We used International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration (IAST) from June 6th to July 6th. Since people found it distracting we reverted back to normal (intuitive) transliteration. We decided to henceforth use IAST only to clarify the pronunciation for rare nouns (and for the Category titles). The following information is for people who want to read the stories for which we followed IAST.
Please see this link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IAST
Note: We use ṣ and ṣh equivalently. This is because ṣh “looks” more intuitive and it is a rare occasion to have the samyutākṣhara — ṣ + h
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The stories are all very nice. I am sending one story every week to my grandson at US. But he finds it difficult to pronounce the words as lot of sanskrit words are used. I simplify and translate some words in English.Hence I request you to translate the sanskrit words in English except the proper nouns.
Reply by Moral Stories:
Thank you very much for the comment.
The very reason we kept most of the nouns “as it is” because we didnt want to change the true meaning of the Samskrutam words. As you know all Bhaarateeya Bhaashas share common culture and hence mostly we can translate in between them. However English is very different. It came from a very vastly different culture. For example what will you translate for Dharmam, Moksham, Satyam, Adrushtam, Paramaatma, Buddhi, Chittam, Ahankaaram, manas, Aaatma etc? If we think carefully none of these can be translated because the basis on which the English language and Samskrutam are developed is completely different. For instance Adrushtam means what cannot be seen (what Karma you did previously). So in our culture sukham, duhkham etc. are result of what Karma you did previously. All these tattvams are built into a small word Adrushtam. Once you translate it into luck or fortune or something else then the whole meaning is lost. Satyam for instance if we see it is not just truth. It is the 13 sadgunams as told by Shri Veda Vyaasa.
For this reason we never wanted to write these stories in English. However now it is the only language which all people in India know well (not Samskrutam or Hindi). So we thought it is just right to keep English as medium but use Samskrutam words whereever possible. This way atleast we will learn good words and their meanings. Also we tried to give nearest english meanings in brackets whereever needed.
So please understand us. We accept that in some stories we might have overused Samskrutam words. But in the small time we have we cannot do many revisions.
Also another good possibility is to write these languages in Hindi. After English it is the most popular language. However we could not get hold of a person who knows the originals, writes them in good Hindi, spends his valuable time and most importantly writing in a way stressing on the Morals. If anyone is interested please mail to moralstories@gmail.com
Thanks.
good reply brother, it is true sanskritam is born in the land of karma, where as english is a materialistic language
namasthe sir i am a web,graphic,interface designer sir i l got interest to learn samaskrutham. but i did get no teacher due to certain problems. but i learned puranas and upanishads and mantras etc. i am really thankful to u for offering this wonderful site to people. and i consider it as my bhagyam to serve you in some way i can i would like to talk to you by mail. i would like to give you a suggestion sir it is very hard to find your website. if you permit i will do search engine optimization and search engine submission to 1000 search engines and also advertise your website in forums i would like to discuss with you about the puranas and other sanskrit scriptures and also that i would like to give you a domain name if u permit sir. I do respect that service done to this website is the service done to god. please do contact me through my email sir and i would like to arrange a chat room if you like ? thank u sir namasthe
A humble request.
Since all the sanskrit words are imbibed into the text, I think people who are not well versed with indian languages(children of NRIs or foriegners and don’t forget the kids from our own urban backgrounds) may find it difficult reading and understanding the stroies. This eventually may lead to losing interest in reading the stories as they find it difficult understanding the vocabulary.
One simple solution for this may be as concieved as follows:
1. Keep all the samskrutam words intact.(This means the relevancy is not lost)
2. Create a user contributed wiki, where any user can write the definition, history, explanation, relevance, meaning etc. for a particular word whichever is applicable. The wiki may be a moderated one.
Purpose: The vocabulary wiki act as a ready reference for the beginners and non native speakers who are keen in knowing Indian culture.
Use: This will help in enriching the samskrutam vocabulary for everyone who is interested.
Please feel free to contact for any help.
Note: This is just an idea. As you have replied to one of the above posts it is very difficult to translate or transliterate. However we can help with pronunciation and examples in those cases. The understanding is left to the user. For this, an indepth peer discussion is required.
With best wishes,
Mallikarjuna Rao
nice site and spreading goodness…..
it reminds me the childhood time reading Ambili Ammaman- (Chandamama publishers in Malayalam) which was spreading good moral cultural stories among children.
good efforts..
Congrats
Krishnamohan
Hi,
I am Turkish and interested in eastern philosophies and beliefs. I would like to be able to understand the stories but with that much foreign vocabulary i don’t stand a chance.
Above suggestion about creating wiki entries is a very nice idea for the likes of me.
Best regards,
Haluk
Harih Om,
Great web site as I volunteer to teach Value Oriented Education, I really appreciate this collection to share with children. But I agree with some of the above suggestions to do some thing about the Sanskrit words. That way, your hard work and dedication could be benefited by many more in the world and not limit only to Indians or Hindus. Wiki idea sounds good as it will help people to get familiar with the original Sanskrit word. Another idea will be to write closest meaning to the Sanskrit word in the parenthesis. For example ATMA(soul). If you need any assistance in doing this kind of changes to the already existing stories, please let me know and I will be glad to be of some help. Keep up the great work.
With regards,
Jayashree