ABSTRACT
To judge by its name saṃskṛta, “perfect,” and by its nickname, the “language of the gods” (devabhāṣā), classical Sanskrit is the handsome Lord, proud of his own perfection, establishing the justice of everything and for everyone, the infallible Master before whom one must banish any spirit of critique and adopt at all times an attitude of naïve attentiveness or devoted dutifulness. This portrait conforms with the idea India makes for itself and wishes others to make of its sacred language. It holds also in Cambodia, but with retouching here and there. In fact, Khmer, which received one after the next the two Sanskrit and Pali waves … is capable – and with the cold eyes of a foreigner – to compare the one to the other.
