Acts of Apostle Thomas

XIV SIGNIFICANCE OF SANSKRIT: M. M. NINAN
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In the transitional phase of the 4 th and 5 th centuries, there were bilingual sanskrit-Prakrit inscriptions, as
well as those in a mixture of two languages. Thereafter, Prakrit fell into disuse.
Between the 4 th and 6 th centuries, Sanskrit emerged as a premier language of royal inscriptions all over
India. There after, it attained the status of a language associated with high culture, religious authority, and
political power not only in the subvontinent but also in certain other areas such as Southeast Asia.
However, in the post-Gupta period, there was also an important parallel trend towards the evolution of
regional languages and scripts. Even Sanskrit inscriptions show the influence of local dialects in spellings
and words of non-Snsrit origin.
In South India, inscriptions in the old tamil language (and the Tamil-Brahmi script) appeared in the 2 nd
century BCE and the early centuries CE…….There are examples of bilingual Tamil-Sanskrit Pallava
inscriptions from the 7 th century onwards. …..
“The earliest Kannada inscriptions belong to the late 6 th /early 7 th cemury CE. ……….There are some
bilingual Sanskrit Kannada inscriptions and a 12 th century inscription found at Kurgod (in Bellary districtm
Karnataka) is in three languages – Sanskrit, Prakrit and Kannada. ……
Late 6 th century epigraphs of the of the early Telugu Chola kings mark the beginnings of Telugu
as a language…….Malayalam inscriptions appear in about 15 th century.”
In a way the name Sanskrit had given way to large misuse by the religion. Sanskrit when is used for both
the Vedic and the Puranic languages differ considerably. It bears the relation as between Latin and English.
"By Ancient Sanskrit we mean the oldest known form of Sanskrit. The simple name 'Sanskrit' generally
refers to Classical Sanskrit, which is a later, fixed form that follows rules laid down by a grammarian
around 400 BC. Like Latin in the Middle Ages, Classical Sanskrit was a scholarly lingua franca which had
to be studied and mastered.
Ancient Sanskrit was very different.
It was a natural, vernacular language, and has come down to us in a remarkable and extensive body of
poetry."
http://www.utexas.edu/cola/centers/lrc/eieol/vedol-0-X.html
the Ancient Sanskrit is referred to here is now called Vedic which is a direct recognition under pressure to
recognize it as different from Sanskrit language by the Hindus. This is same as the Persian Indo- European
language of the Zorostrians which is the language used in Zend Avesta or very close to it. In sharp contrast
Sanskrit is of recent origin. Archealogical and Linguistic studies indicates that the language of Sanskrit
came into existence only by the second century AD. Ujjayini (Ujjain) became a center of Sanskrit learning
and was taken as meridian by Indian astronomers.
The word Sanskrit means completed, refined, perfected. Sam (together) + krtam (created). The Vedic form
of Sanskrit is a close descendant of Proto-Indo-European, the reconstructed root of all later Indo-European
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