A Linguistic Survey of the World

Shrii Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar

Between the points of no magnitude there is a flow of cognition. In that fluidal flow of cognition, bubbles are created. These bubbles are the bubbles of ideas. In the Cosmic emanation of the Supreme, when these bubbles touch the unit “I”-feeling, then unit ideas are created as a result of close proximity to the Cosmic Ocean. These are the reflections or refractions of Cosmic ideas. When these ideas concern the unit, the unit “I” tries to express them through its own psycho-physical structure. It endeavours to express its unit desires and longings according to the capacity of the vocal cord and its hormone secretions. These reflections or refractions of ideas are expressed either within or without. The expression within is called “inner voice” and the expression without is called “outer voice.” These expressions within and without are collectively called language. 

According to structural, environmental, climatic and racial differences, languages are expressed in different forms, thus we get different languages. So far as the refraction of the bubbles is concerned, the language of the universe is the same, was the same and will remain the same forever. The language of the “inner voice” is always one and indivisible. Only in the outer manifestation do we get so many languages. In the expressed world linguistic differences have a little value, but in the inner world they have no meaning, no import and no value. 

In the entire world there are different linguistic groups. These groups may be divided according to the following criteria: 

Those languages in which the verbal form changes according to changes in the number and gender of its subject, like French and Saḿskrta (Sanskrit). 

Those languages in which the verbal form changes according to the number and not the gender of the subject, as in English. For instance, we say “Henry is coming” and “Henriette is also coming” but “Henry and Henriette are coming”. Here the gender of the subject does not affect the verb, but the number certainly does. 

Those languages in which the verb changes according to the gender and not the number, like Maithili and Bhojpuri. In Bhojpuri the verb is not fully expressed. For example, in the case of “you” masculine it is “tu gaila” but in the case of “you” feminine it is “tu gailii”. 

There are some languages where the use of the “be” verb is avoided, as in Bengali. For example, “He is a good boy” is Se bhála chele in Bengali. Here the Bengali equivalent of “is” in English is not mentioned. 

The Languages of India

In the ancient past, in the hoary past, India was inhabited by the Austrico-Negroid-Mongoloid races. The northwest was thickly populated. The Caucasian people came to India from the central portion of South Russia, so we can say that central southern Russian Aryan blood was incorporated into the body of India. There was less Aryan blending in the south and east of India, and more in the north and west of India. The Aryans who came to India 393 spoke a distorted Vedic language which was blended with the Austrico-Negroid-Mongoloid tongues and was thereby changed. The Austrico-Negroid-Mongoloid languages were also blended with the Vedic language, so they have a large percentage of Vedic vocabulary. Even languages of non-Vedic origin have a large number of Saḿskrta words, like Malayalam for instance, which is an Austrico-Negroid language containing 75% Saḿskrta and Vedic vocabulary. Bengali is an Austrico-Negroid-Mongoloid language, but it contains 92% Saḿskrta vocabulary. Punjabi is a direct descendent of the Vedic language – it contains 80% Tadbhava Vedic or distorted Vedic. Due to the close proximity of the Punjab with Persia and Turkey, Persian and Turkish vocabulary are also included in Punjabi. There was a blending in the cultural history of these countries, and a similar blending also took place in the linguistic structure. 

Saḿskrta has four zonal intonations: a) Gaoŕiiya; b) Káshiká; c) Maharastra; and d) Dakśini. In a particular language there are different intonations which even vary district-wise. The languages of Bihar and some of the languages of Uttar Pradesh do not have any position in their region. Bhojpurii was spoken in Deoria and Gorakhpur and known as Tarai Bhojpurii. There is a variation between lower Gangetic Bhojpurii, which is the Bhojpurii of Bhojpur, and upper Gangetic Bhojpurii, which is spoken in the east of Gopiganj. Bhojpurii is spoken to the east of Gopiganj, and Bagheli is spoken to the west. Dogrii, which was a flourishing language 500 years ago, could not be revived due to the silent opposition of the Kashmiri Brahmins. At that time Urdu was influential in Kashmir. 

During the Sanskritic age, like today, languages were not given their proper status. Saḿskrta was called bháśá and the peoplesʼ language was called bhákha to give it a lower status. Saḿskrta was compared with well water and the peoplesʼ language with flowing water (bahatá niira). “Vernacular” means “the language of the slaves”. You should do something for the recognition of peoplesʼ languages. 

