C U RAO
Prof. Dr. C. Upender Rao, is a senior professor in the School of Sanakrit and Indic studies, JNU. He was a Chairperson of Centre for Sanskrit Studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi before coming to Cambodia as a Visiting Professor. He has completed Master of Arts and Master of Philosophy in Sanskrit and Master of arts and Doctor of Philosophy in Pali and Buddist Studeis. He has also completed the Bachelor of Education and Elementary and Advanced Certificate Course in Prakrit Language and Literature. He is holding Ph. D. and teaching in Special centre for Sanskrit studies, J.N.U., New Delhi. He edited and authored 30 books. At present he is working on indological issues in Cambodia. He recently presented his paper in Vietnam on Sanskrit inscriptions of Cambodia. He recently participated and presented his views on Buddhist studies in Buryatya, Russia and attended international conference in religious studies in Beijing, China.
Prof. Rao has organized national and international conferences. In 2014 he organized a National Conference on ‘Pali and Indian Culture’. He has extensively written and published books in Sanskrit, Hindi, Telugu and English languages. He studied Pali language and literature in Banaras Hindu University and Sanskrit language and literature in Osmania University, in Hyderabad town, which is now situated in Telangana state of India. He received number of awards and certificates of honors from various institutions in India and abroad. He received ‘Delhi Gsurav’ award, from parvateeya Vikasa Samiti, Delhi. He received the certificate of Appreciation from Rayal University of Phnom Penh, Cambodia. He received the Kādambarī award from Akhila Bharateeya Vidvat Parishad, Kashi for his Sanskrit composition Vāngmaya Vallarī. He also received three Gold medals from Osmania University and Banaras Hindu University for his outstanding ranks in education. He received ‘Vidya Sagar’ award from Institute of Oriental studies, Kolkata in 2015 and 2016. He published 16 books and several articles and research papers. Prof. Rao has specialized in Sanskrit and Pali and his research interest includes Sanskrit literature and poetics, Early Buddhist literature and philosophy. He has an expertise in Teaching of Spoken Sanskrit language. Prof. Rao was a Visiting professor in Cambodia on prestigious ICCR chair of India.Prof. Rao held various administrative positions. He was a General Fellow in I. C. P. R. He was a Research Associate in I.U.C. situated at “Indian Institute of Advanced Study” Shimla, Himachal Pradesh. He is the member in Academic council in Rashtriya Sanskrit Sasnsthan, New Delhi, Banaras Hindu University and Osmania University and member of research experts committee in Lal bahadur Shastri Rashtriya Sanskrit Vidyapitha, New Delhi. He has represented the Centre in Academic council and court meeting of J.N.U. as a member. He was the visiting professor in National University of Keiv Mohyla Academy, at Keiv in Ukrain, Moscow state university, Russia, St. Peters burg state university, Russia and L. N. Gumilyov Eurasian National University, Astana, Kazakhstan and taught Sanskrit language, Buddhist philosophy in these places. He was a member of translation group under Khyentse Foundation’s ‘Buddhist Literary heritage Project’, USA and translated the Buddhist Mahāyāna sūtras from Sanskrit into English. I. C. P. R. and Rastriya Sanskrit Sasnsthan, New Delhi have granted translation projects to him. Prof. C. Upender Rao has completed the U.G.C. Majour research project entitled Pali Śabda-kalpataruh (A concise Dictionary of Pali to Odia and Telugu languages).
