Sanskrit - Is it a Language?

What? Sanskrit is not a language? Then what is it? Sanskrit could be very ancient, mother/father/cousin/whatever of Indo-European languages. However, here the proposition is that Sanskrit is not a language in the way we typically know a language in a traditional sense.

As names of different languages suggest, they have the genesis in their geographical areas or communities - like English of England, Russian of Russia, French of France, and even within India also - Gujarati of Gujarat etc. But, the word "संस्कृतभाषा/Sanskrit" does not attach itself to any geography or commune. It is a भाषा - a method of communication which is संस्कृत - "refined" or "properly done".

In that sense, Sanskrit is really a platform, a construct rooted in the science of sounds in the universe and nature. It is a way to bring out or to address the qualities within an object. Here, everything or every word has and has to have निरुक्तम् or etymology. At the base level, each vowel or consonant represents a sound - and each of these sounds has its own independent meaning. For example, अ represents the quality of Brahma etc. The meanings of each of these sounds may be a lost or fading science today. Words themselves indicate the qualities of objects they refer to. This creates a powerful framework of communication with those qualities. No object is randomly identified with a word. Sanskrit is a natural way of identifying an object or communicating.
Some simple examples:
अग्नि Fire -अगं-नयति इति - one which moves a stationary object (like causing water to boil etc.)
वायु Air वाति इति - one which flows
अगः Mountain - न गच्छति इति - one which cannot move
ब्रह्म God - बृंहति इति - one which grows (all-pervasive)
बालकः boy - बलते इति - one which gains strength (as grows)

In Sanskrit, a word is not randomly made up. The object's qualities or attributes determine how it should be referred to. So the word genesis may be represented as:
Look at an object --> What are its attributes? --> Combine the base words representing those attributes --> come up with a word for that object
For example:
Airborne object --> flies in the sky --> ख for sky चर for moving around --> खेचर
Burglars/nocturnal animals --> wanders in the night --> निशा night चर moving around --> निशाचर
In this, even निशा has the etymology of नितरां श्यति amply reduces (the activities in the world/people) = night.

This is necessarily not the case with other languages. The genesis frequently goes like this:
Look at an object --> Make up a word using the words for similar objects --> Or borrow from other languages --> Or coin a new word, randomly or based on who discovered the object

That is why, knowledgeable people say, though the mantras (prayers) in Sanskrit are nice to utter or hear, but they are fully effective only when we understand the meaning of those words and focus (meditate) upon those underlying meanings. Without this focus, which is called अनुसंधान, the uttering remains only as amusement for the audience. Many of the ancient knowledge using the mantras for weapons, or medicines etc. is lost now because the meanings were lost. At the very least, we should try and preserve what remains now and pass it on to the next generation.


(Inspired by a lecture of sarpv Chaturvedi)