There are certain similarities in the languages derived from one source, for example, Mágadhii Prákrta. Eastern Demi-Mágadhii Prákrta is like Bengali (and Maethilii, etc.) because these languages use má and ca in the present tense – ámi yácchi in Bengali and ahán jáechi in Maithili – la in past tense – se gela in Bengali and same gaeli in Maithili – and ba in future tense – ámi jába in Bengali, hama jáiba in Maithili and mu jibi in Oriya. Western Demi-Mágadhii Prákrta, which includes Magahi, Bhojpuri, Nagpuria, Chattisgarhi, etc. is different. In the present tense ca is not used – Ham já rahalbani, etc. – in the past tense la is used – gel, geli, etc. – and in the future tense ba is used. So Western Demi-Mágadhii Prákrta differs from Eastern Demi-Mágadhii Prákrta only in the present tense. These specialities have to be studied carefully if one wants to acquire knowledge of intonation and philology. 

The average longevity of a script is 2000 years and the average longevity of a language is 1000 years. After this period they undergo metamorphosis. Vedic and Saḿskrta are not the same languages. The language of the Aryans is Vedic Saḿskrta, or rather Rgvedic Saḿskrta. Saḿskrta is of Indian origin. Aham, ávam and vayaḿ in Saḿskrta are mam, asmákam and nah respectively in Vedic. Mam, asmákam and nah in Saḿskrta are me, no and nah in Vedic. The translation of, “This is my house” into Saḿskrta is, Idaḿ asmákaḿ grham asti. In Vedic it is, Yetad nah dhama. “That is my house” is Tad asmakaḿ grham asti in Saḿskrta, Tad nah dham in Vedic Saḿskrta and t́ad nas dham in Russian. Russian has a close proximity with the Vedic language. Due to spatial, temporal and personal factors some changes took place in the Vedic language. The five languages of South India abound in Vedic Saḿskrta, even though they were not of Saḿskrta origin. 

South Indian languages are of Austrico-Negroid origin, but the scripts are of the Indo-Aryan group (that is, ka, kha, ga, gha, etc.) Examples are Telegu and Kannada, which contain about 80% Saḿskrta words. Although ethnically Tibetans are Mongoloids of Indo-Tibetan origin, their script is Indo-Aryan. That is, the same script is used in Kinnaur and Ladakh. Multáni is a blending of Punjabi and Sindhi which evolved about 3000 years ago; Pahari Punjabi, which uses da, dii, and de in the possessive case; and Marwari, which uses rá, rii and re. 

The seven peoplesʼ languages of India are known as Prákrta. In eastern India the spoken language was Mágadhii Prákrta. (In the past India was comprised of several countries and Magadh was one of them). The speciality of Mágadhii Prákrta is that in pronunciation instead of three sa – that is, sha, sa and śa – only one sa – that is, sa – is pronounced. In central northern India the peoplesʼ language was Shaorasenii Prákrta. Shúrasena was the country between the Gauṋgá and the Yamuna – it was known as Brahmavarta in ancient times. During the time of the Mahabharata it was called Shúrasena, and Mathura was the capital. During the Pathan and Mughal periods, it was called Doáb or “the land between two rivers.” To the west of the Shaorasenii area, Paesháchii Prákrta was spoken, and to the west of the Paesháchii area, Páshchátya Prákrta was spoken. In Sind and Baluchistan, Saendhavii was the language of the people. In the west of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Gujarat, it was Málavii Prákrta. In Maharastra, Goa and parts of Karnataka, Maharáśt́rii Prákrta was spoken. The Prákrta languages were “petticoat languages,” that is, they were the languages of the kitchen. The Prákrta languages underwent further transmutation. From Mágadhii Prákrta came Eastern Demi-Mágadhii and Western Demi-Mágadhii. From Western Demi-Mágadhii Chattisgarhii, Nagpuria, Bhojpurii and Magahii evolved, and from Eastern Demi-Mágadhii Asamia, Bengali, Angika, Maithili and Oriya evolved. All these nine languages come from Mágadhii Prákrta. Buddha spoke in Pali, that is, Mágadhii Prákrta. Palli means “village” and “Páli” means “language of the village”. From Shaorasenii came Avadhii, Bundelii, Baghelii, Vrajabháśá and Hariyánavii. From Hariyánavii (which had Persian and Turkish vocabulary) came Urdu, the language of people who wear vardii, or military dress. From Paesháchii Prákrta came Multáni, Eastern Punjabi, Western Punjabi, Pahaŕii (Sirmaurii – a dialect of Nahan) and Dogrii. From Páshchátya came Pashto, Afghani, Peshavari, Kashmiri, Tazaki, Kurdish and the languages of South Russia. From Saendhavii Prákrta came Sindhi, Kacchi, Bahici and Brulii. The last two are Dravidian and not Indo-Aryan languages. Several languages emerged from Málavii Prákrta in the east and were spoken in Bhopal, Vidisha and nearby places, Gujarati and Kathiavari or Saurashtri. To the western side Marwarii, Mewaŕii, Harautii, Dhudhárii and Mewati were spoken. From Maháráśt́rii Prákrta came Varad́i, spoken in Vidarbha, and Debastha Merathi, spoken in Pune and Konkon. In Paesháchii Prákrta the use of modified consonant sounds is rare. In Páshchátya, such sounds are occasionally found as in padam pośa. Kulu is a blending of Pahaŕii Punjabi and eastern Dogrii. 

