Indian Theories of Language (An Old and Rare Book)

Email

Whatsapp

Facebook

Pinterest

Twitter

Copy link

Often we are told that much has been done by western scholars in the development of the scientific study of language. In every field of study, people argue-quoting from an authority which is not an Indian, making an impression as if everything worth the name scientific thought is of western origin. While we hear so much about the Greek and other western speculators on language, who are duly or otherwise credited with having developed the scientific study of language, it is a pity to note that very little notice has been taken of the contribution of ancient Indian thinkers whose observations on the scientific thought of language are of great value.

The present volume is a testimony to such a claim and exhibit how ancient Indian thinkers in a very primitive period of time have thought on various aspects of language like its origin, development, function, process of understanding etc. etc.

Let me elaborate a little more on this.

Indians take pride in possessing one of the oldest languages as their glorious heritage. And likewise they may be bold enough to assert that speculations on language had their origin in India in a very remote period of human history. In a very primitive age, Indian minds were occupied with such subtle linguistic problems as the origin of language, different forms of speech, the relation of a word with its meaning, whether speech is eternal or created, and how speech was undivided in its original state. These and similar other questions concerning language were discussed in the Vedic literature. The same ancient stock of knowledge in which we come across the first philosophical enquiry about the universe (cf. Rgveda, Nasadiya Sukta) gives us a glimpse into the crude beginnings of linguistic speculations.

As a matter of fact, it would not be exaggeration if we say that Indian thinkers have not really been given the due importance, which they rightfully deserve. Long before Aristotle's division of words into "part of speech" the Indian etymologists conceived of the four-fold classification of words, (carvari padajatani) and made it sufficiently clear that all words, including samjnas or personal names, were capable of being derived from verbal roots.

Speech seems to be almost co-eval with human existence. It is inconceivable to imagine the existence of society in which men might be supposed to have been living in a state of absolute muteness before they could invent a practical means of communication as language. Language is like a living organism having both growth and the decay, we may adhere to the doctrine of evolution for the sake of getting some clue as to the articulation of sound and we may look upon language either as an instinctive faculty or as a mechanical art acquired by men under pressure of necessity. In any case it is and will always remain a mystery to ascertain when and how man first began to speak. In different period of time attempts are made to decipher this mystery and offer some answers to the curious mind. It is proposed to deliberate upon the Indian theory of language with the sole objective of bringing home the point as to what language is, how does it operate, what its nature, etc. It is extremely significant to record at this point that distinguished authorities have presented their findings and have commented on those problem under different titles which form the core and central point of this volume and what I am going to do here is a sort of preparing a ground as it were for more detailed and critical analysis in subsequent papers.

We are primarily concerned here to attempt a theoretical analysis as to what a language is? And allied queries. We will discuss only on the general nature of language and the questions like nature of sabdaartha, their relations, process of understanding, and the problem of meaning will not be discussed. Innumerable citations and examples can be drawn from Veda downwards to show how in ancient India atter pts were made to answer the most innocent but difficult question, which cannot be defined but described. All our definitions are but imperfect descriptions which does not encompass all aspects to which language embraces Indians seriously occupied themselves with the problem of language as with enquiries into the other domain of knowledge. The phenomena of speech (Vak) was wonderful enough to rouse their keen interest and the result has been the evolution of Indian theory of language.

The sources form which one used to draw materials to develop a theory of language are numerous. The Samhitas, the Brahmanas, the Pratifakhyas, the extensive grammatical literature, all systems of Indian philosophy, particularly the Nyaya and the Mimamsa all afford us valuable information concerning the nature and philosophy of language. In short there lies embedded an untold treasure of information of philosophical interest in the vast mine of Sanskrit literature. Theory of language developed in this country in a very remote past and there is no denying to the fact that Indian speculations on language were mixed up to a greater extent with a religious and a metaphysical dissertation which will be evidenced from the discussion to follow. And therefore, it requires a great deal of circumspection to find out what is intrinsically contribute to the building of the Indian theory of language from the mass of heterogeneous materials. The science of the various branches of language study, which is of contemporary modern origin in the western world did not escape the inquisitive eyes of Indian thinkers.

On the evidence of the facts gathered by a very careful study of Sanskrit, we can declare for certain that there is hardly any Indian theory on language that cannot claim a higher degree of scientific perfection. The impression one would draw form testimony of these speculations is that Indian thinkers have not given us a mere theological or metaphysical interpretation of language but they have taken account of the actual phenomenon of speech. We can assert without an jota of doubt or of any fear of contradiction that the theory of language on the one hand and the study of language on the other on a scientific basis was not unknown in ancient India. It is often alleged and the Indian thinkers are often blamed with the objection that their observations on language are limited to a particular language say Sanskrit. It is a fact that Indian thinkers did not take note of languages other than Sanskrit in all their speculations and confined to a very small arena of one language. The reason for this restriction is not far to seek. In the golden era of ancient Indian history when speculations on language were developed along with other domain of knowledge Sanskrit was the language of class. It was the language in which everything worth the name of learning were written.