164-595: Bhishma ( Sanskrit : भीष्म , romanized : bhīṣma ), also known as Pitamaha , Gangaputra , and Devavrata , is a central figure in the Hindu epic Mahabharata . He was a prince, statesman, and military commander of the ancient Kuru Kingdom . Renowned for his wisdom, valor, and unwavering principles, Bhishma served as the supreme commander of the Kaurava forces during the Kurukshetra War . Born to King Shantanu and
328-414: A Vasu . Nandini, like her mother, is a "cow of plenty" or Kamadhenu , and resides with sage Vashistha . Nandini is stolen by the divine Vasus and thus cursed by the sage to be born on the earth. The Raghuvamsa of Kalidasa mentions that the king Dilipa —an ancestor of god Rama —once passed by Kamadhenu-Surabhi, but failed to pay respects to her, thus incurring the wrath of the divine cow, who cursed
492-585: A "popular and enduring image in Indian art". All the gods are believed to reside in the body of Kamadhenu—the generic cow. Her four legs are the scriptural Vedas ; her horns are the triune gods Brahma (tip), Vishnu (middle) and Shiva (base); her eyes are the sun and moon gods, her shoulders the fire-god Agni and the wind-god Vayu and her legs the Himalayas . Kamadhenu is often depicted in this form in poster art. Another representation of Kamadhenu shows her with
656-717: A bad omen for the gods by Indra , the god-king of heaven. The Vana Parva book of the Mahabharata also narrates a similar instance: Surabhi cries about the plight of her son—a bullock, who is overworked and beaten by his peasant-master. Indra, moved by Surabhi's tears, rains to stop the ploughing of the tormented bullock. Kamadhenu is often associated with the Brahmins (the priesthood class, especially sages), whose wealth she symbolises. Cow's milk and its derivatives such as ghee (clarified butter) are integral parts of Vedic fire sacrifices, which are conducted by Brahmin priests; thus she
820-464: A boon of Iccha Mrityu , the control over the time of his death. Shantanu and Satyavati soon married and two children – Chitrangada and Vichitravirya were born. After the death of his father, Bhishma played a major role in the affairs of the Kuru kingdom. He managed the kingdom when there were succession crises. He also arranged the marriage of his nephews and tried to bring peace between his grand-nephews,
984-406: A charioteer). Karna then mutually returned the hostility by refusing to serve under Bhishma. In truth, both sides of the affront were aware of Karna's true lineage, and had to make pretext to prevent Karna from battling his brothers. Bhishma was one of the most powerful warriors of his time and in history. He acquired his prowess and invincibility from being the son of the sacred Ganga and by being
1148-445: A child was born, the queen used to drown him in the river Ganga. One by one, seven sons were born and drowned, while Shantanu remained silent because of his commitment. When she was about to throw the eighth child into the river, Shantanu, unable to control himself, stopped her and confronted her about her actions. After hearing Shantanu's harsh words, the woman revealed herself to be the goddess Ganga and justified her actions and narrated
1312-490: A cow called Surabhi and a calf called Manoratha from the left side of his body, and milked the cow. When drinking the milk, the milk pot fell on the ground and broke, spilling the milk, which became the Kshira Sagara , the cosmic milk ocean. Numerous cows then emerged from the pores of Surabhi's skin and were presented to the cowherd-companions (gopas) of Krishna by him. Then Krishna worshipped Surabhi and decreed that she—a cow,
1476-432: A dead language in the most common usage of the term. Pollock's notion of the "death of Sanskrit" remains in this unclear realm between academia and public opinion when he says that "most observers would agree that, in some crucial way, Sanskrit is dead." Surabhi Kamadhenu ( Sanskrit : कामधेनु , [kaːmɐˈdʱeːnʊ] , Kāmadhenu ), also known as Surabhi ( सुरभि , Surabhi or सुरभी , Surabhī ),
1640-433: A focus on Indian philosophies and Sanskrit. Though written in a number of different scripts, the dominant language of Hindu texts has been Sanskrit. It or a hybrid form of Sanskrit became the preferred language of Mahayana Buddhism scholarship; for example, one of the early and influential Buddhist philosophers, Nagarjuna (~200 CE), used Classical Sanskrit as the language for his texts. According to Renou, Sanskrit had
1804-404: A funeral pyre of woods and killed herself. Years later, she was reborn as Shikhandini , daughter of King Drupada of Panchala kingdom . Vichitravirya was crowned as the king of Hastinapura and he ruled for a few years, before he died of tuberculosis . He had no offspring and the lineage was at the risk of extinction. Satyavati persuaded Bhishma to marry the widows of Vichitravirya and rule as
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#17328552572501968-532: A language competed with numerous, less exact vernacular Indian languages called Prakritic languages ( prākṛta - ). The term prakrta literally means "original, natural, normal, artless", states Franklin Southworth . The relationship between Prakrit and Sanskrit is found in Indian texts dated to the 1st millennium CE. Patañjali acknowledged that Prakrit is the first language, one instinctively adopted by every child with all its imperfections and later leads to
2132-643: A limited role in the Theravada tradition (formerly known as the Hinayana) but the Prakrit works that have survived are of doubtful authenticity. Some of the canonical fragments of the early Buddhist traditions, discovered in the 20th century, suggest the early Buddhist traditions used an imperfect and reasonably good Sanskrit, sometimes with a Pali syntax, states Renou. The Mahāsāṃghika and Mahavastu, in their late Hinayana forms, used hybrid Sanskrit for their literature. Sanskrit
2296-454: A maid. Bhishma trained them and also got them married. He arranged the wedding of Dhritarashtra with Gandhari , the princess of Gandhara Kingdom . He also brought Madri for Pandu from Madra Kingdom and also got Vidura married to the daughter of Devaka. Despite Dhritrashtra being the eldest among the brothers, he was denied the throne because of his blindness. Pandu was appointed as the king, but later, he renounced his position and went to
2460-449: A miserable life. Upon their pleading, Vashishta showed mercy and told the other seven Vasus that they will be liberated soon after their birth. However, Dyu being the protagonist of the theft was cursed to endure a longer life on the earth. Before the birth of her sons, Ganga was requested to kill the seven children soon after their birth. Hearing this, Shantanu was filled with grief and regrets and Ganga decided to abandon him as her condition
2624-454: A natural part of the earliest Vedic language, and that these developed in the centuries after the composition had been completed, and as a gradual unconscious process during the oral transmission by generations of reciters. The primary source for this argument is internal evidence of the text which betrays an instability of the phenomenon of retroflexion, with the same phrases having sandhi-induced retroflexion in some parts but not other. This
2788-479: A negative evidence to Pollock's hypothesis, but it is not positive evidence. A closer look at Sanskrit in the Indian history after the 12th century suggests that Sanskrit survived despite the odds. According to Hanneder, On a more public level the statement that Sanskrit is a dead language is misleading, for Sanskrit is quite obviously not as dead as other dead languages and the fact that it is spoken, written and read will probably convince most people that it cannot be
2952-546: A pan-Indo-Aryan accessibility to information and knowledge in the ancient and medieval times, in contrast to the Prakrit languages which were understood just regionally. It created a cultural bond across the subcontinent. As local languages and dialects evolved and diversified, Sanskrit served as the common language. It connected scholars from distant parts of South Asia such as Tamil Nadu and Kashmir, states Deshpande, as well as those from different fields of studies, though there must have been differences in its pronunciation given
3116-573: A refined and standardized grammatical form that emerged in the mid-1st millennium BCE and was codified in the most comprehensive of ancient grammars, the Aṣṭādhyāyī ('Eight chapters') of Pāṇini . The greatest dramatist in Sanskrit, Kālidāsa , wrote in classical Sanskrit, and the foundations of modern arithmetic were first described in classical Sanskrit. The two major Sanskrit epics, the Mahābhārata and
3280-534: A restrained language from which archaisms and unnecessary formal alternatives were excluded". The Classical form of the language simplified the sandhi rules but retained various aspects of the Vedic language, while adding rigor and flexibilities, so that it had sufficient means to express thoughts as well as being "capable of responding to the future increasing demands of an infinitely diversified literature", according to Renou. Pāṇini included numerous "optional rules" beyond
