All languages were initially spoken; writing came much later. As a language, Sanskrit flows freely. It doesn’t like stops. Hence, words tend to combine with each other and merge. Svagatam does mean welcome. But it is actually Su+agatam, which means, ‘Your arrival is good/welcome.’ Spoken fast, this becomes Svagatam. There are grammatical rules for combining words, i.e., sandhi and samasa. The word sandhi means combination or union. The word samasa is a bit like abbreviating.
Without boring the reader with Sanskrit grammar, when there is sandhi, the two words combined don’t lose their innate meanings. With samasa, the meaning of the combined word may be completely different from the meanings of the two original words. Every language loves to play with words; puns are an example. In Sanskrit, playing with words and their meanings is staple fare. The conversation between Rama and Shurpanakha in Valmiki’s Ramayana is an instance. Rama never lied. But each sentence had a double meaning and what Rama said was quite different from what Shurpanakha thought he said.
For both sandhi and samasa, there are different rules. Every student of Sanskrit knows about the shloka which is a conversation between a king and a beggar. The beggar tells the king, “Both you and I are Lokanathas. I am bahuvrihi and you are tatpurusha.” Bahuvrihi and tatpurusha are two different types of samasa.
What does the word Lokanatha mean? (In writing Sanskrit words in English, there should be the ‘a’ at the end. If Sanskrit is intended, one should write Bharata. With Hindi, Bharat is fine.) Loka means ‘the world’ and natha means ‘lord’. With tatpurusha, Lokanatha means lord of the worlds, as the king is. With bahuvrihi, Lokanatha means someone for whom the world is a lord. This makes sense, since the beggar has to go around seeking alms for survival.
Atithidevo bhava—what does this mean and where is it from? This has become a tagline for welcoming visitors and tourists, and we translate it as ‘a guest is a god’. Tithi is a lunar day, and atithi=a+tithi. A pre-announced and invited guest is not quite an atithi but is someone who turns up unexpectedly.
Few know that this is from the Shiksha Valli section of the Taittirya Upanishad. A segment from this, the 11th anuvaka, is the first recorded convocation address in the world by a guru to graduating students. Subsequently, as with contemporary convocations, students took a pledge. That bit from the convocation address goes, Matridevo bhava, pitridevo bhava, acharyadevo bhava, atithidevo bhava and so on. The trick to understanding the meaning of any sentence—in Sanskrit more than any other language—is to get a handle on the verb first. In this case, the verb is bhava. This means this is an imperative instruction to ‘you’ in the singular. ‘You’ are being instructed to ‘be’. Be what? Be one to whom the mother is like a god, the father is like a god, the acharya is like a god and the atithi is like a god.
In case you haven’t guessed, expressions like atithidevo are bahuvrihi samasa. But as in the conversation between the king and the beggar, this isn’t the only meaning possible. The word deva does mean god but actually means ‘the shining one’. Skipping the details, I can have an alternative meaning of the samasa, i.e., ‘be a guest who is respected’. This is contrary to the usual meaning but grammatically correct.
I don’t think too many people, except those who specialise in Sanskrit, have read Shiksha Valli. It says things like Satyam vada, dharmam chara, meaning ‘speak the truth, follow dharma’, and Esha dharma sanatana, which means ‘this is eternal dharma’. Like a disease, if sanatana dharma is to be eradicated, I should treat the mother, the father, the acharya and the guest like devils, never speak the truth and follow adharma.
Of course, there is Humpty Dumpty, who had a great fall. To quote Humpty Dumpty from Lewis Carroll, “When I use a word, it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor less.” One can’t do that with an expression like sanatana dharma. It means eternal dharma, nothing more and nothing less. Dharma means something that holds up, and there can be no quarrel about that. Of course, there are different contexts in which the expression occurs, not just Shiksha Valli. Many people have written on sanatana dharma and what it means. Coincidentally, a book authored by Partho (who is mononymic) has just been published by Blueone Ink Publishers, titled This is Sanatan Dharma. Irrespective of the context and irrespective of who has written, the expression means eternal dharma, which is the foundation that holds up society, with different manifestations and expressions.
It is perfectly possible for someone to have a problem with the practice of the varna system. In the West, there has been a long tradition of discussing logical fallacies. There was this tradition in India, too, more so in Sanskrit, and this means Buddhism too. Whether West or East, there is a fallacy known as hasty or false generalisation. Or perhaps one has in mind straw men or red herrings, other examples of faulty reasoning.
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The point is that unless one is Humpty Dumpty, there is no equivalence between sanatana dharma and the practice of varna. There are many who have been critical of the latter but have been sufficiently knowledgeable about the former, to not indulge in false equivalences and hasty generalisations. There is ignorance and there is incompetence.
There is a principle known as Hanlon’s razor. Paraphrased, one shouldn’t attribute to malice something adequately explained by stupidity. The opposite also stands: one shouldn’t attribute to stupidity something adequately explained by malice. Sometimes reasoning is delinked from rhetoric.
Or perhaps one goes back to Humpty Dumpty and the philosophy of language. Language means we have a common set of rules, so that words have a common meaning that everyone understands. One can deviate from this while using ciphers, so that only those privy to the key can understand. But that’s not what one does in public speeches, where every person who hears is expected to comprehend. Hence, the message of eradication was sufficiently clear. Like a disease, eradicate the foundation. Reminds me of a line from the Book of Lamentations in the Bible: “Persecute and destroy them in anger from under the heavens.” There is indeed a lot to lament for.
Bibek Debroy
Chairman, Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister