Why Sanskrit?
Not a foreign tongue: the root of our words, script and books.
The roots of our words.
Many words we say every day in Nepali come from Sanskrit.
- पढ्नुपठतिto read
- लेख्नुलिखतिto write
- घरगृहम्house
- आगोअग्निःfire
- हातहस्तःhand
- कानकर्णःear
- दूधदुग्धम्milk
- सातसप्तseven
Nepal’s own motto is in Sanskrit.
The line on our coat of arms, read and understood in its own language.
जननी जन्मभूमिश्च स्वर्गादपि गरीयसी।
And four more reasons.
We already read the script
Devanagari is ours already; reading starts on day one.
Our festivals and calendar
Tithi, nakshatra and samvat are Sanskrit words.
Understand our prayers
Mantras at home, at school and at the temple, with meaning.
A language of rules
Panini’s grammar: learn one rule, and hundreds of forms open.
Deeper: these books, in their own words.
A translation carries the meaning; the original carries the taste as well.
The Upanishads
Who am I? The search for the self.
The Bhagavad Gita
Duty, action and a steady mind.
कर्मण्येवाधिकारस्ते मा फलेषु कदाचन।Bhagavad Gita 2.47
The Yoga Sutras
The stilling of the restless mind.
योगश्चित्तवृत्तिनिरोधः।Patanjali, Yoga Sutras 1.2
Jyotish and astronomy
Planets, eclipses and time, computed in verse; our patro still follows them.
Ayurveda
Its name says it: the knowledge of life.
तत् त्वम् असि।