Splendour of Sanskrit Research

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About the Book A compendium of the author's investigations into different aspects of the Sanskrit literature, carried out over the years, the Splendor of Sanskrit Research commands a broad spectrum. From Epics and Puranas to the contemporary Sanskrit literature, it spans a period of well over twenty four centuries. It is marked by two- fold freshness. While it subjects to a searching scrutiny de novo some of the issues that were smugly taken to have been settled, it addedly brings into focus quite a few of the little-known aspects of the Epics, Puranas, Grammar, Semantics" Classical literature, Poetics and writings of a galaxy of outstanding poets of the contemporary era, who do the literature proud by the excellence and range of their poetry. Even the mind- boggling verbal jugglery of the Mahacitrakavya, painstakingly projected here, evokes keen interest.

The book provides sumptuous fare to the cultured reader and the connoisseur alike.

About the Author Widely known for his writings over the last fifty years, Dr. Satya Vrat Varma got the Ph.D. degree from the University of Rajasthan, Jaipur on his comprehensive dissertation on the Jaina Sanskrit Mahakavyas. The zenith of his academic career came with the conferment on him of the D. Litt. degree by the Kumaun University, Nainital. The conferment of Honorary Professorship on him by the Vishveshvaranand Vedic Research Insititute, Hoshiarpur was another feather in his cap.

Dr. Varma is well-equipped in English, Sanskrit and Hindi. He writes in all the three languages with equal felicity and ease. His rich contributions to the various branches of Sanskrit learning including the Jaina Belles Letters have brought him name and fame. He has authored till date thirty books which include the ten translated into English from Sanskrit. Of his original works Satyasudhei : A Critical Evaluation of Dr. Satya Vrat Shastri's Creative Works, Glimpses of jaina Sanskrit Mahakavyas, Mandana and His Works : An Appraisal, Panorama of Sanskrit Literature, Sarhskrta-godha-peiriffita, Thus Spoke Emperor Ashoka have evoked wide interest. His translation of the voluminous Mahasubhasita-sarilgraha (Vol. VIII-IX), Nagarasarvasvam, Hanumaddittam (Nitya Nand Shastri), Bhakteimarastotram, Navodhavilasam, Nitidhanada Mtakam among others, has established him as a talented translator. He has moreover contributed over two hundred research papers and articles to prestigious journals and magazines. There is hardly any journal of note to which he has not contributed over the years. Though a Sanskrit’s, his interests stretch to such diverse disciplines as Ancient Indian History, Numismatics and Iconography. Dr. Varma's zeal for writing is matched by his administrative competence. He retired as P.G. Principal from the Rajasthan Education Service. Even after his retirement from service, seventeen years ago, he is pursuing his literary activities with unabated vigor. Dr. Satya Vrat is recipient of a number of Awards and Honors including the prestigious President of India Certificate of Honor, Govt. of Rajasthan Award, Rajasthan Sanskrit Academy Award and Sanskrit Seva Parisad (Jaipur) Award.

Preface Sanskrit is perhaps the most ancient language of the world. To the faithful, it is not just a medium of expression; it is a divine language (devabhasya), the heart and soul of the nation. It embodies the ancient wisdom of the country, and with its richness and resilience has turned out to be an equally effective medium to voice the minutest contours of the modem thought in its myriad variety and complexity. Its literature substantially exceeds, both in worth and girth, the literature of the ancient classical languages. Prof. Wintemitz's observation that all that the word literature denotes in its widest ramifications exists in Sanskrit, is an honest acknowledgement of the amazing richness and vastness of the Sanskrit literature. Sanskrit is perhaps the only language that includes in its ambit such sacred tomes as the Vedas and the Upanisads and such profane texts as the Kamasiura and Ratirahasya.

The introduction of Sanskrit to the west some two hundred years ago was an epoch-making event. The close structural and linguistic affinities that the Sanskrit language bears with the classical and some of the modem languages of Europe took the European linguists by storm. Their profound investigations into the astounding phenomenon resulted in the emergence of the science of comparative Philology which served to highlight the happy fact that most of the so-called modem linguistic speculations were unerringly 'anticipated by the Vedic linguists and the master grammarian Panini as far back as the fifth century B.C. and earlier. But more than anything else, the contact with the west served to impart an altogether new orientation to Sanskrit, facilitating a critical and comparative evaluates of the whole gamut of its literature. That opened up next vistas in the domain of Sanskrit studies, and was chief instrumental in unraveling the wisdom enshrined in the great literature which serves to guide humanity to great.

spiritual, moral and intellectual heights.

The Splendor of Sanskrit Research represents in essence the outcome of our sustained investigations, carried out of the years, in the various disciplines of Sanskrit literature though have happily brought to the fore some notable new fact interpretations and conclusions. While in view of as many as 86 parallel passages that the Ramopakhyana of the Mahabharata shares with the Ramayana, as we have it now, would be, as first adduced by Sukthankar, reasonable to treies: it as an epitome of the Valmlki-Riimiiya1Ja, but the conspicuous divergences that it betrays from Valmiki ten to prove that. it is not the whole truth. As averred in to study of the Ramopakhyana, with which the 'Splendor' open though it sticks by and large to Valmiki's version, it indebted to some other versions of the epic story as well.

Book's Contents and Sample Pages