” in Latin, “gans” in German, “gös” in Anglo-Saxon, and goose in English. The word “brhsha” or “brhshabha” in Sanskrit is known as “bulle” in Middle Dutch, “bul” or “bol” in Dutch, “bole” or “boli” in Old Nordic, “bulle” in German, “bule” or “bulle” in Middle English, and bull or bullock in modern English. The Sanskrit word “pada” is called “pedis” in Latin, “podo’s” in Greek, “fotus” in Gothic and foot in modern English. The Sanskrit word “pancha” is called “pancha” in Zend, pegte in Greek, “quinque” in Latin, “penke” in Lithuanian, “fif” in Gothic, “fünf” in German, “fif” in Old English and “five” in English. Similarly, the word “ashta” in Sanskrit is called “οκτω” in Greek, “octo” in Latin, “ahto” in Old German, “ahte” in Middle German, “acht” in Modern German, “asztuni” in Lithuanian, “ahtau” in Gothic, “eahta” in Anglo-Saxon, and eight in English.
All these appear to hint at a common origin of these languages. However, no language other than the Vedic language Chhandas – छन्दस् – could explain why the sound generated by such words has the meaning attributed to them. Only Chhandas can provide the reason for the meaning attributed to the sound generated by the word “maataa”. According to Vedic grammar books, when we pronounce the word “ma”, our lips first close and then open. Thus, one of the meanings assigned to this letter is that which regenerates after initial destruction. Since life is believed to change the body on death and acquire a new body, the word “maa” means one that receives something, which grows. The letter “ta” stands for a strong and compact body as the tongue hammers the root of the tooth while uttering this letter. The word “taa” thus stands for the extension of an action in “ta”. Thus, the word “maataa” stands for the source of a body that grows, i.e., the mother. No other language in the world could explain the meaning of their words like this.
Further, evolution of these languages show that the pronunciation of the words changes with time. This is never done in Chhandas or Sanskrit, where the pronunciation of the Vedas as it was in time immemorial is continuing even today. Thus, only Chhandas could be the mother of all languages. Further, only the Indian languages are phonetic languages, i.e., they write as they pronounce. All other languages write something and pronounce something else. Thus, they could not belong to the same group.