For
three generations, they have compiled and argued, agonized and
transcribed ? toiling in monastic tedium to turn an intricate,
44-letter language into six volumes, so far, of word after
long-forgotten word.They have delved into the grammatical roots of "antahpravesakama" and debated the pun hidden in "anangada." They've done a brain-numbingly complete dissection of "anekakrta."
Now, 55 years after a group of scholars began composing the authoritative dictionary of Sanskrit, the long-dead language of India's ancient glory, they are almost done ? with the first letter.
"Sanskrit," sighed Vinayaka Bhatta, chief editor of Deccan College's dictionary project, "is not easy to translate."
[After 55 years of toil, Sanskrit dictionary not even close]