I once said that all the languages of this universe are mine, but you know only five, seven or ten of them. Suppression of the mother tongue is suppres-sion of human sentiment and suppression of human expression. Such a thing is not only bad, it is nasty!

Other Languages of the World

The languages of the entire world have been divided into several categories. Some of these languages maintain a parallelism with racial and ethnological factors, but this is not always the case. 

Racial factors in Assam, Bengal, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, east of Allahabad, east Madhya Pradesh, south Maharastra, Andhra and South India are not Aryan. In Maharastra there is some influence of the Mediterranean Aryans, but in Bengal there is the blending of Caucasian blood of the Mediterranean sub-race with the Austrico-Negroid-Mongoloid races. 

The languages of Assam, Bengal and Orissa all abound in Saḿskrta vocabulary. The base is not Aryan – the language is Saḿskrta. Bengali is 92% Saḿskrta, Oriya 90% and Malayalam 72%, though the Malayalese do not belong to the Aryan group. Vedic Saḿskrta is of non-Indian origin, while Saḿskrta is of Indian origin. An illiterate woman of Bengal may say biná, tele and reṋdhechi (from randhana) – all three are Saḿskrta words. Saḿskrta is not a foreign language in India, but the Vedic language is different. It is a foreign language. 

Tibetans are members of the Mongoloid race. The Nipponese sub-group of Japan and all the people in China except those in Tibet, Outer Mongolia and Korea belong to the same race. The Indo-Tibeto-Mongoloids or the people of Bhutan, Sikkim, north of Nepal, north of Udayan (Garhwalii and Kumayunii), Kinnari in Himachal Pradesh and Ladakh near Jammu and Kashmir are also of the same origin – the Mongoloid race. Indo-Tibetans have a large physical structure and a tall body. The Chinese have a small figure like the Filipinos, Indonesians, Malays, Vietnamese and Thais living in the southern portion of Thailand. The Burmese people are different. They have no single language, just like India. India is a multilingual, multi-national country and so is Burma. Amongst the languages of Burma, Burmese is the most important language. The people of Mizoram, Manipur, Naga hills, and some portion of Meghalaya belong to the Indo- Burmese sub-group of the Mongoloid race. They vary from each other linguistically. 

The languages of Burma are different from those of China – they do not follow the Chinese pictorial script. They use letters like ka, kha, ga, etc. The people there utter the mantra Oṋḿ mańi padme hum. 

Japan follows the pictorial script of China. Ethnologically and racially the people have maintained a parallelism with China, like the people of Outer Mongolia and Korea. In Bhasa Malaya Saḿskrta vocabulary is used. The Thai language contains 80% Saḿskrta vocabulary, while Bengali contains 92% and Oriya 90%. Malayalam, which contains 72% Saḿskrta vocabulary, stands fourth. The Malayali people do not belong to the Indo-Aryan stock. The forefathers of the Nayars and the Nambooderies of Kerala were Bengalees. The Gaur Saraswat Brahmans of Maharastra, (like the Senoi, Pai, Patil, etc.) eat fish like the Brahmans of Bengal. 

The Malaysian and Indonesian languages have a high percentage of Saḿskrta vocabulary. Although the percentage is less than in the Indian languages, it does not come under 40%. Burmese has 40% to 50% Saḿskrta, while Chinese has between 2% and 3%. 

