Sanskrit and Indian Renaissance

Sanskrit language had played a crucial role for Indian Renaissance. The language had been once considered as God language and was used by the upper castes of the society. The Vedic rhymes, mantrās, purāṇās, upaniṣads and epics were composed in Sanskrit language which was not known to layman of Indian society. Sanskrit language was only used by the Brahmins, they were considered as the elite or clergy community of Hindus. But the same language helped to inculcate self respect to the Indians during the British reign by the social reformers of India.

19^th century witnessed tremendous changes in the socio economic scenario of India. Great souls like Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Swami Vivekananda, Sri Ramakrishna, Dayananda Saraswati managed to bring revolutions by making radical changes in the society.^[1] Their activities and thoughts guided the nation to a new beginning. The great reformers of 19^th century had ample knowledge in Indian tradition. They had learned Sanskrit and tried to liberate this language and its knowledge system from the custody of Brahmins and other higher castes. As a result the common people began to know the glorious past and achievements of the Nation. The Brahmin monopoly on Sanskrit language began to lose from that time onwards.

The study of Sanskrit became secular and popular with the encouragement of various private and government agencies. Democratization of Sanskrit language helped to change the caste ridden Indian society in a subtle way. The best example for this is the work and thoughts of Sri Narayana Guru, who was the pioneer of Kerala of social reformers. He belonged to an avarna community. He discovered the ideas of social justice unity and need for education and peaceful existence in Śaṅkara’s Advaita philosophy. This idea was against all kinds of sectarianism among the people. He propagated to follow the ideas of Advaita among the people of Kerala. Sri Narayana Guru encouraged the study of Sanskrit language among the people to empower them with knowledge and culture in a different manner.

Sanskrit language and literature was developed with the support of Indian feudalism under the control of the higher caste people. The popular regional uprisings against the feudal four caste system naturally turned against Sanskrit and its oppressive tradition. Most of the regional uprising have some anti Sanskrit elements as their fundamental trait. Thus two religious sects in Maharashtra, Mahānubhābapanta and Varakari, for example, even rejected Sanskrit language as the language of propaganda among the ordinary people. The Dravidian movement led by E.V. Ramaswami Naykar in Tamilnadu is another specimen for anti-Brahmanical struggle. He wrote several books with a firm antagonistic approach to Brahmanic culture. Re-interpretation of so many stories in regional languages from the epic and Purāṇa tradition, translation of Bhagavatgīta, Dvaita-Advaita, Viśiṣṭādvaita philosophies devotional works etc were composed through out India.

If we try to classify Sanskrit scholars lived during the time of Indian Renaissance (18^th and early 19^th centaury A.D) on the basis of their attitude to words orthodoxy and modernisation, three types are evident in the Indian scenario.^[2] The western educated young men criticised orthodoxy, old system of education and tradition and criticised them as of no value in the modern era of science and social revolution. For them Sanskrit was a dead language casteic in content and of no use for human progress. Such scathing criticism affected Sanskrit traditional scholarship negatively and it became clear that for survival of Sanskrit studies, some modernisation in methods and contents of study is necessary. While some orthodox scholars were not ready to change from their caste based attitudes towards Sanskrit, others were interested to cope up with the changes of time. Such orthodox scholars continued their works to teach and preach Sanskrit, but were willing to modify their attitudes. This happened in India everywhere due to the influence of Renaissance and modernisation. Introduction of western type of school and college education, fixing of a curriculum, tests and examination for students etc were introduced. Sanskrit teaching and education were remoulded on these lines with the support of the government and other resources available.

Lakṣmaṇa Sūrin was a scholar trained in the orthodox way but he was like Punnasseri Nambi of Kerala who was ready to accept the values of the great Renaissance movements. His activities could be compared to the scholars movement of that time centering at Kodungallur, Kozhikode and other oriental Paṇḍits and teachers of 19^th century Kerala. This would help to understand his status as a promulgator of Renaissance in Sanskrit studies which is closely related to the rebirth and revaluation of the Indian traditional scholarship and its accommodation in to modern education.

Punnasseri Nilakanta Sharma (1858-1934) was a renowned Sanskrit scholar and teacher of Kerala.^[3] He was born in 1858 in Pattambi in Palakkad district. He belonged to a Mūsad family. His father was Nārāyaṇa. He learned Sanskrit in the orthodox way and mastered the branches of traditional systems of Vyākaraṇa, Alaṅkāra, Vaidya and Jyotiṣa. He was a close friend of Manavikraman Zamorin of Calicut. He was famous among Sanskrit and Malayalam scholars. His fame stands out not only as a writer but also as a promoter of Sanskrit studies. In this way Sharma adorned a very high place among Kerala and Sanskrit scholars. His most important teacher was Macchāṭṭiḷayat, Keralavarma Unitiri, Ciṭṭilapaḷḷi Appuśāstri, Kizhakke Vallath Kunhunni Mūsad. He studied Vyākaraṇa, Jyotiṣa, Aṣṭāṅgahṛdaya, Taṛkka, Sāhitya etc. He also believed the theory of “efforts changes one’s life”.

