The untold wealth of knowledge in Sanskrit manuscripts is yet to be explored by the modern world, Michael Witzel, Professor of Sanskrit in the Department of Sanskrit and Indian Studies of Harvard University, has said.
He is here to attend Athirathram, a 12-day Vedic ritual being held in Panjal, 35 km from here.
“The estimated number of Sanskrit manuscripts in India is 30 million. As many as 1 lakh manuscripts have been found in Pune alone. Large collections of manuscripts have been found in Thiruvananthapuram, Chennai and Thanjavur. Many manuscripts are stored in houses of priests and scholars. Just as the manuscript of Arthasastra was found and published in the early 1900s, many more are waiting to be discovered,” he says.
He states that interest in Sanskrit is growing in the West.
“Since the 1800s, Sanskrit has been studied in Europe — mainly out of academic interest. Sanskrit was then studied as the parent language of North Indian and European languages as there were similarities in sounds/words. In late 19th century, it was recognised as the sister language (not parent language as originally thought) of European languages with common Indo-European ancestors,” he says.
He says that such similarities are seen in religion and culture too. “Roman fire rituals are similar to Indian fire rituals.”
He describes the Athirathram as one of the most complex Vedic rituals. “Not many changes are seen at Athirathram from the way it is prescribed in the Baudhayana Shrauta Sutra texts,” he notes.
He observes that the Vedas influence modern life in many ways. “The 19th century reform movement launched by the Brahmo Samaj and the Arya Samaj changed the way India looked at the Vedas. Women were allowed to perform some rituals in the late 19th century. Vedas are for all. They are India's wealth and can be used for positive community building,” he says.
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