“It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest I go to than I have ever known.” This is what Charles Dickens should have elaborated on when pursuing his ever-so ambitious timelessness. Instead, it played into a mystical array of both inefficiency, and numbness.
Literature has been an essential part of societal development. Like eating out of a bowl of soup, like crafting out of a shaft of rivers, literature is what drove the strive for communication and melodramatic adaptions to the linguistic spectrum.
The South Asian region specifically, homes 609 languages. If there are even 2 people knowing each language, it can account for a wider chain of influence and knowledge throughout the region.
Let’s consider Pali. Pali, a Middle Indo-Aryan language, native to the Indian subcontinent, is known to be diverse, with both its speakers and its backgrounds. Pali, is representative of Theravada Buddhism. In its entirety, it abets the depiction of Buddhist discourse. The genres of Pali are mainly found in Thailand, Laos, and Cambodia.
Pali has 9 types of literary scopes or ‘Angas’ as they referred to. They comprise Sutta, Veyyakarana, Geyya, Udana, Gatha, Itivuttaker, Jatakas, Abbhuta dhamma, and Vedalla. The highlights are Abbhuta dhamma and Vedalla, which note the existence of supernatural powers and the idea of answers to questions; both of these hold a significant place in South Asian culture.
The global shift to subjective uses of lingos is unaccommodating to the millions of languages for whom inhabitants spent dozens of years closely studying.
Acting as a guide to the life of many are to witness, they see Vedalla, specifically as a symbol of communication. This Buddhist Aryan Language seems indispensable, but the Indian Subcontinent lost touch with it in the 16th century, before it died out as a language. Today, it is used by historians to make out ancient scriptures, such as those of ‘Dhammasattha’, the inscription of law.
But whatever happened to the philological introspections of the language? Pali was noted by ‘The Pali literature of Burma’, as condensed, and its historical context through “Buddhist learning in Ramaññadesa”. “The Talaing country, may have been greatly impoverished by the carrying away of texts and scholars from Sudhammapura,” the authors went on to say.
This may be true. After Anawrahta’s capture along the linings of the Indian Ocean, much of the scriptures and writings were taken with the armies to neighbouring areas, where they were distributed and strewn into the vast corners of the world.
A few may have survived. That is; according to a collection at Trinity College Dublin.
The one shown in the article refers to one specifically from Burma, where Anwratha’s empire in fact spread to. It is known as Upasampada Kammavaca, which commissioned the process and calligraphy used to officiate the establishment of the ‘sons of Burma’ as monks in various monasteries.
This religious law is also the result of many prayers made in Pali, as this language of Budha himself- is left to the mercy of a few words online. This is no doubt disappointing, or in Pali; Dukka.
Prakrit is a language associated with Sanskrit, but in fact much older. Prakrit was also an Aryan language which saw itself at the horizon of language fusion. Its offshoots include Sanskrit, Hindi, and a fragment of Pashto. It is conscionable to think of a society without all these derivations from past languages.
The global shift to subjective uses of lingos is unaccommodating to the millions of languages for whom inhabitants spent dozens of years closely studying. Each language separated by tradition saw itself at the forefront of historical depictions. Prakrit specifically is depicted by ‘controllers’, and ‘supervisors’ of the planet, in Hinduism. The concept of god arises from this very idea and depiction of beliefs relating to their ‘planners” experiences are some of many needed to be studied, and written upon for further Hindu concepts. But no one is ready to take on the task. Today, there may be a few hundred out of millions of letterings left. Tomorrow, there might be more lost to the confusion and speedy shifts of the world.
Not only is this a loss to religious cultures but it also fades away the strive to dig deep into religious law, into religious ideologies, and make out lifeline concepts according to the scripts.
The writer is a columnist and a linguistic activist.