Sanskrit Stands a Chance as an Elective Language in Indonesia

Far from being foreign, Sanskrit is a civilisational inheritance woven deeply into Indonesia’s history, language and statecraft and deserves renewed academic recognition.

This title may appear shocking for many, but the subsequent text may hopefully convince mostof them about the strength of the argument it presents throughout, to turn it into a case worthchasing. There is obviously a historical background that explains the beginning of the presenceof Sanskrit in Indonesia, which was almost simultaneous to the contact of Indians, the agentsof the Indic civilisation, with the archipelago, which can recognisably be traced back to at leasttwo millennia before.

Although the Indic civilisational contact spread throughout the archipelago over a large timeframe and in more or less degrees, its most intense impact was felt in four of its islands –Sumatra, the second largest, and facing India;  Java, separated from Sumatra in its east, bythe Sunda Strait; Kalimantan, placed in the north of Java, separated by the Java Sea;Bali, thinly separated from Java in its east, by the Bali Strait.

Indic Footprints

The names of the two major ones out of these four, viz. Sumatra and Java, derive respectively from Sanskrit words – Samudra, meaning sea and Yava, meaning barley (then prevailing major crop there before the entry of rice).

Similarly, Borneo, the previous name of Kalimantan, is said to have been derived fromSanskrit Varuna, just like Brunei, a sovereign state located in its north-east. Even the Sundaname of the strait that separates Sumatra and Java is said to be of Sanskrit origin. The mightythalassocracy that hailed from Sumatra and reigned between the 6th and the 11th centuries CE,controlling the Malacca Straits and the international trade that traversed through it during thatperiod, had the Sanskrit name of Sri-Wijaya. Similarly, the famous kingdom on the island ofJava had the Sanskrit name of Mataram.

While in Indonesia, one often comes across Sanskrit names of people such as Dharma,Santosha (Santosa), Kusuma, Gunawan, Mulya (Mulia), Widya, Buddhi (Budi), Vayu (Bayu),Vichakshana (Wicaksano), Anugraha (Nugroho), Putra/Putri, Dewi, Maharani etc., some witha bit of a mismatch in the English transliteration, as indicated in the brackets. This fact ofSanskrit base of many Indonesian names was highlighted by none other than the currentPresident of Indonesia Prabowo Subianto, during his meeting with Prime Minister Modi, President Murmu and others, that took place on the sides of India’s 76th Republic Day celebrations in January this year, where President Subianto was the chief guest.

In fact, the original Sanskrit version of the name Prabowo himself is ‘prabhawa’, meaning influence. It wouldn’t be out of place to recall here that the names of five out of the total eight presidents of Indonesia so far, including the current one, have been Sanskrit or Sanskritised.

Apart from this, there are a number of places – cities, provinces, regencies, rivers and mountains - spread throughout the archipelago carrying Sanskrit or Sanskritised names.

Secondly, the presence of Sanskrit is not restricted to the names of people and places only; it shows in many usages pertaining to Indonesia’sstatecraft and even its armed forces. The most noticeable among them are the nation’smotto, ‘Bhinneka Tunggal Ika’, meaning ‘unity in diversity’, where the word bhinneka is aderivative of Sanskrit ‘bhinna’, meaning diverse. The constitutionally adopted statephilosophy of Pancasila (Pancha-Shila), meaning five virtues, is Sanskrit. The Indonesiannavy’s motto, ‘Jalesveva Jayamahe’ is Sanskrit, literally meaning ‘victorious on the waters.’

Widespread Influence

This widespread and deeply entrenched presence of Sanskrit in Indonesia has a rich history ofits own, laden with rich literature, having blossomed majorly in the 10th and the 11th centuriesCE, in Sanskritised Old Javanese language and its derivative form of Kawi, which was moreheavily Sanskritised. The word Kawi means poet in Sanskrit, but this language-from was usedto convey ‘Kavya’, meaning poetry in Sanskrit, practically meaning literature compiled inpoetic language in then Indonesia. 

The Old Javanese literature encompassed varied subjects like religion, cosmology, philosophy, ethics, governance and even linguistics. Kawi produced the ‘epics’ or ‘Itihasa’ (as known to the natives) Indonesian Ramayana, which drew from a number of Ramayana versions from India and also probably from those circulating within the Southeast Asian region. Similarly, it produced ‘Bharata-Yuddha’, the Indonesian version of India’sMahabharata. Apart from that, it is astonishing to know that, it also produced a number ofworks inspired by the Sanskrit plays of legendary ancient Indian poets Kalidasa, Harsha andJayadeva.

Bahasa Indonesia, the national language of Indonesia, is said to be containing around 750Sanskrit loan words. The name ‘Bahasa’ itself is nothing but Bhasha, meaning language inSanskrit.

This figure of 750 could have been larger had there not been two major historicaldevelopments in the meantime - competing influence of Arabic language, post risingIslamisation of Indonesia from the 15th century onward and the introduction of Europeanvocabulary for almost all modern scientific and technology related usages, thanks to over threecenturies of Dutch colonisation. Given these facts, how should Sanskrit be viewed in Indonesia today? As a ‘foreign’ language? Or as a language of the past that remains deeply intertwined with the nation’s cultural evolution and civilisational growth?

An interesting development took place last October when Lula da Silva, President of Brazil,visited Indonesia. During their meeting, President Prabowo, imaginably in a bid to buildstronger ties with the fellow Global South leader and the partner country at the BRICS as wellas the G20 intergovernmental platforms, announced that Portuguese, the national language ofBrazil, would be taught as a priority foreign language in the Indonesian schools. Could this bethe right opportunity for the lovers of Sanskrit language as well as the carers for stronger India-Indonesia cultural ties to push the case of introduction of Sanskrit as an elective language at the university level at least? Let us look at the comparatives. India, the mother country ofSanskrit, is also a founding member of the BRICS just like Brazil (and where Indonesia hasjoined only this year), as well as a member of the G20. India too is a Global South player,and a mightier one compared to Brazil.

India is Indonesia’s maritime neighbour in the IndoPacific, deeply involved in various joint naval exercises, whereas Brazil is very far, at the other end of the Pacific. To top it all, while Portuguese is out and out a foreign language for the Indonesians, Sanskrit, recording a two millennia old presence in Indonesia, that too not through any territorial or political conquest but through a smooth cultural assimilation, and having contributed immensely towards the latter’s high culture, stands above all claimants, when it comes to teaching it to today’s generations of Indonesians.

Sanskrit, if made part of Indonesia’s education system, can bring in a number of benefits likerefreshingly reconnecting the young Indonesians with the cultural roots of their ancestors.Secondly, though indirectly, it is also likely to affect the rising religious extremism among themasses negatively, through exposure of young minds to the diversity-cherishing Sanskritliterature. And, inevitably, it would draw India and Indonesia - two giant neighbours and Global South partners - closer together. The only question that remains: who will bell the cat?

(The writer is a research scholar in international relations. Views personal.)