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The early history of writing Sanskrit and other languages in ancient India is a problematic topic despite a century of scholarship. [238] The earliest possible script from South Asia is from the Indus Valley civilization (3rd/2nd millennium BCE), but this script – if it is a script – remains undeciphered. If any scripts existed in the Vedic ...
Sanskrit epigraphy is the study of ancient inscriptions in Sanskrit. The inscriptions offer insight into the linguistic , cultural , and historical evolution of South Asia and its neighbors. Early inscriptions , such as those from the 1st century BCE in Ayodhya and Hathibada , are written in Brahmi script and reflect the transition to classical ...
Sanskrit is taught in many South Asia Studies and/or Linguistics departments in Western universities. In addition to this, it is also used during worship in Hindu temples in the West, being the Hindu liturgical language, and Sanskrit revival attempts are underway amongst expatriate Hindu populations.
Vedic Sanskrit is the language of the Vedas, a large collection of hymns, incantations, and religio-philosophical discussions which form the earliest religious texts in India and the basis for much of the Hindu religion.
Dated to the 1st-century BCE, the Hathibada Ghosundi Inscriptions are among the oldest known Sanskrit inscriptions in Brahmi script from the Hindu tradition of ancient India, particularly Vaishnavism. [1] [2] Some scholars, such as Jan Gonda, have dated these to the 2nd century BCE. [3] [4]
For nearly 2,000 years, Sanskrit was the language of a cultural order that exerted influence across South Asia, Inner Asia, Southeast Asia, and to a certain extent East Asia. [17] A significant form of post-Vedic Sanskrit is found in the Sanskrit of Indian epic poetry—the Ramayana and Mahabharata.
Early Indian history does not have an equivalent of chronicles (like the ones established in the West by Herodotus in the 5th century BC or Kojiki / Nihongi in Japan): "with the single exception of Rajatarangini (History of Kashmir), there is no historical text in Sanskrit dealing with the whole or even parts of India" (R. C. Majumdar). [3]
Sanskrit plays were very popular and were staged in ancient times all over India. Now the only surviving ancient Sanskrit drama theatre is Koodiyattam, which is preserved in Kerala by the Chakyar community. This form of Sanskrit drama is thought to be at least 2000 years old and is one of the oldest living theatrical traditions in the world.