He was a commentator, poet, critic, researcher, publisher etc. He wrote commentaries on ‘Kṛṣṇavilāsa and Mahiṣa-Maṅgala’. He also wrote ‘Tripurāryāstava, Ghoṣapura Mahārājñī Stava, Śailābdīswara Śataka, Dīpastamba Śataka, Śṛṅgamañjari Maṇḍana etc. He introduce a Sanskrit magazine called ‘Vijñānacintāmaṇi’. The aim of the magazine was to spread Sanskrit language among people. So many famous and unfamous writers wrote in Vijñācintāmaṇi magazine. The famous writers of Vijñānacintāmaṇi were Keralavarma Valiya Koyi Thamburan and A.R Rajaraja Varma. This magazine was very helpful to students. In 1888 he started ‘Sārasvatodyotini’ a center for Sanskrit teaching. This institution later became ‘Sree Nilakantha Government Sanskrit College Pattambi’. He received so many titles and honours from the Maharajas of Travancore and Cochin state and has chaired many Acadamic bodies. He died on September 14, 1934.

So many famous writers lived in Lakṣmaṇa Sūrin’s period. Their mission was to explore into the Sanskrit antiquity and discover the treasures of the past.

Some of the illustrious contemporaries of Lakṣmaṇa Sūrin are the following-

a) Krishnarama: he was a professor of Ayurveda in Jaipur about 1900 AD. In his Kacchavaṃśa, Jayapuravilāsa he described the greatness of the rulers of Jaipur. Among many poems he wrote Āryālaṅkaraśataka, Palanduśataka Muktaka, Muktāvali, Holamahotsava and Sāraśataka. These are the poetical epitome to several important Sanskrit works. In metrics he wrote Chandaścatamarḍana.^[4]

b) Ganapati Sastri: he was the son of Ramasubbha Iyer. He was born at Taruvai in Tinnevelly district in 1860 AD. He attained high proficiency in Sanskrit study in very early age and in his 17^th year, wrote a drama Mādhavīvāsanta^[5]. He was the principal of the Sanskrit college, Trivandrum. Moreover he was the Curator of Sanskrit publications in Trivandrum, under the patronage of the Maharaja of Travancore. The title of ‘Mahāmahopādhyāya’ was conferred on him. He passed away a few year ago. He has been known to the world as the discover or of Bhāsa’s lost dramas. His researches in literary history are of high merit and they are embodied in the introduction to his editions of works in the series. His original works are many. He was commented on the plays of Bhāsa and edited them himselves.

Among his poems are Śrīmūlacarita, a history of kings of Travancore, Bhāratavarṇana, a description of India, Tulapuruṣāḍana-kāvya, on the Tulābhāra ceremony in the palace, Aparṇastava in praise of Pārvatī and Cakravartiniguṇamaṇimāla on the Goddess of Queen Victoria. His Arthacitramaṇimāla is a historical work that is illustrations in praise of King Visakha Ramavarma, Maharaja of Travancore. His most important work is ‘Setuyātrānuvarṇana’ a romance in learned but easy Sanskrit prose with its theme the description of a pilgrimage to Ramesvara. It describes many of the social evils of the day and impresses on the reader’s mind, the sanctity and utility of Hindu ideals.

c) Vidhusekhara: he was a Bhaṭṭācārya of Śantiniketan, great Sanskrit and Bengali scholar^[6]. Besides works in Pāli, he wrote poems in Sanskrit, Yauvanavilāsa, Umāpariṇaya, Hariścandra Caritā and Citvilāsa and romance Candraprabha. He was the editor of Mitragoṣṭi, a Sanskrit journal of Banares.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

S.R. Bakshi, Lipi Mahajan, (Eds), Encyclopaedic History of Indian Culture and Religion, New Delhi: Deep & Deep Pub. Ltd., 2000, p.367.

[2]:

Prakash Chander, Encyclopaedia of Indian History, New Delhi: APH Publishing Corporation, 1999, p.608.

[3]:

M. Krishnamachariar, History of Classical Sanskrit Literature, Delhi: Motilal Banarasidas, 2004, p.302.

[4]:

Ibid., p.301

[5]:

Ibid.,

[6]:

Ibid., p.302