Official Language of - Primary liturgical language of Hinduism. Also declared a "Classical Language of India"
Spoken by - 14 million

India is a land of rich classical heritage. The land of many great thinkers and writers, our collection of literature in Sanskrit is priceless. Known as the mother of many languages, Sanskrit is abundant in the treasure of literature. Many people think of Sanskrit in terms of chants, hymns and verses. Not many know the vast collection of poetry, drama, stories and even epics in Sanskrit literature. Sanskrit language literature is a very broad category that requires elaborate understanding of this varied language. In our related sections, you shall find information about various Sanskrit epics, plays and major Sanskrit pioneers of India.

With time, the definition of classical Sanskrit literature has also changed. It used to be primarily a source of gaining knowledge and was used a lot during religious rituals. Now, Sanskrit has become a language that is solely seen upon as an entity for entertainment. People follow Sanskrit to amuse themselves rather than gain knowledge. People may go to see plays or listen to legendary folklores in Sanskrit with the sole aim of entertaining themselves. Priests who perform religious rituals use pure Sanskrit in India. Though attempts are being made to revive this ancient language in India, it will be a long time before people realize the value of this ancient language in the contemporary world.

As we progress by leaps and bounds in the 21st Century, we fail to value some of the most important things of life. More often than not, they form the backbone of our progress and give us our own identity in this era of globalization. This ancient classical language is a plethora of knowledge that is useful even in this century. We only need to use it judiciously in the right way and it is never too late to learn.

Sanskrit originated from Vedic Age

Truly a fountainhead, if one surveys its three thousand years of its existence. The story of the evolution of Sanskrit began right from the Vedic age, sailing through the post-Vedic years and centuries later till today.

The Aryans collected the mass of hymns, rituals and poems about their gods in the four Vedas (10th century BC) which document the various dialects that they brought to India (but that wasn't the Sanskrit we know of today).

From the Punjab, where the Aryans settled first after they came from Central Asia, their speech spread along the east as far as present Bihar by about 600 BC.

Obviously this Vedic or Old Indo-Aryan language met with the language of the Dravidians (who were then not restricted to just the southern regions) and Austrics, and some give and take happened.

The result was Prakrit or Middle Indo-Aryan dialect which soon engulfed the whole country in the north, east and centre. The Aryan invasion was moving towards completion.

Meanwhile, the 'pure' Aryans in Punjab were very unhappy about their sacred language getting 'defiled'. So between 8th and 4th century BC, they came up with Classical Sanskrit, based on the old Vedic speech. But for all practical purposes, the origin of the language is taken to be the old Vedic Sanskrit.

Modification in the Language

But Prakrit dialects were already on their steady journey of spreading and mixing. Buddhists picked up one of these dialects around the 6th century BC and developed it into Pali. The process of simplification of the dialects continued throughout the Middle Indo-Aryan stage, culminating in the Apabhramsa stage in 600AD. Further modification of the regional Apabhramsas during 600-1000AD gave rise to the New Indo-Aryan languages of the present day.

Sanskrit Remains The Supreme Language But even while other languages were taking shape, Sanskrit continued to be the vehicle of creative and all other scholarly work.

The sheer volume of work in Sanskrit is formidable. With the Vedas was laid the foundation stone of Vedic literature and all Sanskrit literature thereafter. From religion and philosophy to grammar, phonetics, etymology, lexicography, astronomy, astrology, sociology, sex, politics, arts and aesthetics, Sanskrit ruled. Sanskrit is also the language of India's two most talked about epics, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. The Puranas are perhaps the most interesting collection of works in Sanskrit. There are 18 major books, the Bhagavad Gita being among them, and numerous minor ones. The Puranas contain all the fodder for stories about the Hindu gods and goddesses.

Literary Activities

Literary activities burst forth with the playwright Bharata's (200 BC) Natya Shastra, the Bible of dramatic criticism. The earliest plays were those of Bhasa, but were soon overshadowed by Kalidasa's Shakuntala, a model for ages. History tells us that Kalidasa was the greatest of fools in his early years.

He is known to have hacked at the very branch he was sitting on! Anyway, Shakuntala was a heroic play, while Shudraka's Mrichchhakatika, was a play of the social class. Bhavabhuti (circa 700AD) was another well-known figure, his best being Malatimadhava and Uttaramacharita, the latter based on the story of the Ramayana.

The Foremost Sanskrit Works

The great Sanskrit poems are five Kalidasa's Raghuvamsa and Kumarasambhava, Kiratarjuniya of Bharavi (550AD), Sishupalavadha of Magha (7th century AD) and Naishadhiyacharita of Sriharsha (12th century AD).

All of them draw from the Mahabharata, the source for many writers even today. Shorter poems of great depth were composed on a single theme like love, morality, detachment and sometimes of grave matters. The earliest and best collections of such verses called Muktakas are those of Bhartrihari and Amaruka.

Much of the early prose work in Sanskrit has not survived. of the remaining, some of the best are Vasavadatta of Subandhu, Kadambari and Harshacharita of Bana (7th century AD) and Dasakumaracharita of Dandin (7th century AD). The Panchatantra and Hitopadesha are collections of wit and wisdom in the Indian style, teaching polity and proper conduct through animal fables and aphorisms.

With a glorious life of over 3000 years, Sanskrit continues to be a living language even today, bobbing up during Hindu ceremonies when mantras (ritual verses) are chanted. and though restricted, it's still a medium of literary expression, but 'great works' have long stopped being written.

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