What is the Sanskrit word for Python? - Ajagar
While the English word for the snake has its origins in the Greek word Puthōn, the name of a huge serpent killed by Apollo, the Sanskrit word, Ajagar is a combination of "Aja" (goat) and "Gara" (swallow). So any snake that can swallow a goat could be called a python. The word can also be used for a boa constrictor or an anaconda.
In Sanskrit, the verb is the most important thing and the noun, or proper-noun is secondary and is derived or surmised from the meaning of the word used in a specific context. So, depending on the context you can have at least 12 different options for the word, "Friend"!
To be sure, these are things many of us learnt in our school lessons. Unfortunately, during those years, learning Sanskrit was was anything but fascinating - memorising Shlokas and the meaning of words by rote, the terror of being told to read out a lesson loudly in class, and the pain of clearing tests and exams. It is only now that I turn to look at the language with a fresh pair of eyes - thanks largely to videos like this one where the eminent economist, Bibek Debroy describes his efforts at translating the unabridged versions of Sanskrit classics.
Bibek started learning Sanskrit in his 40s and then amazingly, went on to translate tome after tome of the 18 Mahapuranas, a body of work that has more than 400,000 shlokas in over 12 million words! I have less than a passing acquaintance with most of these Mahapuranas - Bhagavata-purana, Markendeya-purana, Bramha-purana, Vishnu-purana, Shiva-purana, Brahmanada-purana, Matsya-purana, and so on. Even the one I am familiar with - the Mahabharata - has 10 volumes, 100,000 shlokas in about 2.25 million words!
I also learnt from Bibek that rhyming in Sanskrit poetry is of very recent vintage - from the 8th to 10th centuries through poets such as Jayadeva (eg., Dashavatara Stotram). Until then the emphasis was on the metres such as the Anushthup (4 verses of 8 syllables each). It seems word "Shloka" (verse) itself originates from its use by the poet Valmiki to describe "Shoka" (sorrow) at the sight of a mating crane getting killed by a hunter's arrow -
Ramayana Verse 2.14
मा निषाद प्रतिष्ठां त्वमगमः शाश्वतीः समाः ।
यत्क्रौंचमिथुनादेकमवधी काममोहितम् ।।
mā niṣāda pratiṣṭhāṃ tvamagamaḥ śāśvatīḥ samāḥ |
yat krauñcamithunādekamavadhīḥ kāmamohitam || 14 ||
(You will find no rest for the long years of Eternity
For you killed a bird in love and unsuspecting)Other commonly known shlokas using the Anushthup meter include -
The Ganesha Mantra
श्री वक्रतुण्ड महाकाय सूर्य कोटी समप्रभा।
निर्विघ्नं कुरु मे देव सर्व-कार्येशु सर्वदा॥
Shree Vakratunda Mahakaya Suryakoti Samaprabha।
Nirvighnam Kuru Me Deva Sarva-Kaaryeshu Sarvada॥
Tantroktam Devi Suktam (15 shlokas following a common pattern - "Yaa devi sarva bhuteshu.."):
या देवी सर्वभूतेषु शक्ति-रूपेण संस्थिता।
नमस्तस्यै नमस्तस्यै नमस्तस्यै नमो नमः॥
One big surprise was that even a very recent 'patriotic' Bengali song is structured on the same Anushthup metre -
ধনধান্য পুষ্প ভরা আমাদের এই বসুন্ধরা
তাহার মাঝে আছে দেশ এক সকল দেশের সেরা
Dhono dhanno pushpe bhora, amader ei boshundhora
Tahar majhe ache desh ek shokol desher shera
Thanks to Bibek Debroy, these familiar verses open the doors to world that I always thought to be intimidating, like trying to swim in the open oceans. I hope the kids who are now learning Sanskrit in the schools also realise that beyond those boring textbooks there are far better resources available for free the web!
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