Sanskrit+Literature

Background on Sanskrit.
Sanskrit is the ancient sacred, and an official language of India. Sanskirt is believed to be the oldest language in the world. People in India still use this language. The Hindus and Brahmans still use it. The origin of Sanskirt can be accredited to the Vedic society. Vedic sanskrit is believed to date back to hte 2nd millennium BC. India ascribe a wholly sacred origin to Sanskrit; describing it to be the language of the gods. A British judge and orientalist said that sanskirt had grammatical and vocabuluary similar to other languages; Latin, Greek, and English. Sanskrit is a member of the Indo-European language family. 3, 959 rules of sanskrit morphology have been set out, in the mathmatical function, to define the basic elements such as; sentence structure, vowels, consonants, nouns and verbs. Classical Sanskrit is a more modern version of the Vedic Sanskrit and was in its height in the centuries AD. It became a vast body of philosohical, scientific and regilous knowledge. Including Hindu scriptures and classic literature; works such and Gita and Ramayana.
 * -Origin of Sanskrit.**

Major Themes.
-**Religion.** Hindus believe that the soul is caught up in a endless cycle of samsara(rebirths). The goal of each soul is to evolve through each cycle of birth and rebirth to a high existence, until the soul recieves moksha (freedom) from being forced to take a physical form. Each rebirth is determined by the actions in ones law of karma. The soul who does bad deeds will interfere with the souls journey. If the soul of the person marked by bad actions will be reborn as a lower life. If a person tries to live more of a good life they will be reborn as a higher life form. Hindus try to live a good life so they can move up to a higher existence. Buddism became a challenge to Hinduism, because the stringent rules by Brahmans and other higher classes on the rest of society. Buddha founded by Siddhartha Guatama arose during the reign of the emporer Ashoka, who made it the state religion in the 3rd Century BC. The next millennium was a continual struggle between Hinduism and Buddhism. Brahmans are Hindu and embrace the fundamental beliefs of hinduism. These include; concepts of the soul (atman),the illusion that surrounds ones's physical existence (maya), the philosophy of non violence (ahimsa), and the total release of ones soul (mokhsa) of the soul from the physical soul.

Hindus, who make up the bulk of the indian population, face the unsual problems associated with developing countries; poverty, low standards of living and unemployment. However, there are economic and social problems that are specifically regilious in origin. The biggest problem that Hindus face stem from the restrictions of the caste systems, even though this influence is receding. Caste has been illegal 1949, but it continues to provide the context within which some sections of Hindu society function. The traditional social structures and pressure on resources increases problems between higher and lower classes has led to violent actions. This situation has grown worse by rising fundamentalism, they are gaining political strength as of now, and they would like to see India become a Hindu state. The Brahmans face problems such as the violence and political instablity in Kashmir or the deteriorating law and order situation in Bihar are regional in nature and affect ass castes. Other issues are struggling cultivating, are class rather than caste related and in recent years has been the emergence of secular and democratic India. It is perhaps no accident that militant Hindu nationalism (Hinditva), who is supported in part by Brahmans has recently emerged as a major force in the Indian political scene.
 * -Social issues.**

**Minor themes.**
The Brahmans ritual party has led inevitably to discrimination against women. Brahman women have been subject to the worst excesses of Hindu society; child marriage, early consummation of marriage, prohibitions against widow remarriage, and demands for dowry. They were expected to religiously practice the basic tenets of Hindu society, Many of these practices have been made illegal in India, but they still occur. Over 6,700 dowry deaths were reported in India in 2005 and the suspects go unreported. Brahman women also face problems in accessing education and tend to experience the same discrimination faced by all Hindu women. Casteism absolutely forbids Brahman women from having any kinda of physical relations with a man of a lower class, and requires marriage to the Brahman caste.
 * -Gender issues.**

Hindus greet eachother by saying Namaste (Greeting to you), joining hands with palms together, held upright, in front of the body. In northern india especially in rural areas, people commonly say "Rama, Rama" (name of the god rama) when meeting. Children may greet parents, or teachers and other elders by bowling down and touching their feet. Hindus make the same gesture when meeting relgious figures (gurus) It is normal for the person being honored in this manner to interrupt the gesture before it is complete and bless the person by touching their feet, implying that he or she is not worthy of such homage.
 * -Relationships.**

