A Scriptological and Linguistic Survey of the World

Published in:

Discourses on Neohumanist Education

Prout in a Nutshell Volume 4 Part 17 [a compilation]

Notes:

official source: Prout in a Nutshell Part 17

this version: is the printed Discourses on Neohumanist Education, 2nd edition, version (obvious spelling, punctuation and typographical mistakes only may have been corrected). I.e., this is the most up-to-date version as of the present Electronic Edition.

The printed edition of Discourses on Neohumanist Education is divided into seven parts. This discourse belongs to Part 2: Sociological and Historical Discourses on Education.

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.

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 Henrietta 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, [modified consonant sounds] are occasionally found as in padam pośa.(1) 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 suppression of human sentiment and suppression of human expression. Such a thing is not only bad, it is nasty!

The Scripts of India

In ancient times there were two scripts in India – Bráhmii and Kharośt́i. These two scripts have been found on goat hides from the time of the first Muslim king. They date to pre-Muslim times, making them at least 1500 years old. Bráhmii was written from right to left and Kharośt́i from left to right. Late Kharośt́i died and Bráhmii bifurcated into two scripts – Sáradá, the script of the people northwest of Prayag (Allahabad), and Nárada, which was used in the southwest. These scripts were written from left to right like English. Prayag was the meeting point of Sáradá and Nárada. A third script developed and was known as Kut́ilá script. Since it was developed in Kaosambii, it was also known as Kaosambii script. It was also known as Sriiharśá script since the seal of Shrii Harśa [Harshavardan] was written in this script. It was popular in the east of Allahabad.

Nárada script was also known as Nágarii script due to the domination of Nágar Bráhmańas. After the Gupta period, the influence of Kányakubja Bráhmańas declined and that of the Nágar Bráhmańas increased, hence Nárada began to dominate Kut́ilá script. Previously, the scholars of Kashi wrote in Kut́ilá script, but later, due to the influence of the Nágar Bráhmańas, Kut́ilá disappeared and Nágarii took its position. Kut́ilá used to be the script of the entire eastern portion of India.

Ancient támralipi, or inscriptions written on copper, and shilálekhá, or edicts written on stone slabs, have been found in Kut́ilá script from the time of Harshavardhan, when Kut́ilá dominated. Nágarii came after the Gupta period. During the Mughal period the Kayasthas wrote their official records in a distorted form of Nágarii. Since the Kayasthas wrote in this script, it came to be known as Káyathii. It was popular in east Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. Bhojpuri was written in this script. Of course, the official language of the Mughals was Urdu. There is no diphthong (yuktákśara) in Kayathii, which was used in the courts during the British period. Kayathii has a close proximity to Gujrati script, which used to be found over 70-80 years ago. When the United Provinces of Agra and Avadha was consolidated after the merger of Agra, Avadh and Ruhelkhand, Kayathii disappeared from the courts and Urdu took its place.

The Sáradá or Sárasvata script had three branches – Kashmirii Sáradá, used in Kashmir; Dogrii Sáradá, used in Dvigarta; and Punjabi Sáradá, used in Saptasindhu. Later Urdu was accepted in the Punjab and the Sikh Guru Arjuna Deva developed Guru-mukhi script, however Persian script was more popular. Punjabi contains more tadbhava Saḿskrta words which cannot be written properly in Persian script, so in Punjabi “school” and “station” are “sakool” and “sateshan” respectively. Later Lándei script developed as a distortion of Punjabi Sáradá, and the shopkeepers of the Punjab and Sind would write in it.

Ranabir Singh wanted to popularize Dogrii script in Jammu and Kashmir, which was a Hindu theocratic state. At that time only Brahmans and Sándhivigráhikas (Kayasthas) could be government ministers in Hindu theocratic states. Such a system, however, is not proper, as the state is for all citizens equally. The Brahmans in Jammu and Kashmir favoured Kashmirii Sáradá and were more familiar with Persian script, and due to their influence Dogrii script was not accepted.

Assamese and Bengali horoscopes and books were both written in Sriiharśa script, while in Mithila horoscopes were written in Sriiharśa and books in Nágarii. In Kashmir, horoscopes were written in Sárada. In the Punjab, during ancient times, horoscopes and books were written in Punjabi Sárada, that is, Saptasindhu Sárada, while today horoscopes are written in Punjabi Sáradá and books in Gurumukhii script.

Oriya script used to be written on palm leaves with iron pens. To avoid tearing the leaves, it was written in rounded letters. Bengali, however, was written in angular letters. But on shilálekhá, or edicts written on stone slabs, both scripts are written in an angular style because stone is not easily damaged. Oriya was written in Sriharsh script in circular style or Utkal style, and Sriharsh script was written in angular style or Gaoriiya style.

