What TV doesn't, print can't; we deliver.
What TV doesn't, print can't; we deliver.
“As I thirst for her
this is no small comfort this is what gives me life;
just knowing that her feet and mine
still tread the one same earth.”
Who do you think of the creator of this poem? Is he some young romantic teenager separated from his love? Or is he some lost wanderer trying to find love? The answer is Rama of Valmiki Ramayana.
Contrary to stereotypes, Rama of Valmiki Ramayana is expressive and emotional in his love towards Sita. When polygamy was a norm, Rama with his monogamy was an exception. His love, his separation, his struggle, and his sacrifice are poetically expressed in the Valmiki Ramayana. Due to the language gap and lack of eruditeness, very few people have understood this lovely facet of his life. The same thing holds for numerous works of Sanskrit.
To give a glimpse of those works, Anusha Rao and Suhas Mahesh’s latest book How to Love in Sanskrit is important. Rao is a research scholar presently doing a PhD at the University of Toronto and her husband Mahesh is also a scholar of Sanskrit and Prakrit, in addition to being a materials physicist. For this book, they have translated more than two hundred shlokas, poems, letters, and stanzas related to love, flirting, breakup, separation, and the art of making love from Sanskrit, Prakrit, and Pali languages in English. The book brings life to the old verses and prose with the ‘minimalist approach.’ (Criticism of the approach is written in a review by a scholar Hamsanandi, which is worth giving a glance.)
While reading this book, we also encounter the literary giants Kalidasa and Bhavbhuti, Jain monk Somprabha Suri, and Buddhist monks, along with contemporary poets across the length and breadth of India. Rao and Mahesh’s work also gives a reflection of love and love stories in Sanskrit, which is otherwise dubbed as a religious language. ‘In Sanskrit, the death of your love may not be a permanent tragedy, but a mere glitch in the timeline that will be corrected by reuniting in a future birth.’ The tapestry of various philosophies and imaginations creates a fascinating dialogue on the nature of love across time and perspective.
The book is a delightful glimpse into the heart of Indic civilization, but it serves as a powerful reminder of a much larger potential. Sanskrit (and her sister/daughter languages) offer a treasure trove of knowledge on policy, administration, morality, strategic affairs and economics – areas desperately needing a deeper wellspring of wisdom. Last year, while reading a work called ‘Maxims from Mahabharata’, this author came across some wonderful shlokas on taxation. ‘Just as a Honeybee extracts honey from a flower,’ Vidura says in Udyoga Parva, ‘so should tax be collected from people without harming them.’ A gentle reminder to our bureaucrats and politicians!
The depth of Sanskrit literature extends far beyond just governance and economics. Medical treatises like the Charaka Samhita contain detailed discussions on mental health and well-being, while texts like Arthashastra delve into international relations and diplomacy with remarkable sophistication. Even texts primarily focused on arts and aesthetics, like Bharata’s Natyashastra, offer profound psychological insights that remain relevant today.
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While reading the original works in detail is always a good practice featuring the best among them is not harmful, particularly when the new generation has a short attention span. Such collections might initiate the readers to delve more into the original works. This isn’t just about the past; it’s about enriching the present. The challenges of governance, social order, and economic justice remain as relevant today as ever. Ancients have learnt a lot by trial and error–and their wisdom is lying underexplored in the works they have written.
The challenge lies not just in translation but in interpretation and application. When we examine these texts through a contemporary lens, we find solutions to modern challenges hidden in ancient wisdom. For instance, Sanskrit texts on conflict resolution often emphasize the importance of ‘sama, dana, bheda, danda’ – four approaches to problem-solving that progress from gentle persuasion to forceful action, a framework that could inform modern diplomatic strategies.
The task of bringing these insights to light requires a delicate balance between accessibility and authenticity. While books like ‘How to Love in Sanskrit’ serve as excellent entry points, they also highlight the need for more such bridges between ancient wisdom and modern understanding. The growing interest in Sanskrit studies among young scholars worldwide suggests a renaissance of sorts, one that could help unlock the vast potential of this linguistic treasury.
As we face increasingly complex global challenges, from climate change to social inequality, these ancient texts offer not just solutions but frameworks for thinking about solutions. The wisdom they contain isn’t frozen in time – it’s dynamic, waiting to be reinterpreted and applied to contemporary contexts. This makes the study and translation of Sanskrit texts not just an academic exercise but a crucial investment in our intellectual future. The potential rewards are immense, waiting to be unearthed for the benefit of our collective future.
Harshil Mehta is an independent columnist who writes on international relations, the Indian socio-political landscape, and books.
