all those who knows some sanskrit say the translation is incorrect it should nt happen to a copyrighted and an important article..the news become nonsense...hope it doesnt get repeated anywhere.georgepali
I think it should have been Mr President, welcome to the country of Greece :) (Mahabhaga possibly means most fortunate - been a while now :) ). Nitpicking, I guess...
RE:The translation seems to be incorrect
by Jaganniwas Iyer on Apr 28, 2007 01:25 PM Permalink
No, it isn't incorrect. While greeting leading dignitaries or men of eminence, the words 'Mahabhag', 'Mahoday' are apt to be used. Alternatively, Greek president greeting could Karolos Papoulias could've said "Rashtrapativarya, swagatam, asmat deshey." Jaganniwas Iyer
RE:The translation seems to be incorrect
by Maximus Decimus Meridius on Apr 28, 2007 08:49 PM Permalink
That's not what I was saying... It is not welcome to you, it is welcome to greece. The question about mahabhaga was separate. I should have made it clear.
RE:The translation seems to be incorrect
by Maximus Decimus Meridius on Apr 28, 2007 08:51 PM Permalink
That's not what I was saying... It is not welcome to you, it is welcome to greece. The%
RE:The translation seems to be incorrect
by Krishnamurthy P.V. on Apr 28, 2007 11:49 AM Permalink
When translated it means, " Honourable President, welcome to Greece". Mahabhaga means a term of respect .It can also mean ," Excellency, Mr. President, welcome to Greece." In Hindi it can be said as" Rashtrapati Mahodayji, Yunaan me aap ka swagat hai." It is the most heartening to know that Europeans learn Sanskrit, while most of the Indians term it as dead language.Some regard it as the language of Hindus or Brahmins and so on. Will Indians learn from this, that Samskrutam naama daivi vaaganmakhyata maharshibhi. Long live Bharat.
RE:The translation seems to be incorrect
by Maximus Decimus Meridius on Apr 28, 2007 12:04 PM Permalink
Yes, I guessed as much. I was looking for the *exact* meaning of Mahabhaga... It is clear from the context that it meant excellency or honourable. Eg: Bahuvrihi (the samas) means rich. The literal meaning is having lots of rice. I was trying to get the literal meaning.
RE:The translation seems to be incorrect
by Maximus Decimus Meridius on Apr 28, 2007 09:38 AM Permalink
PS: Is a verb missing in this quote? It seems so!
RE:Sanskrit is a dead language
by Maximus Decimus Meridius on Apr 28, 2007 09:36 AM Permalink
Yes, but Tamil is not related to greek. Sanskrit and Greek are closely related - no language is as close to sanksrit as greek and vice versa. Eg: Sanskrit has a dual number (a single word for 2, in addition to singular and plural). Identical in Greek. Latin has only singular and plural. With 8 levels of inflection, each noun takes on 24 forms in both. In Latin, there are only 12 forms for a noun. Similarly, verbs in Skr and Greek take on 9 forms vs 6 in Latin.
Greek has a middle voice - called Atmanepada in sanskrit. The verb conjugates differently when you do something to yourself vs someone else. No other indo-european language has this.
Not everyone studies languages for speaking it. Sanskrit is taught as part of comparative linguistics - a field that studies similarities in languages and classifies them. Sanskrit is usually studied as the representative language of the indo-iranian sub branch of the language family.
Let this be an eye-opener to our desi secularists,leftists and self-styled intellectuals. Let them no longer feel shy or inferior to use or quote Sanskrit and Hindu allusions.
RE:Well done Greek President! Thanq.
by Jaganniwas Iyer on Apr 28, 2007 01:27 PM Permalink
We might as well ask for the moon. Possible. Jaganniwas Iyer
RE:the hindus are an amazing people
by Maximus Decimus Meridius on Apr 28, 2007 09:23 AM Permalink
Whoa... hold it right there... " germany wants to keep the swastika"... no it does not. Display of swastika and anything related to the nazi regieme is illegal in Germany and most of western europe. Look it " yoga is now a must for anybody thought to be a civilized person." That's total bullcrap too. People do practise yoga, but it isnt a baramoter of a person's civility. Insofar as vegitarianism goes, most american veggies do it out of concern for animal rights. Some do it to diet. It's got nothing to do with hinduism.
None of the above have anything to do with hinduism. The Nazis considered the forefathers of Indians as blond haired blue eyed Aryans who retained their superiority as long as they did not breed with the black-skinned natives. As soon as they did that, they lost their superiority and became inferior. The nazis claimed Sanskrit and vedic culture as theirs (Aryan). Look up your history. Hitler believed India must be ruled by a white nation (If not Germany then Britain) because that was the "natural order" of things. That the white man dominates.
Are u aware, BTW, that hinduism can also be atheistic? So, what's your problem with monotheists?
This is clearly a heinous act of communalism by the greek prez. I suspect there must be a hidden RSS link to this event. They (RSS) want to saffronize the world. Govt of India (aka Sonya Maino & dance party) should condemn this barbaric act and initiate a full CBI inquiry.
RE:President doent know even HINDI
by Tigger_and_Pooh on Apr 27, 2007 11:09 PM Permalink
grow up before critisizing our president. he is learned beyond your comprehension.
