or conduit of brahmanand sought to evoke an enlightening experience on
the part of the “audience.” In that sense, the audience was to become
the “actor” and the artist the “prompter” in such a way as to enable all
participants to experience the “flavor” (rasa) of brahman.
These principles are at work in the very use of the Sanskrit language itself.
By the time of As ́oka, Magadha was already a multilingual area. Indigenous
dialects known as the Pra ̄krits abounded – some of these died out; some were
eventually systematized into distinct languages in their own right; most
were incorporated in various ways into the Sanskrit language. By the fourth
centuryBCE, what was once the exclusive language of the priests had
been systematized by the brilliant grammarian Pa ̄n.ini, who wrote a defini-
tive, scientific grammar for Sanskrit called the Astadhyayi(book of eight
chapters). Therein we find the articulation of six types of grammar (might
these be in response to the six perfections of the Sarva ̄stiva ̄dins?) One of the
“types” of grammar was ritual.
The use of Sanskrit often had a religious character. Not only had earlier
forms of oral Vedic Sanskrit been used liturgically; even in its written form
it assumed a sacred aura. Sam.skr.tameans “well-formed, polished or per-
fected”; it was written in the devana ̄ girı ̄script – literally, the writing of the
“city of the gods.” Rendering something in Sanskrit, whether orally or in
written form, became a way of linking “new” expressions to a sacred past.
J. A. B. van Buitenen once noted that, among other things, the Sanskrit
language “carried with it associations of a sacral character” and served
to refine or correct “one’s nature and conduct by ritual means.” That
which was “Sanskritic” therefore was perceived to be that which was “most
ancient,” “most pure,” and “hierarchically the most elevated,” assuring
“correct descent” “by relating oneself to an ancient lineage or myth and safe-
guarding the purity of future offspring.”^33
In sum, to chant or write in Sanskrit was to engage in ritual; it became the
instrument by which all elements of a changing landscape could be linked
to the vaidikatradition. If Pa ̄li was the language of the court in As ́oka’s
time and continued to be the language used in Therava ̄da Buddhism,
Sanskrit was the lingua franca in the Gupta courts and the basic language of
Maha ̄ya ̄na Buddhism.
Much of the Sanskritic literature then was perceived to be sacred. More
specifically, this literature took many forms: poetry, for example, included
the early form known as maha ̄ka ̄vya, which used various principles of aes-
thetics – different meters, similes, tropes, and ornamentation. The work of
the great dramatist Ka ̄lida ̄sareflected this genre well. Folk tales also found
their way into classical dress. The Pañcatantra, for example, was the Sanskritic
compilation of oral fables and folk tales that may date back to several
centuriesBCEand which eventually influenced folk tales told in Europe by
The Urban Period 73