Sanskrit Indian Classical Language

Sanskrit is the classical language from ancient India. This is still one of the 23 official Indian languages, though is not widely used. This is a language of worship of varied languages including Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, and Jainism.

One can compare the position of Sanskrit in the Asian culture with that of Latin in the culture of Europe. Since its inception the language has developed to influence other languages in the world. It is found appearing in pre-Classical like Vedic Sanskrit. This is the language of the Rigveda and is credited for being the oldest and most archaic stage preserved.

The language dated back to as early as 1500 BC and the Vedic Sanskrit is the earliest attested Indo-Aryan language. It is also one of the earliest attested members of the Indo-European language family. The principles of Sanskrit literature have a rich tradition of poetry and drama along with scientific, technical, philosophical and religious texts.

Though not used as spoken or written language as such, now a days Sanskrit still continues to be widely used as a ceremonial language in Hindu religious rituals as hymns and mantras. But Spoken Sanskrit is still in use in a few traditional institutions in India. Steps are being taken for the revival of the language.

The term Sanskrit was earlier not thought of as a specific language different from other languages. It was then taken rather as a particularly refined manner of speaking. In ancient culture knowledge of Sanskrit was considered to be a mark of social class and educational attainment. The language was taught mainly to the higher castes. Pāṇini was one of the noted persons as far as grammar of the language is considered.

Being originated nearly 3500 years ago, Sanskrit is one of the oldest spoken languages still in existence. It is the root of most Indian languages. The southern Indian languages, except Tamil are influenced by the language. It was evolved for the most part by the inhabitants of the Indic civilization in northern and north-western India.

Sanskrit was mainly found in the composition of the sacred Hindu Vedic texts, the Vedas and was the reflection of the lives and culture of those peoples. The language belongs to the Indo-Iranian sub-family of the Indo-European family of languages. It is also part of the Satem group of Indo-European languages including the Balto-Slavic branch and Armenian. Wikipedia