Sanskrit: An eternal language

With an objective to propagate the greatness of the Sanskrit language, a book titled ‘Sphurthi Patham’ written by Bhamidipalli Subrahmanya Sarma, was launched recently at Mekaster Auditorium, Osmania University.

Hailing from East Godavari district and living in Hyderabad, BS Sarma belongs to a family of Sanskrit pundits. His maternal grandfather, Jatavallabhula Purushottam, has written many books both in Telugu and Sanskrit and spent all his life to popularise Sanskrit.

The book is a collection of 108 verses of Sanskrit literature, translated into English and Telugu with a brief explanation and their current day relevance.

“Sanskrit literature is an ocean that contains many pearls of wisdom. It is the source for Vedas, Sastrams, Kavyams and is the language of gods. Today many people think that learning Sanskrit is difficult, but it is wrong. We have to learn Sanskrit to know its importance.

The great books like Mahabharata and Bhagavad Gita and many others were first written in Sanskrit,” the author shares.

Sharing the reason why he translated the Sanskrit verses into Telugu, he says, “When I was studying an Executive MBA in IIM (Indian Institute of Management) Lucknow, I observed that many lectures were about various topics and all of which were related to Sanskrit. At that time I decided to learn the language and to spread its prominence to people.”

Speaking about the major topics which are included in the book, he shares: “Sphurthi Patham is a wonderful composition of Sanskrit slokas of 108 pearls of knowledge picked up from various ancient books of our culture with a division of 10 heads. The verses are eternal truths on the topics like planning and success, lessons of life, types of people, charity and gratitude, finance, friendship, education and knowledge, governance, communication skills, doctor and health.”

“The book has 108 Sanskrit verses translated into English and Telugu. For every ‘Sloka’ we gave an introduction, meaning and commentary for better understanding. Mamidi Giridhar, a Chartered Accountant did the English translation for it. We finished this book in 20 days,” he adds.