A language learners’ forum

aravinda
Pali: Yes, almost exclusively Buddhist scriptures or literature
Sanskrit: No, not at all. There's a wide variety of Sanskrit works covering a range of subjects.

Carmody wrote:So I did more research re texts in Sanskrit and this is what I come up with. It appears to be a choice of which religion one needs to learn to speak the language. Or so it seems:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanskrit_literature

Carmody wrote:So I did more research re texts in Sanskrit and this is what I come up with. It appears to be a choice of which religion one needs to learn to speak the language. Or so it seems:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanskrit_literature

Sanskrit Literature, classical literature of India written in the Sanskrit language. It may be divided into the Vedic period (circa 1500 BC-200 BC), when the Vedic form of Sanskrit was in use, and the Sanskrit period (200 BC-c. AD 1100), when classical Sanskrit had developed from Vedic. Notwithstanding the chronological continuity of Indian writings, the spirit of Sanskrit-period literature differs greatly from that of the Vedic period. The chief distinction between the two is that Vedic literature, consisting of the Vedas (Veda), Brahmanas, and Upanishads, is essentially religious, whereas classical Sanskrit literature is, with rare exceptions, secular. In the Vedas the lyric and legendary forms are in the service of prayer, or exposition of the ritual; in Sanskrit epics such as the Mahabharata and the Ramayana, didactic, lyric, and dramatic forms have been developed far beyond their earlier state for more purely literary, aesthetic, or moral purposes. In Sanskrit literature, moreover, with the exception of the Mahabharata and the Puranas, the authors are generally definite persons, more or less well known, whereas the writings of the Vedic period go back either to families of poets or to religious schools.

The form and style of classical Sanskrit literature is, as a rule, different from that of the Vedas. Vedic prose was developed in the Yajur-Veda, Brahmanas, and Upanishads to a tolerably high pitch; in classical Sanskrit, aside from the strained scientific language of philosophical and grammatical treatises, prose writing is to be found only in fables, fairy tales, romances, and partly in the drama. Nor has this prose improved in stylistic quality, as compared with its earlier counterpart. On the contrary, it has become progressively more awkward, full of long, difficult compounds and rhetorical constructions. Sanskrit poetry also differs from Vedic poetry. The bulk of the poetry, especially the epic, is composed in the sloka meter, a development of the Vedic anushtubh stanza of four octosyllabic lines of essentially iambic cadence. Numerous other meters, however, usually built up on Vedic prototypes, have become more elaborate than their old originals, and in the main, more artistic and beautiful.

PfifltriggPi wrote:Just a reminder to everyone that we do have a(n almost totally vacant) Discord server, in which I would be very interested in starting a Latin conversation/reading group.

Sahmilat wrote:

PfifltriggPi wrote:Just a reminder to everyone that we do have a(n almost totally vacant) Discord server, in which I would be very interested in starting a Latin conversation/reading group.

Do you mean the one at discord.gg/Latin ? That one is pretty active.

IronMike wrote:Damn you people and my wanderlust...pulled out one of my Old English books yday.

No, no, not gonna do it...till Sept 2019 when the latest edition of TY's OE book comes out.