Sanskrit Diwas: 5 lesser known facts about Sanskrit
What's the story
Having a history spanning thousands of years, Sanskrit occupies a prominent position in our cultural, spiritual, and intellectual heritage.
Its exquisite complexity has contributed significantly to shaping the fundamentals of numerous contemporary languages.
As we commemorate Sanskrit Diwas, now is the ideal moment to unveil lesser-known aspects of this ancient language that has left an enduring mark on the world stage.
Mattur
Sanskrit is still spoken in this Karnataka village
Mattur, situated in Karnataka's Shimoga district, has gained fame as one of the few remaining villages in India where Sanskrit is spoken in everyday conversations.
From shop owners to children and street vendors, every individual in the village speaks the ancient classical language of Sanskrit.
Although Kannada is the prevalent language in Karnataka, every individual in Mattur is fluent in Sanskrit.
Vocabulary
Sanskrit has the largest vocabulary
Sanskrit is renowned for having the largest vocabulary among all languages. Its dictionary currently contains an astonishing 102.78 billion words!
This linguistic richness is further demonstrated by its numerous words for single concepts.
There are over a hundred words for "water" in Sanskrit, including jal, neer, and salil.
Similarly, "love" has an impressive 96 synonyms, and "elephant" boasts over a hundred synonyms.
AI
Most suitable language for AI
Despite its age, Sanskrit is a highly technical and organized language.
Research, as indicated by a report from NASA scientist Rick Briggs, points out that Sanskrit is among the most fitting languages for Artificial Intelligence's natural language processing.
This observation is based on Briggs' 1985 paper titled "Knowledge Representation in Sanskrit and Artificial Intelligence," which was published in AI Magazine.
PhoneticsÂ
Phonetically accurate
Sanskrit's structured phonetics make it an excellent language for poetry and verse due to its precision.
This precision is due to its phonetic alphabet, which consists of 52 consonant sounds, 16 vowel sounds, as well as various diphthongs and compound sounds.
Each letter corresponds to a distinct sound, and these sounds are articulated with utmost precision and consistency.
Precision
Highly precise and unambiguous
The ancient language is renowned for its well-structured and precise grammar, making it a language with minimal ambiguity.
Its complex system of inflections and declensions allows for precise modifications of words to convey a wide range of meanings.
This feature not only eliminates uncertainty in word and phrase meanings but also enables the creation of sentences and phrases with precision.