Phone: 09818969756
Address: CHAIRPERSON,
SPECIAL CENTRE FOR SANSKRIT STUDIES,
JAWAHARLAL NEHRU UNIVERSITY,
NEW DELHI 110067, INDIA
Prof. Rao has organized national and international conferences. In 2014 he organized a National Conference on ‘Pali and Indian Culture’. He has extensively written and published books in Sanskrit, Hindi, Telugu and English languages. He studied Pali language and literature in Banaras Hindu University and Sanskrit language and literature in Osmania University, in Hyderabad town, which is now situated in Telangana state of India. He received number of awards and certificates of honors from various institutions in India and abroad. He received ‘Delhi Gsurav’ award, from parvateeya Vikasa Samiti, Delhi. He received the certificate of Appreciation from Rayal University of Phnom Penh, Cambodia. He received the Kādambarī award from Akhila Bharateeya Vidvat Parishad, Kashi for his Sanskrit composition Vāngmaya Vallarī. He also received three Gold medals from Osmania University and Banaras Hindu University for his outstanding ranks in education. He received ‘Vidya Sagar’ award from Institute of Oriental studies, Kolkata in 2015 and 2016. He published 16 books and several articles and research papers. Prof. Rao has specialized in Sanskrit and Pali and his research interest includes Sanskrit literature and poetics, Early Buddhist literature and philosophy. He has an expertise in Teaching of Spoken Sanskrit language. Prof. Rao was a Visiting professor in Cambodia on prestigious ICCR chair of India.Prof. Rao held various administrative positions. He was a General Fellow in I. C. P. R. He was a Research Associate in I.U.C. situated at “Indian Institute of Advanced Study” Shimla, Himachal Pradesh. He is the member in Academic council in Rashtriya Sanskrit Sasnsthan, New Delhi, Banaras Hindu University and Osmania University and member of research experts committee in Lal bahadur Shastri Rashtriya Sanskrit Vidyapitha, New Delhi. He has represented the Centre in Academic council and court meeting of J.N.U. as a member. He was the visiting professor in National University of Keiv Mohyla Academy, at Keiv in Ukrain, Moscow state university, Russia, St. Peters burg state university, Russia and L. N. Gumilyov Eurasian National University, Astana, Kazakhstan and taught Sanskrit language, Buddhist philosophy in these places. He was a member of translation group under Khyentse Foundation’s ‘Buddhist Literary heritage Project’, USA and translated the Buddhist Mahāyāna sūtras from Sanskrit into English. I. C. P. R. and Rastriya Sanskrit Sasnsthan, New Delhi have granted translation projects to him. Prof. C. Upender Rao has completed the U.G.C. Majour research project entitled Pali Śabda-kalpataruh (A concise Dictionary of Pali to Odia and Telugu languages).
Phone: 09818969756
Address: CHAIRPERSON,
SPECIAL CENTRE FOR SANSKRIT STUDIES,
JAWAHARLAL NEHRU UNIVERSITY,
NEW DELHI 110067, INDIA
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Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi- 110067
बौद्ध महायान, जैन धर्म के भी कई महत्वपूर्ण ग्रंथ संस्कृत में लिखे गए हैं। कौटिल्य का अर्थशास्त्र एक विख्यात ग्रंथ है जिसनमें राजनीतिशास्त्र विषयक सारी जानकारी मिलती है। वात्स्यायन द्वारा रचित काम-शास्त्र में गृहस्थ जीवन के लिए क्या करना चाहिए अच्छे ढंग से बताया गया है।
संस्कृत धार्मिक दृष्टि से भी विशेष गौरव रखता है। भारतीय धर्म, दर्शन का सम्यक् ज्ञान प्राप्त करने के लिए वेद का अध्ययन बहुत ज़रूरी है।
शुद्ध कलात्मक दृष्टि से संस्कृत साहित्य का अपना विशेष महत्व है। इस साहित्य में कालिदास जैसे कमनीय कविता लिखने वाले कवि हुए। भवभूति जैसे महान् नाटककार हुए।अविच्छिन्नता, धर्म व दर्शन के विचारात्मक अध्ययन की शष्टि से भी संस्कृत भाषा का अपना निजी महत्त्व है।
To know the problems of Pali translations, we have to know first what Pali is? Pali is an ancient Indian language. It is one of the richest and one of beautiful languages of ancient India. It has a large number of sermons and sacred texts in it. There are various words in Pali that often get translated into English but appear not to be much helpful. Translations of terms of this ancient language Pali must help us to understand the real sense used by the Buddha
We can see a strong yogic
influence on Buddhism. This similarity between Vedic and Buddhist
thoughts is quite natural, as Buddha was born in Jambudvipa (India was called Jambudvipa in ancient literature), in the land of Vedic tradition. It was after Buddha had passed away Buddhism became a religion. We can find the accounts of a Shiva-Buddha teaching that existed in Indonesia in medieval times. All Hindus even today accept Buddha as a great teacher, even if they do not follow Buddhism as a religion. Some say, Yoga is neither Vedic nor Buddhist. It began as an independent, very ancient Indian thought and
tradition which gained universal acceptability.