3444-470: A similar account about Kamadhenu, however, here the sage is Vasishtha and the king is Vishvamitra . Once, king Vishvamitra with his army arrived at the hermitage of the sage Vasishtha. The sage welcomed him and offered a huge banquet – to the army – that was produced by Sabala – as Kamadhenu is called in the text. The astonished king asked the sage to part with Sabala and instead offered thousand of ordinary cows, elephants, horses and jewels in return. However,
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#17328552572503608-439: A similar phonetic structure to Tamil. Hock et al. quoting George Hart state that there was influence of Old Tamil on Sanskrit. Hart compared Old Tamil and Classical Sanskrit to arrive at a conclusion that there was a common language from which these features both derived – "that both Tamil and Sanskrit derived their shared conventions, metres, and techniques from a common source, for it is clear that neither borrowed directly from
3772-448: A son with the steadfast qualities of Bhishma if they observe these holy rituals on the river banks. It is also said that those who will perform this fast will live a happy life and attain salvation after their death. His life has been made into many films in different Indian languages. The first silent film was made in 1922. During the talkie period, the first film was made in Hindi (1937). It
3936-475: A student of Lord Parashurama. Despite being about five generations old, Bhishma was too powerful to be defeated by any warrior alive at that time. Every day, he slew at least 10,000 soldiers and about a 1,000 rathas . At the beginning of the war, Bhishma vowed not to kill any of the Pandavas, as he loved them, being their grand-uncle. Duryodhana often confronted Bhishma alleging that he was not actually fighting for
4100-692: Is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages . It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late Bronze Age . Sanskrit is the sacred language of Hinduism , the language of classical Hindu philosophy , and of historical texts of Buddhism and Jainism . It was a link language in ancient and medieval South Asia, and upon transmission of Hindu and Buddhist culture to Southeast Asia, East Asia and Central Asia in
4264-469: Is a divine bovine-goddess described in Hinduism as the mother of all cows. She is a miraculous cow of plenty who provides her owner whatever they desire and is often portrayed as the mother of other cattle. In iconography, she is generally depicted as a white cow with a female head and breasts, the wings of a bird, and the tail of a peafowl or as a white cow containing various deities within her body. Kamadhenu
4428-508: Is akin to that of Latin and Ancient Greek in Europe. Sanskrit has significantly influenced most modern languages of the Indian subcontinent , particularly the languages of the northern, western, central and eastern Indian subcontinent. Sanskrit declined starting about and after the 13th century. This coincides with the beginning of Islamic invasions of South Asia to create, and thereafter expand
4592-641: Is also described as dwelling in Goloka —the realm of the cows—and Patala , the netherworld. Kamadhenu is often addressed by the proper name Surabhi or Shurbhi , which is also used as a synonym for an ordinary cow. Professor Jacobi considers the name Surabhi—"the fragrant one"—to have originated from the peculiar smell of cows. According to the Monier Williams Sanskrit–English Dictionary (1899), Surabhi means fragrant, charming, pleasing, as well as cow and earth. It can specifically refer to
4756-452: Is found in the writing of Bharata Muni , the author of the ancient Natya Shastra text. The early Jain scholar Namisādhu acknowledged the difference, but disagreed that the Prakrit language was a corruption of Sanskrit. Namisādhu stated that the Prakrit language was the pūrvam ('came before, origin') and that it came naturally to children, while Sanskrit was a refinement of Prakrit through "purification by grammar". Sanskrit belongs to
4920-494: Is not worshipped independently as a goddess. Rather, she is honored by the Hindu veneration of cows , who are regarded as her earthly embodiments. Hindu scriptures provide diverse accounts of the birth of Kamadhenu. While some narrate that she emerged from the churning of the cosmic ocean , others describe her as the daughter of the creator god Daksha , and as the wife of the sage Kashyapa . Still other scriptures narrate that Kamadhenu
5084-524: Is rare in the later version of the language. The Homerian Greek, like Ṛg-vedic Sanskrit, deploys simile extensively, but they are structurally very different. The early Vedic form of the Sanskrit language was far less homogenous compared to the Classical Sanskrit as defined by grammarians by about the mid-1st millennium BCE. According to Richard Gombrich—an Indologist and a scholar of Sanskrit, Pāli and Buddhist Studies—the archaic Vedic Sanskrit found in
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5248-458: Is sometimes also referred to as Homadhenu —the cow from whom oblations are drawn. Moreover, the cow also offers the Brahmins—who are prohibited to fight—protection against abusive kings who try to harm them. As a goddess, she becomes a warrior, creating armies to protect her master and herself. A legend narrates that the sacred cow Kamadhenu resided with sage Jamadagni . The earliest version of
5412-479: Is taken along with evidence of controversy, for example, in passages of the Aitareya-Āraṇyaka (700 BCE), which features a discussion on whether retroflexion is valid in particular cases. The Ṛg-veda is a collection of books, created by multiple authors. These authors represented different generations, and the mandalas 2 to 7 are the oldest while the mandalas 1 and 10 are relatively the youngest. Yet,
5576-580: Is the predominant language of one of the largest collection of historic manuscripts. The earliest known inscriptions in Sanskrit are from the 1st century BCE, such as the Ayodhya Inscription of Dhana and Ghosundi-Hathibada (Chittorgarh) . Though developed and nurtured by scholars of orthodox schools of Hinduism, Sanskrit has been the language for some of the key literary works and theology of heterodox schools of Indian philosophies such as Buddhism and Jainism. The structure and capabilities of
5740-526: The Bhagavata Purana , the Panchatantra and many other texts are all in the Sanskrit language. The Classical Sanskrit with its exacting grammar was thus the language of the Indian scholars and the educated classes, while others communicated with approximate or ungrammatical variants of it as well as other natural Indian languages. Sanskrit, as the learned language of Ancient India, thus existed alongside
5904-456: The Mahabharata and Devi Bhagavata Purana , in the context of the birth of Bhishma , the cow Nandini is given the epithet Kamadhenu. In other instances, Nandini is described as the cow-daughter of Surabhi-Kamadhenu. The scholar Vettam Mani considers Nandini and Surabhi to be synonyms of Kamadhenu. According to Indologist Madeleine Biardeau , Kamadhenu or Kamaduh is the generic name of
6068-568: The Dalai Lama , the Sanskrit language is a parent language that is at the foundation of many modern languages of India and the one that promoted Indian thought to other distant countries. In Tibetan Buddhism, states the Dalai Lama, Sanskrit language has been a revered one and called legjar lhai-ka or "elegant language of the gods". It has been the means of transmitting the "profound wisdom of Buddhist philosophy" to Tibet. The Sanskrit language created
6232-613: The Indo-European family of languages . It is one of the three earliest ancient documented languages that arose from a common root language now referred to as Proto-Indo-European : Other Indo-European languages distantly related to Sanskrit include archaic and Classical Latin ( c. 600 BCE–100 CE, Italic languages ), Gothic (archaic Germanic language , c. 350 CE ), Old Norse ( c. 200 CE and after), Old Avestan ( c. late 2nd millennium BCE ) and Younger Avestan ( c. 900 BCE). The closest ancient relatives of Vedic Sanskrit in
6396-515: The Kambojas , from her udder Barvaras, from her hind Yavanas and Shakas, and from pores on her skin, Haritas, Kiratas and other foreign warriors. Together, the army of Sabala killed Vishvamitra's army and all his sons. This event led to a great rivalry between Vasishtha and Vishvamitra, who renounced his kingdom and became a great sage to defeat Vasishtha. Kamadhenu-Surabhi's residence varies depending on different scriptures. The Anushasana Parva of
6560-555: The Kauravas and the Pandavas . The text Harivamsa mentions that during the mourning period after Shantanu's death, Bhishma killed Ugrayudha Paurava, a statesman of Panchala kingdom who lusted for Satyavati and tried to buy her with wealth. According to the Mahabharata , Chitrangada was crowned as the king, however, he was soon killed by a Gandharva (celestial musician). Bhishma performed Chitrangada's funeral rites. Vichitravirya, who