Sáradá denotes intellect or intellectuality. The script used by the intellectuals of Kashmir was called “Sáradá script”. When the Vedas were first composed, they were passed down from guru to disciple through memorization because script had not yet been invented and so no written record of them could be made. The Vedas are also called “Shruti.” (During the time of the Rgveda there was no script). It became a dogma not to write down the Vedas, and a great portion of the Vedas were lost due to this dogma. Out of nearly one hundred rks, most were lost. The scholars of Kashmir were the first ones to write the Vedas down despite the dogma, and they wrote them in Sáradá script. They wrote the Atharvaveda.(2)

Nárada was the script used in the southwest of Allahabad up to the Gulf of Kachh, north of Bombay. It was invented by the Nágar Bráhmańas of Gujarat, therefore it is also called Nágarii script. Nágarii script derived its name from the Nágar Bráhmańas. These Brahmans started writing Saḿskrta, that is, Devabháśá, in Nágarii, so this script was called “Devanágarii”. Thus Devanagari script came from Gujarat and not from Uttar Pradesh. Gujarati is written in a simple way without a line over the letters. When Saḿskrta was written in this script, lines were also drawn over the letters. This script came to be known as Devanagari script, a specific type of Nágarii.

Kut́ilá is the script used in the east of Allahabad. Since complicated diphthongs were used in this script, it was called “Kut́ilá”. Kut́ila means “complicated”. During the days of King Ashoka, Kut́ilá was the popular script but stone edicts were written in Bráhmii script. After the Gupta period and up to the Pathan invasion of India, the influence of Kányakubja and Saryupáriin Bráhmańas decreased and their position was taken over by the Nagar Bráhmańas of Gujarat. Nágar Bráhmańas were dominant in Varanasi. Consequently, Kut́ilá became less dominant and Devanagari took over its position. Varanasi accepted Devanagari as its script. Some British scholars learnt Saḿskrta in Devanagari when the British came to India. The German scholar Max Mueller also used Devanagari script for writing Saḿskrta. Devanagari became the script of Saḿskrta in this [era], though Saḿskrta has no special script of its own. It is written in several scripts. Paesháchii and Paśhcátya Prákrta abounded in tadbhava or distorted Saḿskrta words. In ancient times human beings wandered like nomads and gypsies. Later they settled down permanently in villages. In Vedic Saḿskrta the word anna is used for staple food and pińd́a for any food. The place where people took food was known as pińd́a + ik = pińd́ik. In Paesháchii Prákrta it became pińd́a. Today in Punjabi pińd́a means “village.” Punjabi contains a lot of tadbhava Saḿskrta words.

There are three scripts in Bhojpuri: Nágarii script is used in the west of Allahabad. Max Mueller wrote the Vedas in Nágarii script which came to be known as Devanagari 800 years ago. Sáradá script is used in the northwest of Allahabad and is 1300 years old. Kut́ilá script is used in the east of Allahabad. It is the script for Oriya, Bengali, Bhojpuri, Maithili, Angika, etc. Bengali is 1100 years old.

The mother tongue of Krśńa was Shaorasenii Prákrta. Later on Vrajabháśá emerged from Shaorasenii Prákrta, and is spoken in the west of Allahabad. Raskhan (a Muslim poet), Rahim and Surdas were the poets of Prákrta. The Agrawalas of Vraja belong to the Vraja area and are not Marwaris. The Muslims of Allahabad speak the Avadhi language. Only the Shiites speak Urdu.

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,(3) 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 Scandinavian 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.

20 February 1989, Kolkata

Prout in a Nutshell Part 17

Footnotes

[1] Padam pośa is a form of padma puśpa, “lotus flower”, in which the dma of padma has become dam. –Trans.

[2] Writing began with the Atharvaveda, the third of the Vedas. Later, scholars wrote the surviving rks of the Rgveda and Yajurveda. –Trans.

[3] In "Phonetics, Prefixes and Suffixes (Discourse 5)", the author has said, "Occido-Demi-Latin includes two and a half – Spanish, Portuguese and Basque. Basque can be called a half-language because it is a mixture of Portuguese and Spanish." Of interest in regard to both these discourses, the author has been quoted as saying on another occasion, "The name of the old mixture of Spanish and Portuguese was called the Iberian language. Even today, some of the Spanish dialects vary more from standard Spanish than from Portuguese." (Travels with the Mystic Master, Ác. Dharmavedánanda Avt., Ananda Marga Pracaraka Samgha in Maharlika Publications, 3rd Edition, 2011, "As Per System" chapter) Some have asked whether here in this discourse as well, and in "Phonetics, Prefixes and Suffixes (Discourse 5)", the author may have been referring to the Iberian language. –Trans.

From: A Scriptological and Linguistic Survey of the World

Published in:

* Discourses on Neohumanist Education

* Prout in a Nutshell Volume 4 Part 17 [a compilation]

Source: Electronic edition version 9.0.13