Number of Sanskrit inscriptions published as far back as 1885 and many other came into the notice of scholars from time to time especially after the foundation of the ‘Ecole Francaise d’Extreme orient’ in 1900. But for many years, scholars, mainly Indians were unaware of this fact. Ironically, the study of ancient Indian culture in south-east Asia is still in its infancy in India. This happened mainly due to the fact that the researches of recent past, ongoing and other information which gained momentum during the French rule was mainly developed in French and other foreign languages like Dutch and these languages are not known to most of the Indian scholars. The other reason being the lack of well established academic relations between south East Asia and India may be due to the political compulsions of many countries, especially of Cambodia in south East Asia. The only popularly known foreign language in India is English, in which a little information was available about the south-east Asia, till some years ago.
The subject matter of inscriptions:
The most of the Sanskrit inscriptions found in Kambuja are Śaivite in character but some belong to Vaiṣṇava and few of them belong to Buddhist texts also, though it sounds surprising as Buddhism is the main religion in Cambodia now. Indeed, these inscriptions prove the fact of association of Hindu traditions by royal families of Cambodia. Even today the Buddhism is the state religion in that country for many years. We must understand that all these Sanskrit inscriptions were basically prepared by the Royal families and therefore obviously Śaivism and Vaiṣṇavism are the significant themes of these inscriptions.
• Pāli-bhaāsāya ajjhayanajjhāpanaṁ sammā have, yena pāli- saddāvagame kileso na have.
• Pālibhāsāya apekkhitānaṁ nighanṭu-ganthānaṁ abhāvo.
• Pāḷībhāsāyaṁ pana anekā- kiliṭṭa saddā honti. kiliṭṭa-padānaṁ athāvabodha khamatāya abhāvo.
• aññabhāsāropaṇamaggassa, samaggassa vidhānassa ca abhāvo.
• Aññabhāsāropaṇāya upakārakānaṁ saṁgoṭṭhīnāṁ, kariyasālānaṁ ca abhāvo.
Prakrit was the collective name used for all those dialects. Most probably one of such varieties of dialects was used as a medium of communication in very ancient Āndhradeśa. In fact it is very interesting to make an attempt to understand and unfold the riddle of spoken conditions of these languages prevailed in those days when Lord Buddha was preaching his teachings in India.
Not only for Telugu language, for all Indian languages Prakrit language was a source. In fact it is not appropriate to understand the very ancient status of these languages with an understanding which developed out of politicized language policies prevailed at present day. It is unfortunate that in India even the ancient language issue is politicized. Scholars should come out of this political narrow-mindedness. Of course Vedic literature is available in a variety of language, which is called now Vedic Sanskrit[ Sanskrit Grammarians called it Chandas.], likewise early Jain literature is in Prakrit and early Buddhist literature is in Pali, But based on this if someone thinks that these languages were spoken only by those particular religious communities or sects in ancient India, it is totally misconception and not acceptable theory for numerous obvious historical reasons. In fact these languages were used by all people in general.
Between the Chandas and its modern derivatives such as Hindi, lay a group of languages known as the ‘Prakrits’ or Middle Indo-Aryan languages, which were the vernacular dialects of ancient Indians.
Amma, Ayya, Atanu, Tanu, Tana, Tānu, uḍḍa, duga, cakka, Anke, Accukaṭṭu, ode, kance, kuni, kallamu, Nāgeli, Kādi, Kāvadi, Pallamu, Vanka, etc. words are originally Pali words which Transformed to be the Telugu words.