6724-465: The Mahabharata narrates that the creator-god Brahma drank so much amrita that he vomited some of it, from which emerged Surabhi. According to the Ramayana , Surabhi is the daughter of Sage Kashyapa and his wife Krodhavasha , a daughter of Daksha . Her daughters Rohini and Gandharvi are the mothers of cattle and horses respectively. Still, it is Surabhi who is described as the mother of all cows in
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6888-484: The Mahabharata tells how she was given the ownership of Goloka , the cow-heaven located above the three worlds (heaven, earth and netherworld): the daughter of Daksha, Surabhi went to Mount Kailash and worshipped Brahma for 10,000 years. The pleased god conferred goddess-hood on the cow and decreed that all people would worship her and her children – cows. He also gave her a world called Goloka, while her daughters would reside on earth among humans. In one instance in
7052-626: The Prashwapastra against Parashurama , but the divine sage Narada and the gods intervened and showed their concern over the use of powerful weapons which could destroy the world. Parashurama ended the conflict and the battle was declared a stalemate. After hearing about the event, Amba decided to take her revenge on her own and did severe austerities to please the god Shiva . Shiva appeared in front of her and assured that she would be reborn and become instrumental in Bhishma's death. Satisfied, she then made
7216-624: The Rakshasa . In the epic, Devavrata received this as he undertook a fierce or terrible vow (Bhishma pratigya) and fulfilled it. Bhishma was given the name Devavrata (देवव्रत) at his birth, meaning one who is devoted to Gods. As Bhishma was the only surviving son of Ganga, he was given many epithets which mean "son of Ganga" — Gangaputra (गंगापुत्र), Gang (गंग), Gangasuta (गंगासुत) and Gangeya (गांगेय). The word Gangadatta (गंगादत्त) means given by Ganga. Patronymics of Bhishma include Shantanava (शान्तनव), Shantanuputra, Shantanusuta and Shantanuja. Bhishma
7380-610: The Ramayana , Surabhi is described to live in the city of Varuna – the lord of the oceans – which is situated below the earth in Patala (the netherworld). Her flowing sweet milk is said to form Kshiroda or the Kshira Sagara , the cosmic milk ocean. In the Udyoga Parva book of the Mahabharata , this milk is said to be of six flavours and has the essence of all the best things of the earth. The Udyoga Parva specifies that Surabhi inhabits
7544-744: The Rigveda had already evolved in the Vedic period, as evidenced in the later Vedic literature. Gombrich posits that the language in the early Upanishads of Hinduism and the late Vedic literature approaches Classical Sanskrit, while the archaic Vedic Sanskrit had by the Buddha 's time become unintelligible to all except ancient Indian sages. The formalization of the Saṃskṛta language is credited to Pāṇini , along with Patañjali's Mahābhāṣya and Katyayana's commentary that preceded Patañjali's work. Panini composed Aṣṭādhyāyī ('Eight-Chapter Grammar'), which became
7708-532: The Rigveda , a collection of 1,028 hymns composed between 1500 BCE and 1200 BCE by Indo-Aryan tribes migrating east from the mountains of what is today northern Afghanistan across northern Pakistan and into northwestern India. Vedic Sanskrit interacted with the preexisting ancient languages of the subcontinent, absorbing names of newly encountered plants and animals; in addition, the ancient Dravidian languages influenced Sanskrit's phonology and syntax. Sanskrit can also more narrowly refer to Classical Sanskrit ,
7872-526: The Rāmāyaṇa , however, were composed in a range of oral storytelling registers called Epic Sanskrit which was used in northern India between 400 BCE and 300 CE, and roughly contemporary with classical Sanskrit. In the following centuries, Sanskrit became tradition-bound, stopped being learned as a first language, and ultimately stopped developing as a living language. The hymns of the Rigveda are notably similar to
8036-402: The lingam (symbol of Shiva)—emerged before them. The decided that whoever among them was able to discover the end of this pillar would be deemed superior. Brahma flew towards the skies to try to find the northern end of the pillar, but failed. So, Brahma forced Surabhi (in some versions, Surabhi instead suggested that Brahma should lie) to falsely testify to Vishnu that Brahma had seen the top of
8200-406: The sandhi rules, both internal and external. Quite many words found in the early Vedic Sanskrit language are never found in late Vedic Sanskrit or Classical Sanskrit literature, while some words have different and new meanings in Classical Sanskrit when contextually compared to the early Vedic Sanskrit literature. Arthur Macdonell was among the early colonial era scholars who summarized some of
8364-500: The verbal adjective sáṃskṛta- is a compound word consisting of sáṃ ('together, good, well, perfected') and kṛta - ('made, formed, work'). It connotes a work that has been "well prepared, pure and perfect, polished, sacred". According to Biderman, the perfection contextually being referred to in the etymological origins of the word is its tonal—rather than semantic—qualities. Sound and oral transmission were highly valued qualities in ancient India, and its sages refined
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#17328552572508528-414: The 13th century, a premier center of Sanskrit literary creativity, Sanskrit literature there disappeared, perhaps in the "fires that periodically engulfed the capital of Kashmir" or the "Mongol invasion of 1320" states Pollock. The Sanskrit literature which was once widely disseminated out of the northwest regions of the subcontinent, stopped after the 12th century. As Hindu kingdoms fell in the eastern and
8692-521: The 7th century where he established a major center of learning and language translation under the patronage of Emperor Taizong. By the early 1st millennium CE, Sanskrit had spread Buddhist and Hindu ideas to Southeast Asia, parts of the East Asia and the Central Asia. It was accepted as a language of high culture and the preferred language by some of the local ruling elites in these regions. According to
8856-425: The Classical Sanskrit language launched ancient Indian speculations about "the nature and function of language", what is the relationship between words and their meanings in the context of a community of speakers, whether this relationship is objective or subjective, discovered or is created, how individuals learn and relate to the world around them through language, and about the limits of language? They speculated on
9020-521: The Dravidian languages borrowed from Sanskrit vocabulary, but they have also affected Sanskrit on deeper levels of structure, "for instance in the domain of phonology where Indo-Aryan retroflexes have been attributed to Dravidian influence". Similarly, Ferenc Ruzca states that all the major shifts in Indo-Aryan phonetics over two millennia can be attributed to the constant influence of a Dravidian language with
9184-513: The Dravidian words and forms, without modifying the word order; but the same thing is not possible in rendering a Persian or English sentence into a non-Indo-Aryan language. Shulman mentions that "Dravidian nonfinite verbal forms (called vinaiyeccam in Tamil) shaped the usage of the Sanskrit nonfinite verbs (originally derived from inflected forms of action nouns in Vedic). This particularly salient case of
9348-469: The Indo-Aryan language underwent rapid linguistic change and morphed into the Vedic Sanskrit language. The pre-Classical form of Sanskrit is known as Vedic Sanskrit . The earliest attested Sanskrit text is the Rigveda , a Hindu scripture from the mid- to late-second millennium BCE. No written records from such an early period survive, if any ever existed, but scholars are generally confident that
9512-507: The Indo-European languages are the Nuristani languages found in the remote Hindu Kush region of northeastern Afghanistan and northwestern Himalayas, as well as the extinct Avestan and Old Persian – both are Iranian languages . Sanskrit belongs to the satem group of the Indo-European languages. Colonial era scholars familiar with Latin and Greek were struck by the resemblance of
9676-529: The Kaurava camp as he would not kill any of the Pandavas. He also did not allow any of the Kauravas to be killed in the war, as he loved all his grand-nephews and wanted a peace negotiation. Duryodhana approached Bhishma one night and accused him of not fighting the battle to his full strength because of his affection for the Pandavas. On the next day there was an intense battle between Bhishma and Arjuna. Although Arjuna
9840-521: The Muslim rule in the form of Sultanates, and later the Mughal Empire . Sheldon Pollock characterises the decline of Sanskrit as a long-term "cultural, social, and political change". He dismisses the idea that Sanskrit declined due to "struggle with barbarous invaders", and emphasises factors such as the increasing attractiveness of vernacular language for literary expression. With the fall of Kashmir around
