Authors: Sunil Sondhi
Study of language and communication has been an important concern in India’s intellectual and cultural tradition. All streams of Indian philosophical thinking included in their considerations the basic problem of language and communication. While the seeds of the study of language in India may be traced in the Rig Veda, and the study of the structure of language as authoritatively established in the Ashtadhyayi, a full-fledged statement and discussion of a science and spirit of language was given in Bhartrihari’s Vakyapadiya. It was Bhartrihari who first systematically equated Brahma (Absolute Reality) with Sabda (language), going on to argue that all language arises as a manifestation of the Sabda Brahma. From the early investigations in the Veda, Pratisakhyas and Siksha, through the grammar of language in Ashtadhyayi and Mahabhasya, to the highest levels of consciousness of Sabda Brahma in Vakyapadia, and Paravac in Tantraloka, India’s linguistic tradition bears clear imprint of the recognition that while grammar is important for good language, righteous language is good for coordination and integration in human communication. The connective potential of insightful language needs to be used to address the manifold problems of communication in interpersonal and intercultural relations. Enormous creativity is enfolded in the concept of Sabda Brahma. A deeper and wider understanding of the concept can help to establish a framework for further research and applied work in this direction.
Comments: 21 Pages. Published in Kalakalpa, IGNCA Journal of Arts. New Delhi, India
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