Dear Karen,

If u hear sanskrit and pali, u would see that they are very closely realted
in the vocabulary and the grammar. pali would sound like a rustic or common
man's version of sanskrit - smoothened out, so to speak. One grew up hearing
it spoken, so one spoke it. It would not be wrong to say that pali is more a
dialect of sankrit than an independent language (no wonder pali has no
script of its own).

compare some words:

*sanskrit - pali - english*
cakshu - cakkhu - eye
purve - pubbe - before
dharma - dhamma - prefer not to translate
nirvana - nibbana - prefer not to translate
utpadan - uppadan - produce (noun)
bhikshu - bhikkhu - monk
soka - shoka - mourning (the Sh_ sound replaced by S_)
the list is virtually endless.

the simpler words like 'Buddha' remain unchanged.

the half 'r' as in dharma or purva, is smothened out in pali by doubling the
following letter as in dhamma and pubbe ('v' usually changes to 'b' in the
process).

So it's only natural to revert to Sanskrit to understand Pali better.
Secondly, there are plenty of schools teaching sanskrit as a second / third
language and arts colleges offer graduation in Sanskrit literature. So, u'll
find plenty of people knowing Sanskrit, but not so with Pali. Therefore,
learning pali thru sanskrit comes very naturally to them. To use an analogy
-- Sanskrit is classical music and Pali a folk song.

Whether Buddha knew sanskrit - I have no doubt that he did. He was a prince
and his father must have undoubtedly provided the best education
befitting royalty, with separate tutors for sanskrit, literature, music, the
shashtras, combat training in swordplay, archery, etc., economics
(artha-shaashtra), governance, diplomacy and so an as was customary.

Metta.
__________________________________________________

On 1/6/07, keren_arbel <keren_arbel@...> wrote:
>
> Dear All,
>
> I would be happy to hear your knowledgeable opinion about "tracking" a
> Pali word from the Sanskrit one for understanding it meaning better.
> I see this method quite often in books and articles. The author try to
> understand the Pali word better by going to the Sanskrit verb or word.
> But since Pali might be a vencular language closly connected to Vedic
> rather than classical Sanskrit (and it meanings in the dictionary),
> and the unknown fact whether the Buddha new sanskrit at all, what is
> the significance of going to the Sanskrit?
>
> Thanks for any thoughts and ideas,
> Keren.
>
>
>


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