10004-489: The Muslim rulers. Hindu rulers such as Shivaji of the Maratha Empire , reversed the process, by re-adopting Sanskrit and re-asserting their socio-linguistic identity. After Islamic rule disintegrated in South Asia and the colonial rule era began, Sanskrit re-emerged but in the form of a "ghostly existence" in regions such as Bengal. This decline was the result of "political institutions and civic ethos" that did not support
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#173285525725010168-578: The Pandava prince Arjuna , aided by Shikhandi (reincarnation of Amba , Bhishma's past adversary), incapacitated him with a volley of arrows, leaving him lying on a bed of arrows . Bhishma spent fifty-one days in this state, offering counsel to the Pandavas and Kauravas alike. Before his death, timed to the auspicious Uttarayana (winter solstice), he imparted the Vishnu Sahasranama to Yudhishthira and shared his vast knowledge on governance, dharma, and
10332-488: The Saṃskṛta language, both in its vocabulary and grammar, to the classical languages of Europe. In The Oxford Introduction to Proto-Indo-European and the Proto-Indo-European World , Mallory and Adams illustrate the resemblance with the following examples of cognate forms (with the addition of Old English for further comparison): The correspondences suggest some common root, and historical links between some of
10496-616: The South India, such as the great Vijayanagara Empire , so did Sanskrit. There were exceptions and short periods of imperial support for Sanskrit, mostly concentrated during the reign of the tolerant Mughal emperor Akbar . Muslim rulers patronized the Middle Eastern language and scripts found in Persia and Arabia, and the Indians linguistically adapted to this Persianization to gain employment with
10660-447: The Vedic Sanskrit in these books of the Ṛg-veda "hardly presents any dialectical diversity", states Louis Renou – an Indologist known for his scholarship of the Sanskrit literature and the Ṛg-veda in particular. According to Renou, this implies that the Vedic Sanskrit language had a "set linguistic pattern" by the second half of the 2nd millennium BCE. Beyond the Ṛg-veda, the ancient literature in Vedic Sanskrit that has survived into
10824-451: The Vedic Sanskrit's bahulam framework, to respect liberty and creativity so that individual writers separated by geography or time would have the choice to express facts and their views in their own way, where tradition followed competitive forms of the Sanskrit language. The phonetic differences between Vedic Sanskrit and Classical Sanskrit, as discerned from the current state of the surviving literature, are negligible when compared to
10988-510: The abduction of the celestial cow or her calf, the killing of Jamadagni by Kartavirya Arjuna, and the revenge of Parashurama resulting in the death of Kartavirya Arjuna, exist in other texts. The Bhagavata Purana mentions that the king abducted Kamadhenu as well as her calf and Parashurama defeated the king and returned the kine to his father. The Padma Purana mentions that when Kartavirya Arjuna tried to capture her, Kamadhenu, by her own power, defeated him and his army and flew off to heaven;
11152-455: The alphabet, the structure of words, and its exacting grammar into a "collection of sounds, a kind of sublime musical mold" as an integral language they called Saṃskṛta . From the late Vedic period onwards, state Annette Wilke and Oliver Moebus, resonating sound and its musical foundations attracted an "exceptionally large amount of linguistic, philosophical and religious literature" in India. Sound
11316-454: The arrow bed. He did wait for about 58 nights for the winter solstice or first day of Uttarayana to give up his body on the arrow bed. His body was later cremated by Emperor Yudhishthira in a great ceremony. Mahabharata states that he attained salvation after his death. He was granted the Maatru Lok (which is considered even above Swarga, the heaven). Magha (month) Shukla Ashtami marks
11480-564: The battle between Bhishma and Parashurama. When Amba requested Shalva to marry her, he rejected her, claiming that he was already humiliated during the Svayamvara. He also told her that he could not accept a woman, who was won by another man. A variant suggests that after Amba returned to Hastinapur, Bhishma then asked Vichitravirya to marry her, but he also refused to marry her as she loved another man. With no one to accept her, Amba blamed Bhishma for her misery and wanted revenge from him. She went to
11644-442: The bed of arrows above the ground, his head hung unsupported. Hearing this, many of the princes, both Kaurava and the Pandava alike brought him pillows of silk and velvet, but he refused them. He asked Arjuna to give him a pillow fit for a warrior. Arjuna then removed three arrows from his quiver and placed them underneath Bhishma's head, the pointed arrow tips facing upwards. To quench the war veteran's thirst, Arjuna shot an arrow into
11808-524: The boats crossing the Yamuna . He fell in love with her and asked for her hand in marriage from her father. However, the fisherman-chief told that he would only agree if Shantanu promised to put the son born to Satyavati as the heir. Shantanu rejected the offer as he had already promised the throne to Devavrata and returned to the palace. He started to avoid any company and spend his time in bed in grief and solitude. Devavrata noticed his father's sorrow and discovered
11972-524: The body of a white Zebu cow, crowned woman's head, colourful eagle wings and a peacock's tail. According to the Philadelphia Museum of Art , this form is influenced by the iconography of the Islamic Buraq , who is portrayed with a horse's body, wings, and a woman's face. Contemporary poster art also portrays Kamadhenu in this form. A cow, identified with Kamadhenu, is often depicted accompanying
12136-440: The capacity to understand the old Prakrit languages such as Ardhamagadhi . A section of European scholars state that Sanskrit was never a spoken language. However, evidences shows that Sanskrit was a spoken language, essential for oral tradition that preserved the vast number of Sanskrit manuscripts from ancient India. The textual evidence in the works of Yaksa, Panini, and Patanajali affirms that Classical Sanskrit in their era
12300-522: The churning of the cosmic ocean ( Samudra Manthana ) by the gods and demons to acquire amrita (ambrosia, elixir of life). As such, she is regarded the offspring of the gods and demons, created when they churned the cosmic milk ocean and then given to the Saptarishi , the seven great seers. She was ordered by the creator-god Brahma to give milk, and supply it and ghee ("clarified butter") for ritual fire-sacrifices. The Anushasana Parva book of
12464-517: The close relationship between the Indo-Iranian tongues and the Baltic and Slavic languages , vocabulary exchange with the non-Indo-European Uralic languages , and the nature of the attested Indo-European words for flora and fauna. The pre-history of Indo-Aryan languages which preceded Vedic Sanskrit is unclear and various hypotheses place it over a fairly wide limit. According to Thomas Burrow, based on
12628-559: The context of a speech or language, is found in verses 5.28.17–19 of the Ramayana . Outside the learned sphere of written Classical Sanskrit, vernacular colloquial dialects ( Prakrits ) continued to evolve. Sanskrit co-existed with numerous other Prakrit languages of ancient India. The Prakrit languages of India also have ancient roots and some Sanskrit scholars have called these Apabhramsa , literally 'spoiled'. The Vedic literature includes words whose phonetic equivalent are not found in other Indo-European languages but which are found in
12792-639: The crystallization of Classical Sanskrit. As in this period the Indo-Aryan tribes had not yet made contact with the inhabitants of the South of the subcontinent, this suggests a significant presence of Dravidian speakers in North India (the central Gangetic plain and the classical Madhyadeśa) who were instrumental in this substratal influence on Sanskrit. Extant manuscripts in Sanskrit number over 30 million, one hundred times those in Greek and Latin combined, constituting
12956-404: The death anniversary of Bhishma Pitamah (Father), the day being known as Bhishma Ashtami . Hindus observe Ekodishta Śrāddha for him on this day, for many generations, and can only be performed by those whose fathers are not alive. Bhishma Panchaka vrata (fast) is observed in all Vishnu temples, starting from Bhishma Ashtami, for five days until Bhishma Dwadasi. People believe that they will have
13120-467: The detailed and sophisticated treatise then transmitted it through his students. Modern scholarship generally accepts that he knew of a form of writing, based on references to words such as Lipi ('script') and lipikara ('scribe') in section 3.2 of the Aṣṭādhyāyī . The Classical Sanskrit language formalized by Pāṇini, states Renou, is "not an impoverished language", rather it is "a controlled and
13284-467: The differences between the Vedic and Classical Sanskrit. Louis Renou published in 1956, in French, a more extensive discussion of the similarities, the differences and the evolution of the Vedic Sanskrit within the Vedic period and then to the Classical Sanskrit along with his views on the history. This work has been translated by Jagbans Balbir. The earliest known use of the word Saṃskṛta (Sanskrit), in
