Table Of ContentIDEOLOGY AND STATUS OF SANSKRIT
B R I L L 'S
I N D O L O G I C AL
L I B R A RY
EDITED BY
J O H A N N ES B R O N K H O R ST
IN CO-OPERATION WITH
RICHARD GOMBRICH • OSKAR VON HINÜBER
KATSUMI MIMAKI • ARVIND SHARMA
VOLUME 13
I D E O L O GY A ND S T A T US
OF S A N S K R IT
Contributions to the History
of the Sanskrit Language
EDITED BY
JAN E.M. HOUBEN
S
'/68V
EJ. BRILL
LEIDEN • NEW YORK • KÖLN
1996
Published with support of the International Institute for Asian Studies (Leiden)
The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and durability of the
Committee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the Council on Library
Resources.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Ideology and status of Sanskrit : contributions to the history of the
Sanskrit language / edited by Jan E.M. Houben.
p. cm. — (Brill's Indological library ; v. 13)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 9004106138 (cloth : alk. paper)
1. Sanskrit language—Philosophy. 2. Sanskrit language—Grammar-
-History. 3. Indo-Aryan Languages—Grammar—History. I. Houben,
JanE.M., I960- . II. Series.
PK475.I34 1996
491'.2—dc20 96-23794
CIP
Die Deutsche Bibliothek - CIP-Einheitsaufnahme
Ideology and status of Sanskrit : contributions to the history of
the Sanskrit language / ed. by Jan E. M. Houben - Leiden ;
New York ; Köln : Brill, 1996
(Brill's indological library ; Vol. 13)
ISBN 90-04-10613-8
NE: Houben, Jan E. M. [Hrsg.]; GT
ISSN 0925-2916
ISBN 90 04 10613 8
© Copyright 1996 by E.J. Brill, Leiden, The Netherlands
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PRINTED IN THE NETHERLANDS
CONTENTS
Acknowledgements vii
List of Contributors ix
1. Introduction: towards a Social History of the Sanskrit
Language (Jan E.M. Houben) 1
1. Origins and Creation of the 'Eternal Language'
2. Pre-rgvedic convergence between Indo-Aryan and Dra-
vidian? A survey of the issues and controversies
(Hans Henrich Hock) 17
3. The early history of Sanskrit as supreme language
(Ashok Aklujkar) 59
4. What was Sanskrit for? Metadiscursive strategies in
ancient India (John D. Kelly) 87
5. Sanskrit and reality: the Buddhist contribution
(Johannes Bronkhorst) 109
6. Jain attitudes towards the Sanskrit language (Paul Dundas) 137
7. Socio-linguistic attitudes reflected in the work of
Bhartrhari and later Grammarians (Jan E.M. Houben) 157
//. Transculturation, Sanskritization, Vernacularization
8. The Sanskrit Cosmopolis, 300-1300 CE: Transculturation,
Vernacularization, and the Question of Ideology
(Sheldon Pollock).. 197
9. The use of Sanskrit in South Indian royal inscriptions:
social, political and religious implications (A.G. Menon).... 249
VI CONTENTS
10. Speech of the Gurus: Instances of treatment of Sanskrit
in Tantric literature (Teun Goudriaan) 265
11. Tibetan expertise in Sanskrit Grammar: ideology, status
and other extra-linguistic factors (Pieter C. Verhagen) 275
12. More on the Käraka-samgraha, a Sanskrit grammatical
text from Bali (Anna Radicchi) 289
13. The introduction of Indian Prosody among the Thais
(BJ. Terwiel) 307
III The Sanskrit Tradition: Continuity from the past or Con-
struction from the present ?
14. 'Do you speak Sanskrit?' On a class of Sanskrit texts
composed in the Late Middle Ages (Albrecht Wezler) 327
15. Sanskrit and Hindu national identity in nineteenth
century Bengal (Victor van Bijlert) 347
16. The place of Sanskrit in neo-Hindu ideologies: from
religious reform to national awakening
(Corstiaan van der Burg) 367
17. Position of Sanskrit in public education and scientific
research in modern India (Saroja Bhate) 383
18. Contextualizing the Eternal Language: Features of
Priestly Sanskrit (Madhav M. Deshpande) 401
Bibliography 439
Author Index 487
General Index 495
Map:
The 'Sanskrit Cosmopolis' and Centres of Sanskrit learning 501
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The present volume is an outcome of the seminar "Ideology and Status
of Sanskrit in South and Southeast Asia" organized under the auspices
of the International Institute for Asian Studies (HAS), Leiden, 17-19
November 1994. When working on the organization of the seminar and
on the publication of this volume, the editor incurred a pleasant debt of
gratitude to numerous individuals and institutions. The generous sup-
port and assistance provided by the then newly founded HAS made the
seminar possible, and the active and enthusiastic participation of a con-
siderable number of scholars made it a success. Apart from the con-
tributors to this volume, the following persons deserve special men-
tion: Professors L. Leertouwer, D.H.A. Kolff and H.W. Bodewitz, Pro-
fessor Hannes Kniffka, Mrs. Iwona Milewska, Dr. Max Nihom, Pro-
fessor Peter Raster, Dr. Herman Tieken, Dr. J.-M. Verpoorten, Profes-
sor T.E. Vetter and Dr. J.H.A. Vivekanand. Thanks to the organizational
skills of Mrs. Esther Guitjens, latent practical problems during the
seminar were already solved before they manifested themselves.
