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Spotlight on language and thought

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI DEC. 12. Is there any lesson that our parliamentarians can learn from the philosophy of the noted Indian grammarian and thinker, Bhartrihari? At least the noted jurist and Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament, L. M. Singhvi, thinks so. In fact, he strongly feels that words cannot be divorced from their meaning as it very often happens in Parliament these days.

Delivering the inaugural address at the three-day international seminar on "Language, Thought and Reality in Bhartrihari'' organised by the Motilal Banarsidass Publishers as part of their centenary celebrations, Dr. Singhvi said: "Words have a transcendental role to play in the life of a community or a culture.''

"We may have a different conception of words when we sit in Parliament. Words lose their meaning in debates because they do not come from the depth of consciousness,'' he said, adding: "Words are not just the outer-skin of thought. They have to be used and understood in the context of their inner meaning''.

Lauding the MLBD Publishers for organising a "befitting academic celebration'' to observe their centenary, Dr. Singhvi urged the Union Minister of State for Human Resource Development, Sanjay Paswan, who was also present on the occasion, to release a commemorative stamp to honour their services in the field of Indology.

Referring to Bhartrihari as a "great philosopher of language'', Dr. Singhvi said while his name is a legend, his historicity has not been proved. He also felt the need for an encyclopaedic project that can traverse the whole range of language, thought and reality in Bhartrihari.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Paswan said Indologists have a great role to play in terms of propagating to the world the real Indian ethos. "Coming here, I realise the importance of words and their proper use for creating a proper effect. Earlier, I did not realise that words were so significant. But after listening to Dr. Singhvi, now I think so,'' said Mr. Paswan.

Others who spoke included Prof. V. N. Jha of Pune University and Kapila Vatsyayan, former director of the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA). Well-known scholars from India and abroad are attending the three-day conference which has been convened to celebrate the great tradition of the inter-connectedness between language and philosophy.

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