In beginning there was Vedic Sanskrit. It was driven purely by subtle (Sookshma) impact of each pronunciation on a pure stable mind. M has a different impact. A has something else. U has still different. And hence AUM together has something unique.
That is why no two words in Vedas are synonym. The moment you change pronunciation, essence varies.
As human mind started getting impure, it was no more possible to assess the subtle essence. Then people started mugging specific examples of each essence. Thus Gau became Cow. Though Gau actually signifies something that dynamically nurtures. Even planets are Gau.
Further down, rules were created to simplify further. Hence Sanskrit began to change. Some rules were written, some were unwritten. Gradually different variants of Sanskrit emerged.
Similarly, other variant languages also started emerging.
During Panini’s era, there was lot of confusion. He standardized Sanskrit with whatever was available. Then classical Sanskrit era started to bloom.
More variations happened as we progressed. Thus, Vedic Sanskrit was seed and lots of colors and variations emerged. Each language took some practices of Sanskrit, some innovations, some local requirements etc etc.
Even today, engineering colleges have a different lingo. IIM Calcutta has its own. It may look stupid to others. But variations and innovations is human nature.
Today we have multiple languages. In fact, in India there is a different language every 2 km.
Some languages like Marathi and Bengali are still very close to Sanskrit. Some languages like Tamil and Khadi Hindi deviated a lot. Same with languages of rest of the world.
Some languages like Mandarin (and even Tamil) had their independent footings. But they also were heavily inspired by cultural foundations.
We today have a wonderful family of languages across globe. Vedas are the mother. Even if you are skeptic type, Vedas are at least the Mausi (mother’s sister) and hence deserves to be treated like Mother.
(An excellent treatise to history of Sanskrit is masterpiece by Pandit Yudhishthir Meemansak. Not sure if available in print today.)
My sole agenda is definitely to thank the Mother (or Mausi, if you prefer that way)
Learn Sanskrit in simple manner –
1. Video Tutorial – Youtube Playlist
2. Lessons in Hindi, English
Spend few minutes daily on one of these and you will be able to learn basics of conversational Sanskrit in simple manner.
[…] On Origin of Languages – Shri Sanjeev Newar Agniveer Ted Talk on reality of caste system having origins in Hindu scriptures by Shri Sanjeev Newar […]
[…] Also checkout this article on On Origin of Languages […]