Professor Johannes Bronkhorst (Lausanne) should be mentioned as
the one who guided me through all critical phases in planning and or-
ganizing the seminar and in solving organizational problems in the
publication of this collective work. All participants contributed to the
formulation of the concept of the present volume, which attempts to
provide an overview of the historical depth and geographical and cul-
tural extension of the ideology and status of Sanskrit, as well as of the
major themes and theoretical problems associated with it in modern re-
search.
When working on this volume as an HAS research fellow, I received
all the necessary support and facilities from the HAS, personalized for
me in the enthusiastic members of its Staff, Prof. W.A.L. Stokhof, Mrs.
Sabine Kuiper, Mrs. Karin van Belle, Mrs. Kitty Yang and Mrs. Maya
Gal, and the editor-in-chief of all IIAS-publications, Paul van der Vel-
Vili ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
de. It is hoped that this volume will serve as a fitting tribute to their
commitment to academic quality, continuity and innovation in Asian
Studies.
Here I would also like to record my gratitude to Prof. Paul Dundas
(Edinburgh) for writing an excellent contribution to this volume even
though he could not be present at the seminar. The staff of the library of
the department of South and Central Asia (Kern Institute) was always
helpful in providing material and bibliographical assistance. Of all
others who helped in various ways in the realization of this book I
would here like to mention especially my friends Dolf J.B.F. Hart-
suiker (Utrecht), and Frans H.P.M. Janssen (Utrecht), as well as Prof.
J.G. de Casparis (Leiden), Dr. Marijke Klokke (Leiden), Prof. K.R. van
Kooij (Leiden), Prof. E. te Nijenhuis, and Prof. T.E. Vetter (Leiden).
Finally, I am grateful to the staff of EJ. Brill publishers for giving
this volume a place in their series "Brill's Indological Library."
Leiden, May 1996 Jan E.M. Houben
LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS
ASHOK N. AKLUJKAR; Department of Asian Studies, University of
British Columbia; 2075 Wesbrook Mall, Vancouver, B.C., Canada
V6T 1W5.
SAROJA BHATE; Department of Sanskrit and Prakrit Languages,
University of Poona; Pune 411007, India.
VICTOR A. VAN BIJLERT; Department of Languages and Cultures of
South and Central Asia, University of Leiden; P.O. Box 9515, NL-
2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands.
JOHANNES BRONKHORST; Section des Langues et Civilisations
Orientales, Université de Lausanne, BFSH 2; CH-1015 Lausanne,
Switzerland.
CORSTIAAN VAN DER BURG; Department of Religious Studies, Vrije
Universiteit; De Boelelaan 1105, NL-1081 HV Amsterdam, The
Netherlands.
MADHAV M. DESHPANDE; Department of Asian Languages and
Cultures, University of Michigan; Ann Arbor, Michigan, 48109-
1285; U.S.A.
PAUL DUNDAS; Department of Sanskrit, University of Edinburgh; 7
Buceleuch Place, Edinburgh, EH8 9LW, United Kingdom.
TEUN GOUDRIAAN; Hondsrug 123, NL-3524 BW Utrecht, The
Netherlands.
HANS HENRICH HOCK; Department of Linguistics, University of
Illinois; 707 S. Mathews, Urbana IL 61801, U.S.A.
JAN E.M. HOUBEN; Department of Languages and Cultures of South
and Central Asia, University of Leiden; P.O. Box 9515, NL-2300 RA
Leiden, Thé Netherlands.
JOHN D. KELLY; Department of Anthropology, University of Chicago,
1126 East 59th Street, Chicago IL 60637, U.S.A.
A.G. MENON; Department of Languages and Cultures of South and
Central Asia, University of Leiden; P.O. Box 9515, NL-2300 RA
The Netherlands.
