The authors show that Indian languages derive strongly from the ethnic community or the territory in which the language is used. They investigate the distribution of different language families, the larger spread of languages such as Hindi, Marwari, Urdu and Telugu, language-contactsituations, and bilingualism.
This Book Fills A Gap In Our Understanding Of The Role That Language Has Played Int He History And Politics Of Modern Indai And Will Make Interesting Reading For Historians, Linguists, Cultural Studies Scholars As Well As General Readers.
This book provides a general survey of all the inscriptional material in the Sanskrit, Prakrit, and modern Indo-Aryan languages, including donative, dedicatory, panegyric, ritual, and literary texts carved on stone, metal, and other materials. This material comprises many thousands of documents dating from a range of more than two millennia, found in India and the neighboring nations of South Asia, as well as in many parts of Southeast, central, and East Asia. The inscriptions are written, for the most part, in the Brahmi and Kharosthi scripts and their many varieties and derivatives. Inscriptional materials are of particular importance for the study of the Indian world, constituting the most detailed and accurate historical and chronological data for nearly all aspects of traditional Indian culture in ancient and medieval times. Richard Salomon surveys the entire corpus of Indo-Aryan inscriptions in terms of their contents, languages, scripts, and historical and cultural significance. He presents this material in such a way as to make it useful not only to Indologists but also non-specialists, including persons working in other aspects of Indian or South Asian studies, as well as scholars of epigraphy and ancient history and culture in other regions of the world.
Welcome to the visionary world of "India of My Dreams" by M.K. Gandhi, a profound exploration of the principles and ideals that shaped the father of the Indian nation's vision for a free and prosperous India. Prepare to be inspired by Gandhi's timeless wisdom and unwavering commitment to truth, nonviolence, and social justice. Follow Gandhi's impassioned plea for a better future as he articulates his vision for an India that is free from poverty, oppression, and inequality. From his advocacy for Swaraj (self-rule) to his championing of Sarvodaya (the welfare of all), Gandhi offers a roadmap for building a society based on love, compassion, and mutual respect. Explore the rich tapestry of Gandhi's ideas as he addresses a wide range of issues, from economic inequality and social injustice to the need for spiritual renewal and moral regeneration. Through his eloquent prose and moral clarity, Gandhi invites readers to reflect on the values that are essential for building a truly democratic and egalitarian society. Themes of truth, ahimsa (nonviolence), and Satyagraha (civil disobedience) permeate the narrative, inviting readers to contemplate the power of moral courage and the importance of standing up for what is right. As Gandhi's words inspire and challenge us, we are reminded of the transformative potential of love and compassion in the face of hatred and oppression. The overall tone and mood of "India of My Dreams" are imbued with a sense of hope and optimism, as Gandhi's vision for a better world shines through on every page. From the bustling streets of India's cities to the serene beauty of its rural villages, Gandhi paints a vivid portrait of a nation on the cusp of greatness, ready to fulfill its destiny as a beacon of light and hope for the world. Critically acclaimed for its moral clarity, spiritual depth, and profound insights into the human condition, "India of My Dreams" has earned its place as a classic of Indian literature. Its enduring relevance and timeless wisdom continue to inspire readers of all ages and backgrounds, reminding us of the power of love and truth to transform the world. Whether you're a student of history, a champion of social justice, or simply someone looking for guidance on how to live a life of purpose and meaning, "India of My Dreams" offers a roadmap for building a better world. Its message of hope and redemption will leave you feeling inspired and empowered to make a difference in your own community and beyond. Don't miss your chance to experience the wisdom of M.K. Gandhi's vision for a better world with "India of My Dreams." Let "India of My Dreams" inspire you to work towards a future where love and truth reign supreme. Secure your copy now and join the countless readers who have been inspired by Gandhi's timeless masterpiece.
