© DrSurabhi Verma

National Institute of Technology, Rourkela, Odisha

Course ID: HS 1317

INTRODUCTION TO THE METAPHYSICS OF

SANSKRIT LANGUAGE

Course Co-ordinator: Prof. Surabhi Verma

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• Unit 1: Nature of Language

❖ What is Language?

❖ Difference between Bhāṣā, Vāk and Vāṇī

❖ Spoken and Compositional language

❖ The Knowledge disciplines related with discourse of Language

❖ Effect of orality on the Nature of Language

COURSE ❖ The Language of the Universe: Nāda (Resonance)
OUTLINE • Unit 2: Introduction to the components of Sanskrit Language

❖ Physical aspects

1. Sounds (Dhvani)

2. Syllables (akṣara/varṇa)

3. Śabda (word)

4. Pada (morphological unit)

5. Ukti (utterances)

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❖ Metaphysical aspects

1. Language and Reality (Sattā)

2. Mantrātmaka and prapañcātmaka

3. Language as an ontological category

4. Discourse of language as Cognitive System

5. Intrinsic property of Language

COURSE 6. Verb centred Language: Sanskrit

OUTLINE
7. Special features of Sanskrit language

▪ Metrical (chāndas)

▪ Figurative (alaṃkāra yukta)

▪ Compound (samāsa) and assimilation (sandhiḥ) based

▪ Coded (inflectional- pratyayānta)

▪ Abbreviated (sutra baddha)

▪ Generative (derivational)

▪ Usage based (loka pramāṇa)

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❖ Metaphysical aspects: The Sanskrit language possess meta
structure which transcends the physical aspects. Few of these
aspects are listed as-
1. Language and Reality (Sattā)
• In the vast literature of Sanskrit Knowledge Tradition, the
thought on the language goes very deep.
• The Indian system of thought says that the language is not only
the means of Communication but it creates the reality.
• Reality can be divided into three major categories-
1. Transcendental Reality (Pārmārthika)
2. Ontological Reality (Tāttvika)
3. Virtual Reality (Prātibhāsika)
• As the language describes all of them so it is said that language
creates the reality. Ex- There are ripples in ocean. In this
sentence the Ontological Reality (Tāttvika) is water in which
ripples are the Virtual Reality (Prātibhāsika) which are
understood separately because of language but it is named as
Ocean which a grand body of water in the form of
Transcendental Reality (Pārmārthika).
• Transcendental reality is always empirical i.e. it can only be
experienced. So it is clear that language doesn’t only describes
reality but also creates it.
2. Mantrātmaka and prapañcātmaka
• In Indian discourse of language, we have the two types of language-
1. The language of thought which occurs at the time self dialogue
(Antaḥ Saṃvāda i.e. a talk with oneself). So it is called as
Mantrātmaka.
2. The language when describes something to others it creates
different variations of the same ontological category like of sky,
water, fire etc. This is the main reason we have many synonyms
in a language for describing the same ontological reality. Ex:
Eskimo people know 20 variations of the ice while the people of
high temperature area are not familiar with so many types of ice.
Thus the language becomes Prapañcātmaka.
3. Language as an ontological category
• The language in its original form is itself an ontological category.
The ontology means the study of the object to be known. So
language is itself an object of knowledge.
• Once we start understanding the language as an object to be known,
we get an immediate question of means of knowledge to know
language.
• Interestingly the language is that kind of object of cognition which
can be known by the language itself. No other means of knowledge
can lead us to know the language as an ontological category.
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THANK YOU.
© DrSurabhi Verma