Apbharamsa Hindi Kosha

Sanskrit may be said to be one of the oldest extant languages of the Indo-European group of languages. It is hailed as the memory of the human race and its earliest cultural history. No serious study of the world civilization and cultures of different countries will be possible without understanding Sanskrit as it evolved and influenced other languages of the world or bears association with them. This volume has articles that attempt such an understanding of the Sanskrit language. Scholars trace the link of Sanskrit with various countries of the world and their cultures and languages. They throw light on Sanskrit grammar as recorded in Chinese works and contributions of Sanskrit to Chinese linguistics; on the many Sanskrit manuscripts available in Japan; and similarities and regularities in the phonetic system, grammar and vocabulary of Sanskrit and Russian. They view links between Sanskrit and the Slavonic languages, German, English, Persian and the Indonesian languages, examining mutual borrowings. They explain the way translations from one language to another have affected preservation and dissemination of knowledge. The articles, a result of meticulous study and marked by simplicity and clarity in expression, will be interesting and informative to a range of scholars of Indology.

It is the first ever study of the fifth-century scholar, Bhartrihari’s Vakyapadiya in an altogether modern, the post-Fregean, perspective on the Philosophy of Language. A uniquely original thinker in India’s splendid grammarians’ tradition, Bhartrihari overreached the limits of language analysis set by his predecessors like Panini and Patanjali constructing, as he did, a brilliant Philosophy of Language that sought to spell out, among other aspects, the subtle distinctions between the “knowable” and the “sayable”, between “what is said” and “what is meant”, between the semantics of “everyday speech” and “literary discourse”. Sadly, Bhartrihari has, through the centuries, suffered neglect, largely because the Grammarian School never figured in the six major systems of traditional Indian philosophy.
For the first time, this monograph tries to reinterpret Bhartrihari’s position — “as a philosopher”, emphasizing the high relevance of his Vakyapadiya to modern Western thought. A reputed scholar of grammar, philosophy and Sanskrit studies, the author presents Bhartrihari’s analyses of language methodically, unbiased. And, significantly, in contemporary philosophical idiom — with contextual focus on the views of modern Western philosophers: Frege, Wittgenstein, Grice, Austin, Davidson, Searle, Strawson and the like. Also offered here is a lucid exposition of the Sphota Theory.
Growing from Dr Patnaik’s a decade-long research on Bhartrihari’s philosophy, the volume highlights not only ancient Indian contribution to the study of language, but the interconnectedness among its indigenous approaches to linguistics, philosophy, logic and aesthetics as well.