13448-456: The distant major ancient languages of the world. The Indo-Aryan migrations theory explains the common features shared by Sanskrit and other Indo-European languages by proposing that the original speakers of what became Sanskrit arrived in South Asia from a region of common origin, somewhere north-west of the Indus region , during the early 2nd millennium BCE. Evidence for such a theory includes
13612-405: The divine cow Kamadhenu, the mother of cattle who is also sometimes described as a Matrika ("mother") goddess. Other proper names attributed to Kamadhenu are Sabala ("the spotted one") and Kapila ("the red one"). The epithets "Kamadhenu" ( कामधेनु ), "Kamaduh" ( कामदुह् ) and "Kamaduha" ( कामदुहा ) literally mean the cow "from whom all that is desired is drawn"—"the cow of plenty". In
13776-470: The duties of a king. Revered in Hindu tradition, Bhishma's legacy endures as a paragon of sacrifice and duty. His death anniversary, observed as Bhishma Ashtami , falls on the eighth lunar day of the bright half of the Magha month (January–February). According to Monier Monier-Williams , the word Bhishma (भीष्म) means "extreme" or "fierce". The word is also used to describe Rudra , the fierce god, as well as
13940-483: The early medieval era, it became a language of religion and high culture , and of the political elites in some of these regions. As a result, Sanskrit had a lasting impact on the languages of South Asia, Southeast Asia and East Asia, especially in their formal and learned vocabularies. Sanskrit generally connotes several Old Indo-Aryan language varieties. The most archaic of these is the Vedic Sanskrit found in
14104-410: The earth, and a jet stream of water rose up and into Bhishma's mouth. It is said that Ganga herself rose to quench her son's thirst. After the war, while on his deathbed (arrow bed), he gave deep and meaningful instructions to Yudhishthira on statesmanship and the duties of a king. Bhishma always gave priority to Dharma . He always walked in the path of Dharma, despite his state because of the vow, he
14268-521: The enraged king then killed Jamadagni. In the Brahmanda Purana , Kamadhenu creates a great city by her power to accommodate Kartavirya Arjuna's army, when they visit Jamadagni's hermitage. On returning to his kingdom, Kartavirya Arjuna's minister, Chandragupta, persuades him to capture the divine cow. The minister returns to the hermitage and tries to convince the sage to give away the cow, but to no avail, so he tries to snatch Kamadhenu with force. In
14432-459: The ensuing fight, the sage is killed, but Kamadhenu escapes to the sky and Chandragupta takes her calf with him instead. The Brahmanda Purana narrates this Kamadhenu Sushila was given to Jamadagni by the Kamadhenu-Surabhi, who governs in Goloka . The Brahma Vaivarta Purana narrates that the celestial cow – called Kapila here – produces various weapons and an army to aid Jamadagni defeat
14596-463: The epic narrates that Surabhi was born from the belch of "the creator" ( Prajapati ) Daksha after he drank the amrita that rose from the Samudra Manthana. Further, Surabhi gave birth to many golden cows called Kapila cows , who were called the mothers of the world. The Satapatha Brahmana also tells a similar tale: Prajapati created Surabhi from his breath. The Udyoga Parva book of
14760-543: The first language of the respective speakers. The Sanskrit language brought Indo-Aryan speaking people together, particularly its elite scholars. Some of these scholars of Indian history regionally produced vernacularized Sanskrit to reach wider audiences, as evidenced by texts discovered in Rajasthan, Gujarat, and Maharashtra. Once the audience became familiar with the easier to understand vernacularized version of Sanskrit, those interested could graduate from colloquial Sanskrit to
14924-420: The following story. Once the celestial Vasus and their wives were enjoying themselves in the forest when the wife of Dyu spotted an excellent cow and asked her husband to steal it. The cow was Nandini, daughter of the wish-fulfilling cow Surabhi , and was owned by the sage Vashishtha . With the help of his brothers, Dyu tried to steal it but Vashishtha caught them and cursed them to be born as mortals and suffer
15088-418: The forest with his wives. Dhritarashtra was made the de facto king and Gandhari gave birth to the Kauravas siblings. Meanwhile, Pandu's two wives gave birth to the five Pandava brothers. After the premature death of Pandu, his first wife Kunti returned to Hastinapur with her sons. Satyavati, along with Ambika and Ambalika, decided to retire to the forest for penance, leaving Bhishma with the responsibility of
15252-412: The foundation of Vyākaraṇa, a Vedānga . The Aṣṭādhyāyī was not the first description of Sanskrit grammar, but it is the earliest that has survived in full, and the culmination of a long grammatical tradition that Fortson says, is "one of the intellectual wonders of the ancient world". Pāṇini cites ten scholars on the phonological and grammatical aspects of the Sanskrit language before him, as well as
15416-489: The giver of milk and prosperity—be worshipped at Diwali on Bali Pratipada day. Various other scriptural references describe Surabhi as the mother of the Rudras including Nirrti (Kashyapa being the father), the cow Nandini and even the serpent-people nāgas . The Mahabharata also makes a passing reference to Surabhi as the mother of Nandini (literally "daughter") in the context of the birth of Bhishma , an incarnation of
15580-557: The god Dattatreya . In relation to the deity's iconography, she denotes the Brahminical aspect and Vaishnava connection of the deity contrasting with the accompanying dogs—symbolizing a non-Brahminical aspect. She also symbolizes the Panch Bhuta (the five classical elements) in the icon. Dattatreya is sometimes depicted holding the divine cow in one of his hands. The Mahabharata ( Adi Parva ) records that Kamadhenu-Surabhi rose from
15744-537: The gods Varuna, Mitra, Indra, and Nasatya found in the earliest layers of the Vedic literature. O Bṛhaspati, when in giving names they first set forth the beginning of Language, Their most excellent and spotless secret was laid bare through love, When the wise ones formed Language with their mind, purifying it like grain with a winnowing fan, Then friends knew friendships – an auspicious mark placed on their language. — Rigveda 10.71.1–4 Translated by Roger Woodard The Vedic Sanskrit found in
15908-443: The great battle at Kurukshetra , Bhishma was the supreme commander of the Kaurava forces for ten days. He fought reluctantly on the side of the Kauravas , having vowed to protect the city of Hastinapur from all threats and invasions. Before the battle, at the Kauravas army's assembly, Bhishma singled out Karna and forbade him from participating in the war under his command, and even affronted him as Sutaputra (son of Suta - child of
16072-431: The historic Sanskrit literary culture and the failure of new Sanskrit literature to assimilate into the changing cultural and political environment. Sheldon Pollock states that in some crucial way, "Sanskrit is dead ". After the 12th century, the Sanskrit literary works were reduced to "reinscription and restatements" of ideas already explored, and any creativity was restricted to hymns and verses. This contrasted with
16236-478: The intense change that must have occurred in the pre-Vedic period between the Proto-Indo-Aryan language and Vedic Sanskrit. The noticeable differences between the Vedic and the Classical Sanskrit include the much-expanded grammar and grammatical categories as well as the differences in the accent, the semantics and the syntax. There are also some differences between how some of the nouns and verbs end, as well as
16400-405: The king of Kuru kingdom , was on a hunting trip, when he saw a beautiful woman on the banks of the river Ganga . He fell in love with her and asked for her hand in marriage. The lady agreed to his proposal but with one condition that he will never question her actions; and if this condition was broken, she would abandon him. Shantanu accepted it and lived a happy marital life with her. However, when
16564-486: The king or at least impregnate them to produce an heir. However Bhishma refused the proposal and told her about his vow. He then suggested that a sage could be requested to perform Niyoga (a practice in which another person is requested to impregnate a woman, whose husband is deceased or impotent). Satyavati called her premarital born son, Vyasa , to impregnate her daughters-in-law. Three children were born— Dhritarashtra from Ambika, Pandu from Ambalika and Vidura from
16728-454: The king to be rendered childless. Since Kamadhenu had gone to Patala, the guru of Dilipa, Vasishtha advised the king to serve Nandini, Kamadhenu's daughter, who was in the hermitage. The king and his wife propitiated Nandini, who neutralized her mother's curse and blessed the king to have a son, who was named Raghu . In the Ramayana , Surabhi is described to be distressed by the treatment of her sons—the oxen—in fields. Her tears are considered
