Questions of the Week: June 21, 2006

1. Who was Vasco Da Gama? 

2. What is Ajanta and Ellora famous for?

3. Where did Sanskrit originate? Is it still spoken? 

Answers:

1. VASCO da GAMA (1469-1524)

he Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama led an expedition at the end of the 15th century that opened the sea route to India by way of the Cape of Good Hope at the southern tip of Africa.

He was born about 1469 at Sines. He was a gentleman at court when he was chosen to lead the expedition to India. The Portuguese sent a fleet to India for spices and to outflank the Muslims in Africa. Vasco da Gama was placed in command of the expedition.

Four ships left Lisbon on July 8, 1497--the Sao Gabriel, on which da Gama sailed, the Sao Rafael, the Berrio, and a storeship. The ships rounded the Cape on November 22. The expedition stopped on the East African coast, broke up the storeship, and reached Mozambique on Mar. 2, 1498. There they were assumed to be Muslims, and the sultan of Mozambique supplied them with pilots, who guided them on their journey northward.

They crossed the Indian Ocean in 23 days, aided by the Indian pilot Ibn Majid, and reached Calicut on May 20, 1498. The local ruler, the Zamorin, welcomed the Portuguese, who at first thought that the Indians, actually Hindus, were Christians.

After one further stop on the Indian coast, the Portuguese set out to return with a load of spices. Da Gama stopped in the Azores and finally reached Lisbon on Sept. 9, 1499. King Manuel ordered da Gama to India again. He was given the title of admiral and left Portugal in February 1502 with 20 ships. Da Gama's mission was a success, and the fleet returned to Lisbon in October 1503.

King John III sent him to India in 1524 as viceroy, but he soon became ill and died in Cochin on Dec. 24, 1524.

2.  Northeast of Mumbai (a.k.a. Bombay), near Aurangabad, are two astonishing series of temples carved out of living rock (rock formations still in progress) over the course of fourteen centuries. During the 4^th century A. D. in a remote valley, work began on the Ajanta caves to create a complex of Buddhist monasteries and prayer halls. As centuries passed, numerous Buddhist monks and artisans dug out a set of twenty-nine caves, converting some to cells, and others to monasteries and Buddhist temples. All of these were carved from the rock cliff at Ajanta. These caves are adorned with elaborate sculptures and paintings which have withstood the ravages of time.

© K. L. Kamat

Bodhisatva -- painting from Ajanta

The sculptures are finely wrought images of animals, guards and deities while the paintings tell ancient tales of courtly life and depict hundreds of Buddhist legends. Amid the beautiful images and paintings are sculptures of Buddha, calm and serene in contemplation.

Work started on the Ellora caves in the seventh century A.D. where another set of caves was created from living rock. Buddhism,Jainism and Hinduism inspired sculptors to create elaborate rock carvings. The Buddhist and Jain caves here are ornately carved, yet seem quiet and meditative, whereas the Hindu caves are filled with a divine energy and power.

The most impressive and majestic creation at Ellora is the Kailasa Temple, a full-sized, freestanding temple flanked by elephants carved out of solid rock during the Rashtrakuta kings. Pillars, podiums, spires and towers combine to produce an awe-inspiring representation of Shiva's Himalayan abode.

3. The Sanskrit language first emerged around 2,000 to 1,000 B.C.E. It's one of the oldest languages still in existence, and linguists have grouped it with the Indo-European languages, such as French, German, and English, which may share a common ancestor language. It isn't entirely clear where Sankrit originated, but it probably came from the Indus Valley, in what is now Pakistan and northwestern India.

Since its beginning, Sanskrit has been used primarily by people in the upper classes of society. Educated, high-ranking men and religious scholars spoke and wrote Sanskrit, while most people used other languages (some of which may have developed from Sanskrit). The Vedas, the oldest sacred writings of Hinduism, were written in an early form of Sanskrit, now called Vedic Sanskrit.

Sometime between the seventh and fourth centuries B.C.E., the grammarian Panini standardized the language into a new form, referred to as Classical Sanskrit -- this is the Sanskrit still used today. In addition to the Vedas, many religious works, influential Indian poetry and drama, and early scientific and mathematic documents were originally written in Sanskrit.

In India today, Sanskrit is still a language of higher education and is not commonly spoken, much like classical Latin and Greek in European societies. Sanskrit is one of the 18 official languages of India, even though less than 50,000 people spoke it as of India's 1991 census. In comparison, the most common language, Hindi, is spoken by 30% of India's population of over one billion people.

India's Department of Education promotes the study of Sanskrit in schools throughout the country. Some scholars believe that every Indian language is related to Sanskrit, so learning Sanskrit can be an important background for further education.