Cindy Otteni, age 8, of St. Petersburg, Fla., for her question:
WHAT IS SANSKRIT?
Sanskrit literature started with a series of manuscripts called the Vedas. They constitute the oldest work in any Indo European language. The works of the Vedic period are religious and were long transmitted orally. They include the Rig Veda, which was written about 100 B.C., the Sama Veda, the Yajur Veda and the Atharva Veda.
Sanskrit language and literature originated in ancient India. We don't know exactly when it was introduced into India but 1500 B.C. is the date generally accepted.
Sanskrit language is divided into two periods. First there was the old Sanskrit which was the language in which the holy Vedas, or sacred Hindu books, were written. Old Sanskrit is also called Vedic Sanskrit or simply Vedic.
The second period was called the classical period. Most of the writings from this era deal with nonreligious subjects.
Sanskrit was both the common speech and the literary language for many years. But by about 500 B.C. local dialects had sprung up. Buddha preached his doctrine in one of these.
Panini, who lived in the 300s B.C., was the first and greatest Indian grammarian. He fixed the characteristics of Sanskrit in contrast with the common spoken language, Prakrit. He said Sanskrit was purified and cultivated while Prakrit was unpurified and natural.
Om is a sacred syllable in the Sanskrit language, similar in meaning to the English "amen." It can be translated, "So it shall be." It was to be uttered at the start and close of every Vedic recitation to ensure that the understanding of what was spoken should not be lost.
Later syllable referred to the Hindu Trinity of Vishnu, Brahma and Shiva. The syllable symbolized the abstract unity of the universe: Absolute (a), Relative (u) and Related (m). These three letters, a u m, are pronounced om.
Sanskrit as a language became widely known to Europeans in the late 1700s. Branz Bopp and other linguists used it to develop the comparative study of languages.
Many words in the Greek, Latin, English, German, Persian and other languages are also found in Sanskrit.
Mata is the Sanskrit word which became mater in Latin, mutter in German and mother in English. The English words brother, sister, daughter and son are related to the Sanskrit bhrata, svasr, duhita and sunu.
Scholars study Sanskrit so they can compare it to the myths and religions of other lands. The language's chief contribution to Western literature, however, seems to be in the field of fable. Indian fairytale motifs appear in the "Arabian Nights" and medieval legends.