16892-411: The king's army, who had come to seize her. When the king himself challenged Jamadagni for battle, Kapila instructed her master in martial arts. Jamadagni led the army created by Kapila and defeated the king and his army several times; each time sparing the life of the king. Finally, with the aid of a divine spear granted to him by the god Dattatreya , the king killed Jamadagni. The Ramayana presents
17056-409: The kingdom. A Brahmin warrior Drona , was hired by Bhishma to train the princes in warfare. From their childhood, the Kauravas hated their cousins and tried to kill them multiple times. One such was the event of Lakshagriha , in which Duryodhana —the eldest Kaurava—decided to burn the Pandavas. Bhishma was despondent but Vidura consoled him and told them that the Pandavas were alive. The event led to
17220-467: The kings of several kingdom and tried to convince them to slay Bhishma; but none of them agreed. After she was advised by some sages, she met Parasurama, Bhishma's teacher and successfully convinced him in giving vow to help her. Parasurama went to Kurukshetra and sent a message to Bhishma to meet him. Bhishma arrived at the place and offered his service to his teacher. Wanting to solve the situation, Parasurama ordered him to marry Amba, telling him that it
17384-432: The largest cultural heritage that any civilization has produced prior to the invention of the printing press. — Foreword of Sanskrit Computational Linguistics (2009), Gérard Huet, Amba Kulkarni and Peter Scharf Sanskrit has been the predominant language of Hindu texts encompassing a rich tradition of philosophical and religious texts, as well as poetry, music, drama , scientific , technical and others. It
17548-435: The legend, which appears in the epic Mahabharata , narrates that the thousand-armed Haihaya king, Kartavirya Arjuna , destroyed Jamadagni's hermitage and captured the calf of Kamadhenu. To retrieve the calf, Jamadagni's son Parashurama slew the king, whose sons in turn killed Jamadagni. Parashurama then destroyed the kshatriya ("warrior") race 21 times and his father is resurrected by divine grace. Similar accounts of
17712-499: The lingam; Shiva punished Surabhi for her dishonesty by declaring hat her bovine offspring would consume unholy substances. This tale appears in the Skanda Purana . Some temples and houses have images of Kamadhenu, which are worshipped. However, she has never had a worship cult dedicated to her and does not have any temples where she is worshipped as the chief deity. A recent temple called Kamadhenu Devi Temple, KR Puram, Bangalore
17876-412: The linguistic expression and sets the standard for the Sanskrit language. Pāṇini made use of a technical metalanguage consisting of a syntax, morphology and lexicon. This metalanguage is organised according to a series of meta-rules, some of which are explicitly stated while others can be deduced. Despite differences in the analysis from that of modern linguistics, Pāṇini's work has been found valuable and
18040-402: The literary works. The Indian tradition, states Winternitz , has favored the learning and the usage of multiple languages from the ancient times. Sanskrit was a spoken language in the educated and the elite classes, but it was also a language that must have been understood in a wider circle of society because the widely popular folk epics and stories such as the Ramayana , the Mahabharata ,
18204-505: The lowest realm of Patala , known as Rasatala , and has four daughters – the Dikpali s – the guardian cow goddesses of the heavenly quarters: Saurabhi in the east, Harhsika in the south, Subhadra in the west, and Dhenu in the north. Apart from Goloka and Patala, Kamadhenu is also described as residing in the hermitages of the sages Jamadagni and Vasishtha. The scholar Mani explains the contradicting stories of Kamadhenu's birth and presence in
18368-490: The milk of one's desires. In verse 10.28, when Krishna declares to the source of the universe, he proclaims that among cows, he is Kamaduh. In the Anushasana Parva of the Mahabharata , the god Shiva is described to have cast a curse on Surabhi. This curse is interpreted as a reference to the following legend: Once, when the gods Brahma and Vishnu disputed over each other's superiority, a massive, fiery pillar of light—
18532-501: The modern age include the Samaveda , Yajurveda , Atharvaveda , along with the embedded and layered Vedic texts such as the Brahmanas , Aranyakas , and the early Upanishads . These Vedic documents reflect the dialects of Sanskrit found in the various parts of the northwestern, northern, and eastern Indian subcontinent. According to Michael Witzel, Vedic Sanskrit was a spoken language of
18696-429: The more advanced Classical Sanskrit. Rituals and the rites-of-passage ceremonies have been and continue to be the other occasions where a wide spectrum of people hear Sanskrit, and occasionally join in to speak some Sanskrit words such as namah . Classical Sanskrit is the standard register as laid out in the grammar of Pāṇini , around the fourth century BCE. Its position in the cultures of Greater India
18860-401: The most advanced analysis of linguistics until the twentieth century. Pāṇini's comprehensive and scientific theory of grammar is conventionally taken to mark the start of Classical Sanskrit. His systematic treatise inspired and made Sanskrit the preeminent Indian language of learning and literature for two millennia. It is unclear whether Pāṇini himself wrote his treatise or he orally created
19024-593: The most archaic poems of the Iranian and Greek language families, the Gathas of old Avestan and Iliad of Homer . As the Rigveda was orally transmitted by methods of memorisation of exceptional complexity, rigour and fidelity, as a single text without variant readings, its preserved archaic syntax and morphology are of vital importance in the reconstruction of the common ancestor language Proto-Indo-European . Sanskrit does not have an attested native script: from around
19188-465: The mother of cows and quadrupeds. In another instance, she is described as a daughter of Daksha, wife of Kashyapa and the mother of cows. The Harivamsa , an appendix of the Mahabharata , calls Surabhi the mother of amrita, Brahmins , cows, and the Rudras . The Devi Bhagavata Purana narrates that Krishna and his lover Radha were enjoying dalliance, when they thirsted for milk. So, Krishna created
19352-535: The numbers are thought to signify a wish to be aligned with the prestige of the language. Sanskrit has been taught in traditional gurukulas since ancient times; it is widely taught today at the secondary school level. The oldest Sanskrit college is the Benares Sanskrit College founded in 1791 during East India Company rule . Sanskrit continues to be widely used as a ceremonial and ritual language in Hindu and Buddhist hymns and chants . In Sanskrit,
19516-424: The opposite gender, he would lay down his arms and fight no longer. Later Krishna told Arjuna how he could bring down Bhishma, through the help of Shikhandi . The Pandavas were not agreeable to such a ploy, as by using such tactics they would not be following the path of Dharma, but Krishna suggested a clever alternative. And thus, on the next day, the tenth day of battle Shikhandi was accompanied by Arjuna as Arjuna
19680-403: The oral transmission of the texts is reliable: they are ceremonial literature, where the exact phonetic expression and its preservation were a part of the historic tradition. However some scholars have suggested that the original Ṛg-veda differed in some fundamental ways in phonology compared to the sole surviving version available to us. In particular that retroflex consonants did not exist as
19844-431: The other." Reinöhl further states that there is a symmetric relationship between Dravidian languages like Kannada or Tamil, with Indo-Aryan languages like Bengali or Hindi, whereas the same relationship is not found for non-Indo-Aryan languages, for example, Persian or English: A sentence in a Dravidian language like Tamil or Kannada becomes ordinarily good Bengali or Hindi by substituting Bengali or Hindi equivalents for
20008-512: The position to Bhishma, but after Bhishma showed no objection in honouring Krishna, Shishupala started insulting him. Bhishma was present during the gambling game in Hastinapur , where Draupadi —the wife of the Pandavas—was humiliated in the court. When she questioned the dharma of Yudhishthira losing her in the game, Bhishma tried but failed to answer her and described dharma to be subtle. In
20172-414: The possible influence of Dravidian on Sanskrit is only one of many items of syntactic assimilation, not least among them the large repertoire of morphological modality and aspect that, once one knows to look for it, can be found everywhere in classical and postclassical Sanskrit". The main influence of Dravidian on Sanskrit is found to have been concentrated in the timespan between the late Vedic period and