A unique feature of traditional Hindu was the caste (social class) system, which placed every Indian person social ranked categories. The term "caste" is a European word, from the Portuguese //casta// meaning race. Hindus used several terms describing the social structures. Varna refers to the broad divisions of society into four classes. There were 3,000 castes and over 25,000 subcastes in India. Castes were ranked according to the lifestyles of the people. The concepts of purity and pollution were important in understanding the castes of Hindu society. In the past if a member of a "polluted" caste touched someone of a high caste, the touch was considered polluting. A ritual would be perform to purify the person to remove the pollution.
 * -Family life.**

Major Authors.
__Kalidasa__-One of the greatest Sanskrit poets that India has ever had, the life history of Kalidas is absolutely fascinating and interesting. Though the exact time of his fame is not known, it is estimated that he survived around the middle of the 4th or 5th century A.D. This is roughly the period of the reign of the famous Chandragupta

__Bharavi-__ Kiratarjuniya an epic poem in eighteen cantos, is his only known work. It "is regarded to be the most powerful poem in the Sanskrit language".

__Bhasa__ -One of the greatest pioneers of classical Sanskrit drama. He is one of the earliest known Sanskrit dramatists of ancient India. An Indian scholar, Mahamahopadhyaya Ganapati Sastrigal, rediscovered thirteen of his plays in the year 1912.

__Ved Vyas-__The author of the great epic Mahabharata, Ved Vyas was the first and greatest acharya of Sanatan Dharma. He is responsible for classifying the four Vedas, wrote the 18 Puranas and recited the great Mahabharata. In fact, the Mahabharata is often called as the fifth Veda.

__Valmiki__-Perhaps the greatest poet India has ever had. He was the author of Ramayana, one of the greatest epics of India.

Annotated Bibliography.
Sankara, Adi. //Dasaloki.// The poet summarizes the essence of Vedānta in ten-verses. The poem is sometimes called as nirvāṇadaśakam.

Tulasdasa, Gosvami.//Vinayapatrika.// It describes the monastic rules for monks and nuns. If you would like to know more of the rules monks and nuns have, this will tell you.

Mīrābāī.//Mhāro Praṇāma.// Is a song describing the appearance of a great nomad.

Vedavyāsa. //Viṣṇuvandana.// The poet is talking about the great god Visnu. His appearence is unique with a conch sell, four arms, wearing a yellow robe with lotus-like eyes and has the mark of Laskmi. Visnu seems to be a important guy, more powerful than the sun, able to seperate the good from the evil he he is very kind and helps the weak.

Unknown author. //Octet on Gananayak.// According to a story, Kartikeya and Ganesh were asked to tour around the universe and return. Kartikeya immediately set-out on His vehicle peacock but Ganesh just went around Uma (Parvati). His logic was that the whole universe lies inside my Mother, and therefore going around Her is good enough for going around universe. This is kind of an action type poem so anyone who is into that, this is for you.

Unknown author. //Apologies to Durga.// This eulogy is sung in the end to ask for forgiveness and for any mistakes or incomplete offerings.

Kumar,Animesh. //Jaya Gopala.// This poem was written for forgiveness from Gopal. Gopal is the destroyer of the cycle of life and death, and is compassionate towards the weak. The poet had used the name of Krishna as a testimony to prove his truthfulness.

Gosvami Tulsidas. //Ahilya.// Ahilya was made by Brahma and was very beautiful. Indra, the king of natural forces, had dreams about her. While Gautam was away for morning ablutions, Indra, disguised as Gautam, approached Ahilya and proposed sexual desires in front of her. By her powers, Ahilya realized that it is Indra himself who came down for her. Filled with pride, she got subdued by the lust. Finally, Gautam, on return, caught them. He cursed Ahilya to become a stone for an indefinite period of time. So, if you like reading about affairs and scandals definitely read this. Shankara, Adi. //Maya.// This canto is basically about the differences between Shiv and Vishnu are obvious until we are a captive of Maya.

[|http://www.stutimandal.com]
 * There are no hard copies of these poems/songs.

Works Cited.
"Hindus." //Junior Worldmark Encyclopedia of World Cultures.//Ed. Timothy L. Gall and Susan Bevan Gall. 2nd ed. Vol.4 Detroit:U*X*L,2012. 133-142.//Gale Student Recources In Context.// Web.8 Dec.2011.

"Brahmans." //Worldmark Encyclopedia of Cultures and Daily Life.//Ed.Timothy L. Gall and Jeneen Hobby.2nd ed. Vol. 3:Asia & Oceania. Detroit: Gale, 2009.146-151.//Gale Student Resources In Context.//Web.8 Dec.2011.