Chinese has three dialects, but Mandarin is the standard Chinese. In the Philippines words like rája and guru are used. In Thai, a road is called rájapatha and a government hospital is called “Rájánukúla Hospital.” There is a hotel in Thailand called the “Apsará Hotel.” Apsará is Saḿskrta for “angel”. The Indonesian airline is called “Garuda Airways”. Garud́a is Saḿskrta for a mythological bird. Indonesia is a Muslim country, but since it has been influenced by both the Mahábhárata and the Rámáyańa, an Indonesian king named his son “Sukarno”. He selected the name “Sukarno” after Karna in the Mahábhárata. According to his understanding, Karna was a great warrior who had certain imperfections. The king wanted his son to emulate Karnaʼs good attributes but avoid his defects. Sukarno means “good Karna.” Sukarno married a Japanese girl who was given the name Ratnásaŕii Devii after marriage. Sukarnoʼs first daughter was called Meghavarná Sukarna Putrii because she was born on a rainy night. 

Dravidian influence is evident in the southern portion of Bengal, whereas Mongolian influence is evident in the northern portion. But, in general we can say that Bengali contains a greater percentage of Saḿskrta words than any other language in the world. Amongst the Caucasian languages, certain languages like Russian, Polish, Czech and Slovak languages have been greatly influenced by Vedic vocabulary. 

The Mediterranean countries of Europe have a Latin origin. Original Latin underwent some changes after a thousand years and developed two branches – Occidental Demi-Latin and Oriental Demi-Latin. From Occidental Demi-Latin came Basque, Spanish and Portuguese, and from Oriental Demi-Latin came Italian and French. Other languages greatly influenced by Latin and Vedic were the languages spoken by the Alpine and Nordic people. Polish and Slovak are of Alpine origin, and they were also greatly influenced by Latin and Vedic. They contain a certain percentage of the Scandi-navian languages which are of the Anglo-Saxon group. This group includes the countries of Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Iceland. Modern English is a blending of Anglo-Saxon, Normandy French, which was spoken in the northern portion of France, and Latin. French evolved from Oriental Demi-Latin. 

To know English properly, people must acquire good knowledge of Latin and Anglo-Saxon terms. Distance is measured by feet, but in Saḿskrta it is measured by gája, a longer unit of measurement. Gája means “elephant”. In ancient times the measurement was done by hand. Some ten thousand years ago the measurement unit was from the end of the elbow to the tip of the middle finger. In Latin foot is called pedas, and from this came “pedal”. “Pedal” is also used in the sense of “to bicycle”. “Pedal” is the adjective of pedas. The Saḿskrta word naktram is “nocturnal” in Latin. In English there are two adjectives derived from the Latin words for “bloodʼ. One, with a positive sense, is ”sanguine“. The other, with a negative sense, is “sanguinary”, meaning “bloody”. 

English vocabulary abounds in Nordic, Alpine and original Normandic words. English is a blended language and it has two sets of pronunciation – the Latinic style of pronunciation and the Nordic or Anglo-Saxon style of pronunciation. For example, The English word “knife” came from the French word kanif. In English “knife” is pronounced correctly when the “k” is silent. “Education” in Latinic style is pronounced “education” and in Anglo-Saxon style “ejucation”. In the same way, “guardian” is pronounced differently. 

In Africa, languages differ according to climatic conditions and river basins. Several Negroid tongues originated in the south of the Sahara, and altogether there are twenty-seven dialects. In the north of the Sahara the original language was Egyptian. When the Arabs conquered Egypt, the language was influenced by Arabic, and dialects and sub-dialects developed. From Morocco to Iran and from Lebanon to Yemen Arabic is spoken. The Persian and Afghani languages are very close to Rgvedic Saḿskrta. For example, asti is Saḿskrta and astá is Persian; bhrátara is Saḿskrta and biradar is Persian. Persian is the grandchild of Rgvedic Saḿskrta. 

Later Hebrew and old or later Arabic came from old Hebrew. Later Hebrew died out when the Jews had to leave the Middle East and settle in Europe and the United States of America. A new language, Yiddish, emerged, but now it is virtually extinct. Hebrew became the official language of Israel when the Jews resettled in the Middle East. Hebrew has close proximity with Arabic. For example, the Arabic words “Ibrahim”, “Yusuf”, “Yacub” and “Daub” are “Abraham”, “Joseph”, “Jacob” and “David” respectively in Hebrew. Both are Semitic languages and both are written from right to left. 

This is a linguistic survey of the entire world.

From "A Scriptological and Linguistic Survey of the World", given in Kolkata on 20. February 1989. Published in Discourses on Neohumanist Education and in Prout in a Nutshell Volume 4 Part 17, both by Ananda Marga Publications.