I bet y’all couldn’t wait to hear more about Lithuanian and Sanskrit! Well, let’s dive right in.
We left off with a pretty good hypothesis of how Sanskrit and Lithuanian came to be so similar. Lithuanian did not descend from Sanskrit; rather, Lithuanian and Sanskrit are the linguistic progeny of the same common ancestor. The cultures that come with Lithuanian and Sanskrit are very similar, and they share legends, songs, and more.
To take a further look into this, we need to bring up Professor Lokesh Chandra, one of India’s leading Sanskrit experts. I found a transcript of his interview online, and it goes as follows:
“The same year I was born, 1927, my father went to London to get a degree in Lithuanian language. He spoke the language fluently, but he never visited Lithuania.
The very mention of Lithuanian opens up an image, a vision that gives a people their identity through language. It shows how the darkness of dreams becomes the new embodied hope. My father was stimulated and strengthened in his work on the development of Hindi by the history of Lithuanian language.
It has been the eternal continuity of these people; it rustles something deep in their being. My father felt that we in India share with our distant Lithuanian brothers the silent geography of lost frontiers. Political freedom is inseparable from language.
My father would relate how grandmas in the remote villages narrated folk-tales to eager grandchildren in their Lithuanian language which was despised by the Slavised nobility and punished by the Czarist regime. My father also told me how the Lithuanian daina (songs) were abandoned by the courts, but still continued to live on in the villages, faithfully preserved by the poorest people of Lithuania, guarded by the mothers of the families even during the darkest periods of Lithuania’s history.
Such was my first contact with Lithuania, in 1937, at an age of ten.”
Lithuanian is the European language most grammatically similar to Sanskrit, and it is the culture that shares the most direct correlation to the ancient Indian world as well.
Let’s start with words. The following Lithuanian words and Sanskrit words are so similar that it cannot be due to mere coincidence:
The word Fire in Sanskrit is agnis; in Lithuanian, it’s ugnis.
Wolf: (Sanskrit) vrkas – (Lithuanian) vilkas
Carriage: (Sanskrit) rathas – (Lithuanian) ratas
Old: (Sanskrit) sanas – (Lithuanian) senis
Teeth: (Sanskrit) dantas – (Lithuanian) dantis
Night: (Sanskrit) naktis – (Lithuanian) natktis
Son: (Sanskrit) sunus – (Lithuanian) sunus
Sheep: (Sanskrit) avis – (Lithuanian) avis
Sole: (Sanskrit) padas – (Lithuanian) padas
Man: (Sanskrit) viras – (Lithuanian) vyras
Smoke: (Sanskrit) dhumas – (Lithuanian) dumas
Horse: (Sanskrit) ashva – (Lithuanian) asva
Gods: (Sanskrit) devas – (Lithuanian) dievas
How’s that for relations and common ancestors? If that’s not enough, we should take a look at the traditional Lithuanian legend. In Lithuanian mythology, Ašvieniai are the “divine twins.” They’re basically a counterpart to Vedic mythology -- which is part of Sanskrit culture. The Ašvieniai twins are human bodies with the heads of horses; they are known for pulling the Sun Chariot, or the Saulė.
In Vedic mythology, the “Ašvieniai” are called Ashvins, and the story is pretty similar: they bring the golden chariot of treasures down from the skies. Both cultures adorn their lives with this legend. In Lithuania, house posts and rooftops are engraved with images of Ašvieniai. In India, the same emphasis is placed upon the Ashvins.
As you can see, Lithuania and India not only share similar languages, but similar mythology and culture as well. Like my college interviewer said, language truly can “paint the history of world cultures.”
It’s not unknown that both Lithuanians and Indians alike are very proud of their language. They have good reason to be proud. With a rich history like this one, it’s hard not to feel love and pride for one’s language. My hope for people across the world is that everyone is able to feel this pride -- that they know how valuable their own language is.
Stay tuned for next week’s installment on swear words!