Thus we can see a considerable similarity between Telugu and Pali languages. These words of Telugu language are not only linguistically similar but bear the same meaning of Pali.
Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi- 110067
बौद्ध महायान, जैन धर्म के भी कई महत्वपूर्ण ग्रंथ संस्कृत में लिखे गए हैं। कौटिल्य का अर्थशास्त्र एक विख्यात ग्रंथ है जिसनमें राजनीतिशास्त्र विषयक सारी जानकारी मिलती है। वात्स्यायन द्वारा रचित काम-शास्त्र में गृहस्थ जीवन के लिए क्या करना चाहिए अच्छे ढंग से बताया गया है।
संस्कृत धार्मिक दृष्टि से भी विशेष गौरव रखता है। भारतीय धर्म, दर्शन का सम्यक् ज्ञान प्राप्त करने के लिए वेद का अध्ययन बहुत ज़रूरी है।
शुद्ध कलात्मक दृष्टि से संस्कृत साहित्य का अपना विशेष महत्व है। इस साहित्य में कालिदास जैसे कमनीय कविता लिखने वाले कवि हुए। भवभूति जैसे महान् नाटककार हुए।अविच्छिन्नता, धर्म व दर्शन के विचारात्मक अध्ययन की शष्टि से भी संस्कृत भाषा का अपना निजी महत्त्व है।
To know the problems of Pali translations, we have to know first what Pali is? Pali is an ancient Indian language. It is one of the richest and one of beautiful languages of ancient India. It has a large number of sermons and sacred texts in it. There are various words in Pali that often get translated into English but appear not to be much helpful. Translations of terms of this ancient language Pali must help us to understand the real sense used by the Buddha
We can see a strong yogic
influence on Buddhism. This similarity between Vedic and Buddhist
thoughts is quite natural, as Buddha was born in Jambudvipa (India was called Jambudvipa in ancient literature), in the land of Vedic tradition. It was after Buddha had passed away Buddhism became a religion. We can find the accounts of a Shiva-Buddha teaching that existed in Indonesia in medieval times. All Hindus even today accept Buddha as a great teacher, even if they do not follow Buddhism as a religion. Some say, Yoga is neither Vedic nor Buddhist. It began as an independent, very ancient Indian thought and
tradition which gained universal acceptability.
Number of Sanskrit inscriptions published as far back as 1885 and many other came into the notice of scholars from time to time especially after the foundation of the ‘Ecole Francaise d’Extreme orient’ in 1900. But for many years, scholars, mainly Indians were unaware of this fact. Ironically, the study of ancient Indian culture in south-east Asia is still in its infancy in India. This happened mainly due to the fact that the researches of recent past, ongoing and other information which gained momentum during the French rule was mainly developed in French and other foreign languages like Dutch and these languages are not known to most of the Indian scholars. The other reason being the lack of well established academic relations between south East Asia and India may be due to the political compulsions of many countries, especially of Cambodia in south East Asia. The only popularly known foreign language in India is English, in which a little information was available about the south-east Asia, till some years ago.
The subject matter of inscriptions:
The most of the Sanskrit inscriptions found in Kambuja are Śaivite in character but some belong to Vaiṣṇava and few of them belong to Buddhist texts also, though it sounds surprising as Buddhism is the main religion in Cambodia now. Indeed, these inscriptions prove the fact of association of Hindu traditions by royal families of Cambodia. Even today the Buddhism is the state religion in that country for many years. We must understand that all these Sanskrit inscriptions were basically prepared by the Royal families and therefore obviously Śaivism and Vaiṣṇavism are the significant themes of these inscriptions.
• Pāli-bhaāsāya ajjhayanajjhāpanaṁ sammā have, yena pāli- saddāvagame kileso na have.
• Pālibhāsāya apekkhitānaṁ nighanṭu-ganthānaṁ abhāvo.
• Pāḷībhāsāyaṁ pana anekā- kiliṭṭa saddā honti. kiliṭṭa-padānaṁ athāvabodha khamatāya abhāvo.