20336-439: The previous 1,500 years when "great experiments in moral and aesthetic imagination" marked the Indian scholarship using Classical Sanskrit, states Pollock. Scholars maintain that the Sanskrit language did not die, but rather only declined. Jurgen Hanneder disagrees with Pollock, finding his arguments elegant but "often arbitrary". According to Hanneder, a decline or regional absence of creative and innovative literature constitutes
20500-587: The princesses, who were choosing their spouse in a Swayamvara (ceremony where a woman chooses her husband from a group of suitors either by holding a competition or a task and the winner marries the princess). Shalva , the ruler of Shalwa or Saubala Kingdom and the lover of Amba, attempted to stop Bhishma but failed. Upon reaching Hastinapura , Ambika and Ambalika consented to marry Vichitravirya, while Amba told Bhishma about her love for Shalva. Learning about her feelings, Bhishma sent Amba to Saubala Kingdom. The Udyoga Parva further narrates about Amba as well as
20664-480: The problems of interpretation and misunderstanding. The purifying structure of the Sanskrit language removes these imperfections. The early Sanskrit grammarian Daṇḍin states, for example, that much in the Prakrit languages is etymologically rooted in Sanskrit, but involves "loss of sounds" and corruptions that result from a "disregard of the grammar". Daṇḍin acknowledged that there are words and confusing structures in Prakrit that thrive independent of Sanskrit. This view
20828-405: The processions of many gods and sages by stating that while there could be more than one Kamadhenu, all of them are incarnations of the original Kamadhenu, the mother of cows. The Bhagavad Gita , a discourse by the god Krishna in the Mahabharata , twice refers to Kamadhenu as Kamaduh . In verse 3.10, Krishna makes a reference to Kamaduh while conveying that for doing one's duty, one would get
20992-401: The protector of Hastinapur humbly telling the avatar of Vishnu that he would immediately lay down his life should Krishna took action here and now. Arjuna ultimately convinced Krishna to remain true to his vow and returned themselves to their chariot. Thus Bhishma fulfilled his vow of forcing Krishna to raise a weapon. Then Arjuna used stronger weapons, injuring Bhishma. Bhishma and Arjuna's duel
21156-487: The reason behind it from a minister. Devavrata immediately rushed to the cottage of the fishermen-chief and begged him for Satyavati, but the fishermen-chief repeated his former condition. For his father's pleasure and happiness, Devavrata ceded his rights to the throne and promised to put the son of Satyavati on the throne of the kingdom. Satyavati's father was not assured as he claimed that disputes were likely to arise between Satyavati's son and Devavrata's children regarding
21320-596: The regional Prakrit languages, which makes it likely that the interaction, the sharing of words and ideas began early in the Indian history. As the Indian thought diversified and challenged earlier beliefs of Hinduism, particularly in the form of Buddhism and Jainism , the Prakrit languages such as Pali in Theravada Buddhism and Ardhamagadhi in Jainism competed with Sanskrit in the ancient times. However, states Paul Dundas , these ancient Prakrit languages had "roughly
21484-490: The relationship between various Indo-European languages, the origin of all these languages may possibly be in what is now Central or Eastern Europe, while the Indo-Iranian group possibly arose in Central Russia. The Iranian and Indo-Aryan branches separated quite early. It is the Indo-Aryan branch that moved into eastern Iran and then south into South Asia in the first half of the 2nd millennium BCE. Once in ancient India,
21648-419: The rights to the throne. To satisfy him, Devavrata took the vow of lifelong Brahmacharya (celibacy), thus denying himself the pleasures of marital life. The celestials showered flowers from heaven and he came to be known as "Bhishma" as he took a terrible vow. With the consent of the fisherman, Bhishma took Satyavati to his father on a chariot and informed him about his vows. A loving father Shantanu gave him
21812-448: The river goddess Ganga , he was originally named Devavrata. He was designated the heir-apparent to the throne. However, he renounced his claim and took a vow of lifelong celibacy to facilitate his father's marriage to Satyavati . This unparalleled sacrifice earned him the title Bhishma, meaning "the one who undertakes a severe vow," and he was blessed with Ichcha Mrityu —the boon of choosing his time of death. Bhishma's life after his vow
21976-558: The role of language, the ontological status of painting word-images through sound, and the need for rules so that it can serve as a means for a community of speakers, separated by geography or time, to share and understand profound ideas from each other. These speculations became particularly important to the Mīmāṃsā and the Nyaya schools of Hindu philosophy, and later to Vedanta and Mahayana Buddhism, states Frits Staal —a scholar of Linguistics with
22140-543: The sacred cow , who is regarded as the source of all prosperity in Hinduism. Kamadhenu is regarded as a form of Devi (the Hindu Divine Mother) and is closely related to the fertile Mother Earth ( Prithvi ), who is often described as a cow in Sanskrit. The sacred cow denotes "purity and non-erotic fertility, ... sacrificing and motherly nature, [and] sustenance of human life". Frederick M. Smith describes Kamadhenu as
22304-477: The sage refused to part with Sabala, who was necessary for the performance of the sacred rituals and charity by the sage. Agitated, Vishvamitra seized Sabala by force, but she returned to her master, fighting the king's men. She hinted Vasishtha to order her to destroy the king's army and the sage followed her wish. Intensely, she produced Pahlava warriors, who were slain by Vishvamitra's army. So she produced warriors of Shaka - Yavana lineage. From her mouth emerged
22468-491: The same relationship to Sanskrit as medieval Italian does to Latin". The Indian tradition states that the Buddha and the Mahavira preferred the Prakrit language so that everyone could understand it. However, scholars such as Dundas have questioned this hypothesis. They state that there is no evidence for this and whatever evidence is available suggests that by the start of the common era, hardly anybody other than learned monks had
22632-551: The semi-nomadic Aryans . The Vedic Sanskrit language or a closely related Indo-European variant was recognized beyond ancient India as evidenced by the " Mitanni Treaty" between the ancient Hittite and Mitanni people, carved into a rock, in a region that now includes parts of Syria and Turkey. Parts of this treaty, such as the names of the Mitanni princes and technical terms related to horse training, for reasons not understood, are in early forms of Vedic Sanskrit. The treaty also invokes
22796-419: The similarities and begged Ganga to return him. Ganga appeared in a youthful form and handed her son to Shantanu as per her promise. The young Devavrata was known as Gangadatta as he was handed over by Ganga. Devavrata was made the heir-apparent, and the citizens loved him because of his divine background and eligibility. Meanwhile, Shantanu went to the forest and met a fisherwoman named Satyavati , who operated
22960-594: The social structures such as the role of the poet and the priests, the patronage economy, the phrasal equations, and some of the poetic metres. While there are similarities, state Jamison and Brereton, there are also differences between Vedic Sanskrit, the Old Avestan, and the Mycenaean Greek literature. For example, unlike the Sanskrit similes in the Ṛg-veda, the Old Avestan Gathas lack simile entirely, and it
23124-595: The succession dispute between Duryodhana and Yudhishthira . To resolve this, Bhishma advised Dhritarashtra to divide the kingdom among the princes. The Pandavas made their capital in Indraprastha and performed the Rajasuya to achieve sovereignty and the status of the emperor. Bhishma supported them and attended the ceremony. He suggested Yudhishthira give Krishna the highest place in the ceremony, but this enraged Shishupala —an enemy of Krishna. He initially protested to give
23288-462: The text. However, in the Puranas , such as Vishnu Purana and Bhagavata Purana , Surabhi is described as the daughter of Daksha and the wife of Kashyapa, as well as the mother of cows and buffaloes. The Matsya Purana notes two conflicting descriptions of Surabhi. In one chapter, it describes Surabhi as the consort of Brahma and their union produced the cow Yogishvari, She is then described as
23452-641: The turn of the 1st-millennium CE, it has been written in various Brahmic scripts , and in the modern era most commonly in Devanagari . Sanskrit's status, function, and place in India's cultural heritage are recognized by its inclusion in the Constitution of India 's Eighth Schedule languages . However, despite attempts at revival, there are no first-language speakers of Sanskrit in India. In each of India's recent decennial censuses, several thousand citizens have reported Sanskrit to be their mother tongue, but