RE:President doent know even HINDI
by rahul shrivastav on Apr 27, 2007 08:12 PM Permalink
to mr.kiran saini i am very happy to inform you that our president knows sanskrit at much high level.if you had read his biography'wings of fire', you would never had this doubt. he has read the geeta, ramayan, mahabharat,as well many upnishads. believe me he is best we had ever i think after rajendra prasad, and radhakrishanan he is one of the brain behind to start exclusive IIT (Guvahati) for research in various vedas n indian old traditional sciences including indian music. with regards dr.rahul shrivastava
RE:President doent know even HINDI
by rahul shrivastav on Apr 27, 2007 08:12 PM Permalink
to mr.kiran saini i am very happy to inform you that our president knows sanskrit at much high level.if you had read his biography'wings of fire', you would never had this doubt. he has read the geeta, ramayan, mahabharat,as well many upnishads. believe me he is best we had ever i think after rajendra prasad, and radhakrishanan he is one of the brain behind to start exclusive IIT (Guvahati) for research in various vedas n indian old traditional sciences including indian music. with regards dr.rahul shrivastava
Thank Greece for welcoming our President in out Ancient Language.
But we belive that Alexander was defeated on the borders of india and his body was shipped back to Greece.
The reason for this is
1) Sudden stopage in the movmement of Greeks post war with Porus.
2) Too much elaboration about the softer side of Alexander on granting amnesty to Porus.
3) Alexander decides to go by ship when warriors like to ride on horses to show their bravery. It would have looked so UN BRAVE that Alexander geeting from a PORT rather than comming from a LAND ROUTE, when he had won all the land, because ALexander was dead.
Any case Hisotry is gone and dead, lets make a bright future.
We must all protest against the use of sanskrit by greek president when he welcomed indian prez.
does he not know that sanskrit has been made by the india government ? does he not know that Karunanidhi & co. who are members of the central government hate sanskrit ? so how dare he used sanskrit ?
iam declaring a Mumbai Bandh tommorow and Rasta Roko in Delhi.we will then submit a petition to consulate of greece in mumbai and demand a apology.
RE:PROTEST AGSINST USE OF SANSKRIT !
by Dream Girl on Apr 27, 2007 03:22 PM Permalink
guess u r right! what is NDTV doing? what are M/s Karat and the likes doing? Let there be India Bandh tomorrow (or preferably monday or next Friday to get long weekends...) lol
RE:PROTEST AGSINST USE OF SANSKRIT !
by Sunit Kumar on Apr 27, 2007 03:23 PM Permalink
well said bheja fry, but let me ask how many of us know Sanskrit ???
RE:PROTEST AGSINST USE OF SANSKRIT !
by BhejaFry on Apr 27, 2007 04:01 PM Permalink
not many,but its not difficut to learn it .if you know hindi,marathi then learning sanskrit is very easy as the script and grammar is same.
RE:PROTEST AGSINST USE OF SANSKRIT !
by sunil kumar on Apr 27, 2007 06:04 PM Permalink
Not just marathi and hindi. If you know "any" Indian language, you can learn sanskrit easily.
RE:PROTEST AGSINST USE OF SANSKRIT !
by Maximus Decimus Meridius on Apr 28, 2007 12:01 PM Permalink
What are you talking about bheja fry? Sanskrit grammar is not like Hindi or Marathi. Some of the vocabulary is borrowed into Hindi and marathi, but the grammatical principles are different.
Eg: Skr is a synthetic language - one that suffixes the noun to denote case (Nominative, accusative, instrumental,etc). All ancient indo-european languages are like that. Modern Indian languages are analytical - ones in which the noun remains the same, and case is denoted by the preposition. Hence analytical languages require tight sequencing of words unlike Skr in which word sequencing is not important. Other differences include the dual number, middle voice (atmanepada), handling of the formal, a wider range for conjugation of verbs and so on...
Skr is nothing like Hindi in grammar. Hindi grammar is more like french than Skr. Skr grammar is in fact more like greek.
RE:PROTEST AGSINST USE OF SANSKRIT !
by Vishvaksenah E on Apr 27, 2007 09:58 PM Permalink
Ha ha ha... That was fun to read your letter dripping with sarcasm. Keep it up
What a joy to know that ancient Greece not only lives but also recognises its pristine ancient Hindu counterpart. But hey, what are the secularists, Anatonia Maino, Manmohan, the UPA, the Leftists, the 'progressives, Setalvads, the sickular Bidwais, the NDTV-type channels, the Roys and the Karats, the Barkha Dutts etc. doing? They must immediately target Greek president Karolos Papoulias as he is a "great threat to secularism" and a "hidden agent of Hindu communal forces." Ha! Jaganniwas Iyer
RE:Greek and Sanskrit
by Vishvaksenah E on Apr 27, 2007 09:51 PM Permalink
Excellent. I really loved reading your letter. If you have the e-mail ids of Antonio Maino,Manmohan etc...please send this letter of yours to them. It wil be of no use, but atleast let them know what some sensible people feel about them .
RE:[object]
by Jaganniwas Iyer on Apr 28, 2007 01:31 PM Permalink
Dear Vishvaksenah, We can't be sending words of wisdom to the secular bunch. Might as well try teaching the donkeys instead. Jaganniwas
