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HERITAGE OF INDIA
SAMBODHI
unity. Dr. Sunit Kumar Chatterjee, the doyen among leaders of Indian literature, has said : "The Ramayan a and the Mahabharata have moulded the life and literature of India and constitute the greatest literary heritage of the country. The cultural unity of India, ancient, medieval, and modern has been primarily nurtured through them." The works of great writers in Sanskrit have inspired writers in modern Indian languages, in the last millenium. Sanskrit literature is about 3000 years old, and its role in maintaining the unity of culture throughout the sub-continent can be seen from the various periods of its literature including the Vedic and the classical. Panini's great grammar called the Ashtadyaya helped in stabilising the norms and principles of the language some 2500 years ago. The great seers, visionaries and philosophers like Sankara, Ramanuj and Madhwa were scholars of Sanskrit and it was not for nothing, that the German writer Goethe danced in ecstasy hailing Kalidasa's Shakuntal as the meeting place of the earth and the heaven. It was another German Max Muller who studied Sanskrit scriptures and works and marvelled at the grandeur of Sanskrit and the beauty of Vedas; many Western scholars, such as Thoroeu and Emerson have been enamoured of literature in Sanskrit and have praised it, in laudatory terms. It was Emerson who remarked : "Every morning I bathe my intellect in the brilliance of the Bhagvad Gita." Modern novelist Aldous Huxley wrote a commentary on the timeless message of Bhagavad Gita and called it 'song celestial.' Thus Sanskrit has been a repository of culture, and its study will help people in appreciating its richness and immense value, in the present time. Let the vision of the Brihadaranyaka (TSEL2345) Upanishad prevail when the cultural values are being swept under the carpet. It says Da - CT - Give, 2448 - control ourselves and quan - be compassionate and sympathise. Giving and sharing, self-control and compassion are the key words that should guide us as we begin our quest for the Holy Grail or the EL DORADO, the eternal happiness.
Thus India's contribution to the world has been monumental and westerners have come to realise it but unfortunately many in the country are blissfully ignorant about it, and Sanskrit Bharati should intiate programmes to usher, in a renaissance of Sanskrit language and literature.
Let these be an interplay between East and West, for such an interplay holds out the promise of an open society, in which man, in all his diversity, would be 'out of place nowhere and at home anywhere. This interface will prove Kipling wrong who said : “East is east and West is west and twain shall never meet."
I thank the organizers for inviting me and giving me an opportunity to present some stray thoughts on a topic which so vitally concerns us all.
CSS.
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