The Dravidian language family is the world's fourth largest with over 175 million speakers across South Asia from Pakistan to Nepal, from Bangladesh to Sri Lanka as well as having communities in Malaysia, North America and the UK. Four of the languages, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam and Telugu are official national languages and the Dravidian family has had a rich literary and cultural influence. This authoritative reference source provides unique descriptions of 12 of these languages, covering their historical development alongside discussions of their specialised linguistic structures and features. Each chapter combines modern linguistic theory with traditional historical linguistics and a uniform structure allows for easy typological comparison between the individual languages. Two further chapters provide general information about the language family - the introduction, which covers the history, cultural implications and linguistic background, and a separate article on Dravidian writing systems. This volume includes languages from all 4 of the Dravidian family's subgroupings: South Dravidian e.g. Tamil, Kannada; South Central Dravidian e.g. Telugu, Konda; Central Dravidian e.g. Kolami; North Dravidian e.g. Brahui, Malto. Written by a team of expert contributors, many of whom are based in Asia, each language chapter offers a detailed analysis of phonology, morphology, syntax and followed by a list of the most relevant further reading to aid the independent scholar. The Dravidian Languages will be invaluable to students and researchers within linguistics and will also be of interest to readers in the fields of comparative literature, South Asian studies and Oriental studies.
Hinduism has two major roots. The more familiar is the religion brought to South Asia in the second millennium BCE by speakers of Aryan or Indo-Iranian languages, a branch of the Indo-European language family. Another, more enigmatic, root is the Indus civilization of the third millennium BCE, which left behind exquisitely carved seals and thousands of short inscriptions in a long-forgotten pictographic script. Discovered in the valley of the Indus River in the early 1920s, the Indus civilization had a population estimated at one million people, in more than 1000 settlements, several of which were cities of some 50,000 inhabitants. With an area of nearly a million square kilometers, the Indus civilization was more extensive than the contemporaneous urban cultures of Mesopotamia and Egypt. Yet, after almost a century of excavation and research the Indus civilization remains little understood. How might we decipher the Indus inscriptions? What language did the Indus people speak? What deities did they worship? Asko Parpola has spent fifty years researching the roots of Hinduism to answer these fundamental questions, which have been debated with increasing animosity since the rise of Hindu nationalist politics in the 1980s. In this pioneering book, he traces the archaeological route of the Indo-Iranian languages from the Aryan homeland north of the Black Sea to Central, West, and South Asia. His new ideas on the formation of the Vedic literature and rites and the great Hindu epics hinge on the profound impact that the invention of the horse-drawn chariot had on Indo-Aryan religion. Parpola's comprehensive assessment of the Indus language and religion is based on all available textual, linguistic and archaeological evidence, including West Asian sources and the Indus script. The results affirm cultural and religious continuity to the present day and, among many other things, shed new light on the prehistory of the key Hindu goddess Durga and her Tantric cult.
This is a reference grammar of the standard spoken variety of Tamil, a language with 65 million speakers in India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia and Singapore. The spoken variety is radically different from the standard literary variety, last standardized in the thirteenth century. The standard spoken language is used by educated people in their interactions with people from different regions and different social groups, and is also the dialect used in films, plays and the media. This book, a much expanded version of the author s Grammar of Spoken Tamil (1979), is the first such grammar to contain examples both in Tamil script and in transliteration, and the first to be written so as to be accessible to students studying the modern spoken language as well as to linguists and other specialists. The book has benefitted from extensive native-speaker input and the author s own long experience of teaching Tamil to English-speakers.
The Indo-Aryan languages are spoken by at least 700 million people throughout India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka and the Maldive Islands. They have a claim to great antiquity, with the earliest Vedic Sanskrit texts dating to the end of the second millennium B.C. With texts in Old Indo-Aryan, Middle Indo-Aryan and Modern Indo-Aryan, this language family supplies a historical documentation of language change over a longer period than any other subgroup of Indo-European. This volume is divided into two main sections dealing with general matters and individual languages. Each chapter on the individual language covers the phonology and grammar (morphology and syntax) of the language and its writing system, and gives the historical background and information concerning the geography of the language and the number of its speakers.