Restricted social role

  • In the past - see note on “history” above, which indicates clear usage outside ritual.

Misconception

  • Accusation: Sanskrit is the language of Brahmins, and that too male brahmins. Further, it was only used for shAstra-s and kAvya-s.

shUdra-usage

  • There are plenty of Sanskrit scholars (right from upaniShadic seers such as Aitreya mahidAsa to dArA-shikoh / Abdul Rahim Khan) who were not brahmaNa-s or kShatriya-s. Eg: mAtanga-divAkara the chaNDAla [TW]. bhartRmENTa the mahout.

  • Sanskrit is also a liturgical language of buddhism, jainism: even Zoroastrians used it when they came to India and recognized the sanskrit-avestan-monophyly! (Q1, YT15)

  • shatAvadhAnI gaNesh on this:video. Other examples: Abhinavabharata-sara-sangraha by Mummadi Cikkabhupala (= sippgowDa, a chieftain of Madhugiri, Karnataka),Pedakomati Vemareddy, who wrote an extensive vyAkhyAna to Amaru Shatakam.

  • References - satya-sharma

  • Now foreigners speak and chant Sanskrit quite comfortably (G15).

  • Modern experience with dalits acquiring sanskrit scholarship shows more support than deprecation.

    • Kumud Pawde (Mahar 1960-s GB)

Theoretical prohibition for asachchUdra-s

  • It is a matter of fact that various religious streams - Hindu Agamas and tantras and jaina/ bauddha traditions - allowed instruction and utilization of sanskrit by adherents irrespective of jAti.
  • Some cite a pair of verses from skanda-purANa (“नोच्चरेत् प्रणवं मन्त्रं… न शिखां नोपवीतं च नोच्चरेत् संस्कृतां गिरम्।”) and padma-purANa (न‌ शिखी नोपवीती स्यान्नोच्चरेत्संस्कृतां गिरम्). Details here). These have been interpreted by medieval dharmashAstra nibandha writers, some of their modern adherents and anti-hindu activists as barring sanskrit speech by certain jAti-s.
    • Note: Some of these dharmashAstra compilers proposed that the “न शिखां नोपवीतं” part to refer to social classes with low religious commitment (‘असच्छूद्रपरम्’ and ‘अपाकृष्टशूद्रपरम्’). धर्मशास्त्रकारैः शेषकृष्णप्रभृतिभिः ‘न शिखां नोपवीतञ्च नोच्चरेत् संस्कृतां गिरम्’ इति विवेकेन गृहीतम्। ते च एतद्वचनं प्रायः असच्छूद्रपरमिति स्वीकुर्वन्ति। संस्कृतां गिरमित्यस्य अपि वैदिकीं गिरमित्यभिप्रायं मन्यन्ते।
    • The latter cannot be traced in current published recensions (though cited by dharmashAstra writers in 17th CE). The former, being followed by “नमस्कारेण मन्त्रेण क्रियासिद्धिर् भवेद् ध्रुवम्” clearly implies that it refers to the use of generic scriptural sanskrit mantra-s should not be used by certain classes of people in the context of rituals (with bountiful exceptions among paurANika and Agama literature).
  • The orthodox vaidika/ paurANika tradition forbids the study of particular classes of sanskrit literature (veda-s and their literal meaning) for certain jAti-s. For other categories (purANa-s, smRti-s, itihAsa-s, vedAnga-s), they allow and encourage these jAti-s to hear the lore when recited by a brAhmaNa (in whom the ultimate religious interpretive authority rests). Direct study of particular subsets of these texts was forbidden.
  • Orthodox dharmashAstra tradition admits the possibility of change in “dharma” based on changes in circumstance (including time and place). Clearly, the current context, with it’s advent of such innovations such as the printing press, social and audio-visual media, mass literacy requires orthodox hindu paurANika tradition to adapt in order to compete with inimical doctrines.

Female usage

  • rAjashekhara clearly says in Kavyamimamsa 10th chapter:

“पुरुषवद्योषितोऽपि कवीभवेयुः ।
संस्कारो ह्यात्मनि समवैति, न स्त्रैणं वा पौरुषं वा विभागमपेक्षते ।
श्रूयन्ते दृश्यन्ते च राजपुत्र्यो महामात्रदुहितरो गणिकाः कौतुकिभार्याश्च शास्त्रप्रहतबुद्धयः कवयश्च ।”

  • An excerpt from the education of Princess belavADi mallamma, as recorded by Shesho Srinivas Muthalik in 1705 [KPP] -

“When Mallamma reached five years of age, her education began, along with that of her brother Sadashiva Nayaka. Both of them were taught Kannada, Marathi, Urdu, and Sanskrit . It took them ten years to learn all these languages. The brother and sister were very close and studied together. A school was built for their education and ten senior shāstris were appointed as teachers.

In the classes there were boys and girls belonging to various castes (Havyaks, Gouda Saraswats, Nadavars, and Madhwas) in about equal numbers. Shankar Bhat was the principal of the school and was a great scholar.

Mallamma was a very good student and an intelligent girl. Everybody admired her intellect. She was drawn to poetry when she was about twelve years old.

Sadashiva Nayaka was also fond of poetry and wrote poems in Kannada. Their father, king Madhulinga Nayaka arranged for all the boys to undergo military training and appointed a brave man called Ranavir Singh as the trainer. Mallamma showed an interest in fencing and archery. She also equalled the boys in horse riding and throwing the javelin.”