Chennai: The Sanskrit language is of a wonderful structure; more perfect than the Greek and more copious than Latin, said Governor Banwarilal Purohit.
Quoting William Jones, known for his scholarly contributions about ancient India, the Governor explained that Sanskrit was exquisitely refined than either of the other two languages, yet bearing to both of them a stronger affinity, both in the roots of verbs and the forms of grammar than could possibly have been produced by accident.
Purohit was addressing a gathering after inaugurating a five-day workshop on Sanskrit inscriptions of India organised by Indra Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, New Delhi, and Kalakshetra Foundation, Chennai, here Sunday.
The Governor said Sanskrit was home to many religious, scientific and literary compositions. There was a huge treasure of knowledge still waiting to be tapped from Sanskrit sources.
A mathematics professor, David Pingree of Brown University has created a five-volume work called Census of Exact Sciences in Sanskrit which showcases the enormous scientific knowledge that is present in Sanskrit literature, he said.
In Prof K V Sharma’s work of research Science Texts in Sanskrit in the Manuscript Repositories of Kerala and Tamilnadu, it has been stated that there are about a lakh-and-ahalf manuscripts of Sanskrit in public repositories and in private collections in Tamilnadu and Kerala. Of them 12,250 are related to science. Of these 3,500 are major treatises on science, he said.
In the case of mathematics, the contribution of Sanskrit has been priceless. The concept of zero was invented in India. Aryabhatta, Varahamihira, Bhaskara, Brahmagupta and others have documented their brilliant exposition of mathematical rules more than a 1,000 years ago in Sanskrit. It will be enlightening for the people of the current generation to know that trigonometry and geometry also derive their origin from Sanskrit, the Governor said.
Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam head Vijayendra Saraswathi Swamigal, Kalakshetra chairman N Gopalaswami, Indra Gandhi National Centre for the Arts member-secretary Sachchidanand Joshi, Sri Chandrasekharendra Saraswathi Viswa Mahavidyalaya University former vice-chancellor R Nagaswamy participated.