• aññabhāsāropaṇamaggassa, samaggassa vidhānassa ca abhāvo.
• Aññabhāsāropaṇāya upakārakānaṁ saṁgoṭṭhīnāṁ, kariyasālānaṁ ca abhāvo.
Prakrit was the collective name used for all those dialects. Most probably one of such varieties of dialects was used as a medium of communication in very ancient Āndhradeśa. In fact it is very interesting to make an attempt to understand and unfold the riddle of spoken conditions of these languages prevailed in those days when Lord Buddha was preaching his teachings in India.
Not only for Telugu language, for all Indian languages Prakrit language was a source. In fact it is not appropriate to understand the very ancient status of these languages with an understanding which developed out of politicized language policies prevailed at present day. It is unfortunate that in India even the ancient language issue is politicized. Scholars should come out of this political narrow-mindedness. Of course Vedic literature is available in a variety of language, which is called now Vedic Sanskrit[ Sanskrit Grammarians called it Chandas.], likewise early Jain literature is in Prakrit and early Buddhist literature is in Pali, But based on this if someone thinks that these languages were spoken only by those particular religious communities or sects in ancient India, it is totally misconception and not acceptable theory for numerous obvious historical reasons. In fact these languages were used by all people in general.
Between the Chandas and its modern derivatives such as Hindi, lay a group of languages known as the ‘Prakrits’ or Middle Indo-Aryan languages, which were the vernacular dialects of ancient Indians.
Amma, Ayya, Atanu, Tanu, Tana, Tānu, uḍḍa, duga, cakka, Anke, Accukaṭṭu, ode, kance, kuni, kallamu, Nāgeli, Kādi, Kāvadi, Pallamu, Vanka, etc. words are originally Pali words which Transformed to be the Telugu words.
Thus we can see a considerable similarity between Telugu and Pali languages. These words of Telugu language are not only linguistically similar but bear the same meaning of Pali.
I am glad to present our conference’s abstract in the form of an e-book. This E-book of abstracts and the conference proceedings will be uploaded on the website of ICCR. Scholars will investigate the historical and cultural influence of Buddhism on the Buddhist traditions of their countries. They will focus on various practices, arts, sculptures, philosophical schools, and several other traditions of Buddhism, including its literature. I’m thankful to JNU, ICCR, and IBC for providing this opportunity to me. Namo Buddhāya.
There are few peculiarities in Kamba Ramayana. Kamba Ramayana consists of six kaandams, from Bala Kaandam to Yuddha Kaandam. Kamban did not include Uttara Kaandam. Kamba Ramayanam has 12000 verses in 123 Padalams or sections. The Sanskrit metres are not applicable to the verses in this rendition but use a different style from Classical Tamil Literature of Viruttam and Santham. Kamba Ramayana or Rama Avatara in Tamil language was composed in the 12th century by the poet Kamban. The character of Hanuman is important in this story. He is the one who protects Rama and Lakshmana. There are many other features in the Kamban’s Ramayana, which are perfectly translated by Prof. Rao in Sanskrit. This “Shri Ramakatha” is a very concise Sanskrit version of Kamba Ramayana. Mr. S. Gopalan translated this work into a concise and simple poem. Sri Krishnamurthy has done technical work for video recording, and Shriman Vijaya murti ji has helped in the publication of this Sanskrit book.
This poem describes the noble qualities of Bhagavan
Buddha in a lucid Sanskrit language. This poem also describes the importance of
teachers in Indian culture and the highest place of Buddha among them. For the
sake of Cambodian people, the Sanskrit poem has been translated into Khmer language with the help of Mr. Khatna pi.
It is not very deep, yet, I hope this is helpful to the Telugu knowing people.
This book was written in 1997 when there were very few books on Pali in Telugu were available in Andhra.
This chapter gives an idea of Pali literature. later it gives a detailed introduction to Dīghanikāya and its 34 suttas.
The article is written in Pali language and in Telugu script.