23616-460: The upbringing of their children—the Pandavas and the Kauravas. Bhishma also mediated numerous conflicts within the royal family. Despite his personal allegiance to dharma , Bhishma's loyalty to the throne bound him to side with the Kauravas during the Kurukshetra War. In battle, Bhishma was unmatched in skill and strategy, holding off the Pandava forces for ten days. On the tenth day, however,
23780-408: The variants in the usage of Sanskrit in different regions of India. The ten Vedic scholars he quotes are Āpiśali, Kaśyapa , Gārgya, Gālava, Cakravarmaṇa, Bhāradvāja , Śākaṭāyana, Śākalya, Senaka and Sphoṭāyana. In the Aṣṭādhyāyī , language is observed in a manner that has no parallel among Greek or Latin grammarians. Pāṇini's grammar, according to Renou and Filliozat, is a classic that defines
23944-564: The vernacular Prakrits. Many Sanskrit dramas indicate that the language coexisted with the vernacular Prakrits. The cities of Varanasi , Paithan , Pune and Kanchipuram were centers of classical Sanskrit learning and public debates until the arrival of the colonial era. According to Lamotte , Sanskrit became the dominant literary and inscriptional language because of its precision in communication. It was, states Lamotte, an ideal instrument for presenting ideas, and as knowledge in Sanskrit multiplied, so did its spread and influence. Sanskrit
24108-497: The Ṛg-veda is distinctly more archaic than other Vedic texts, and in many respects, the Rigvedic language is notably more similar to those found in the archaic texts of Old Avestan Zoroastrian Gathas and Homer's Iliad and Odyssey . According to Stephanie W. Jamison and Joel P. Brereton – Indologists known for their translation of the Ṛg-veda – the Vedic Sanskrit literature "clearly inherited" from Indo-Iranian and Indo-European times
24272-408: Was a spoken language ( bhasha ) used by the cultured and educated. Some sutras expound upon the variant forms of spoken Sanskrit versus written Sanskrit. Chinese Buddhist pilgrim Xuanzang mentioned in his memoir that official philosophical debates in India were held in Sanskrit, not in the vernacular language of that region. According to Sanskrit linguist professor Madhav Deshpande, Sanskrit
24436-427: Was a spoken language in a colloquial form by the mid-1st millennium BCE which coexisted with a more formal, grammatically correct form of literary Sanskrit. This, states Deshpande, is true for modern languages where colloquial incorrect approximations and dialects of a language are spoken and understood, along with more "refined, sophisticated and grammatically accurate" forms of the same language being found in
24600-472: Was adopted voluntarily as a vehicle of high culture, arts, and profound ideas. Pollock disagrees with Lamotte, but concurs that Sanskrit's influence grew into what he terms a "Sanskrit Cosmopolis" over a region that included all of South Asia and much of southeast Asia. The Sanskrit language cosmopolis thrived beyond India between 300 and 1300 CE. Today, it is believed that Kashmiri is the closest language to Sanskrit. Reinöhl mentions that not only have
24764-449: Was also referred as: Bhishma's birth and youth are mainly narrated in the Adi Parva book of the epic. He was the only surviving son of Shantanu , a king belonging to the lunar dynasty , and his first wife Ganga , a river goddess. It is believed that he was the avatar of a Vasu named Dyu, alias Prabhasa. According to the legend, Shantanu, the youngest son of the king Pratipa and
24928-722: Was also the language of some of the oldest surviving, authoritative and much followed philosophical works of Jainism such as the Tattvartha Sutra by Umaswati . The Sanskrit language has been one of the major means for the transmission of knowledge and ideas in Asian history. Indian texts in Sanskrit were already in China by 402 CE, carried by the influential Buddhist pilgrim Faxian who translated them into Chinese by 418 CE. Xuanzang , another Chinese Buddhist pilgrim, learnt Sanskrit in India and carried 657 Sanskrit texts to China in
25092-495: Was broken. Before disappearing, she promised Shantanu to return his heir. Ganga named her son Devavrata and took him to different loka (realms), where he was brought up and trained by many eminent sages. Years later, Shantanu was roaming on the banks of the Ganga and observed that the water of the river had turned shallow. He saw a young man blocking the water currents with a dam made up of arrows. Shantanu recognised his son because of
25256-585: Was followed by a Bengali film in 1942 directed by Jyotish Bannerjee. Jahar Ganguli played the title role. The tank T-90 Main Battle Tank , one of the world's most advanced MBTs acquired from Russia for the Indian Army , is named after Bhishma. Sanskrit language Sanskrit ( / ˈ s æ n s k r ɪ t / ; attributively 𑀲𑀁𑀲𑁆𑀓𑀾𑀢𑀁 , संस्कृत- , saṃskṛta- ; nominally संस्कृतम् , saṃskṛtam , IPA: [ˈsɐ̃skr̩tɐm] )
25420-418: Was held above the ground by the shafts of Arjuna's arrows which protruded from his back, and through his arms and legs. Seeing Bhishma lying on such a bed of arrows humbled even the gods who watched from the heavens in reverence. They silently blessed the mighty warrior. When the young princes of both armies gathered around him, inquiring if there was anything they could do, he told them that while his body lay on
25584-407: Was his duty . However, Bhishma denied it, reminding him about his vow. This enraged Parashurama and he threatened Bhishma with death. Bhishma tried to calm him but it failed. An intense battle began with both protecting their words. They fought for twenty-three days, each using celestial weapons. Ganga tried to stop them but was unsuccessful. On the twenty-fourth day of battle, Bhishma attempted to use
25748-403: Was his chariot protector and they faced Bhishma who avoided Shikhandi. He was then felled in battle by Arjuna , pierced by innumerable arrows. Arjuna shot arrows at Bhishma, piercing his entire body. Thus, as was preordained (Mahadeva's boon to Amba that she would be the cause of Bhishma's fall) Shikhandi, that is, Amba reincarnated was the cause of Bhishma's fall. As Bhishma fell, his whole body
25912-417: Was in the possession of either Jamadagni or Vashista (both ancient sages), and that kings who tried to steal her from the sage ultimately faced dire consequences for their actions. Kamadhenu plays the important role of providing milk and milk products to be used in her sage-master's oblations; she is also capable of producing fierce warriors to protect him. In addition to dwelling in the sage's hermitage, she
26076-431: Was marked by unwavering loyalty to the Kuru dynasty. He served as the chief advisor and regent to successive rulers of Hastinapura , including his stepbrothers Chitrangada and Vichitravirya , as well as their successors— Pandu and Dhritarashtra . Under his guidance, the kingdom navigated complex political and familial challenges. He played a pivotal role in arranging the marriages of Pandu and Dhritarashtra as well as in
26240-492: Was praised by the gods themselves as they watched over it from the sky. The war was thus locked in a stalemate. As the Pandavas mulled over this situation, Krishna advised them to visit Bhishma himself and request him to suggest a way out of this stalemate. Bhishma loved the Pandavas and knew that he stood as an obstacle in their path to victory and so when they visited Bhishma, he gave them a hint as to how they could defeat him. He told them that if faced by one who had once been of
26404-440: Was supposed to forcefully follow the orders of his king Dhritharashtra, which were mostly Adharma , he was totally upset. He was sure he must let dharma win and Pandavas win, but the way he led the war and stayed silent were his sins in a way and he paid for it with the bed of arrows. Finally, Bhishma gave up the fight, focusing his life force and breath, sealing the wounds, and waiting for the auspicious moment to give up his body on
26568-427: Was too young to rule, was crowned as the king by Bhishma but the actual control of the kingdom was under Satyavati until he reached adulthood. Bhishma aided Satyavati during that time. When Vichitravirya grew up, Bhishma decided to bring Amba , Ambika and Ambalika —the princesses of Kashi kingdom —and get them married to him. Bhishma reached the kingdom and fought Shalva, easily defeating him and rightfully won over
26732-456: Was very very skilled and powerful, he was not fighting seriously as his heart was not in it to hurt his beloved grandsire Bhishma. Bhishma fired arrows such that Arjuna and Krishna were both injured. Krishna , enraged over Bhishma's devastation of the Pandavas army, got down from his charioteer seat and picked up a displaced wheel, intending to use it in place of his Sudarshana Chakra . Seeing this, both Arjuna and Bhishma stopped their battle, with
26896-442: Was visualized as "pervading all creation", another representation of the world itself; the "mysterious magnum" of Hindu thought. The search for perfection in thought and the goal of liberation were among the dimensions of sacred sound, and the common thread that wove all ideas and inspirations together became the quest for what the ancient Indians believed to be a perfect language, the "phonocentric episteme" of Sanskrit. Sanskrit as
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