Portal:Language/Language of the month/September 2013

Sanskrit

Sanskrit (संस्कृतम् [səmskr̩t̪əm], originally संस्कृता वाक् saṃskṛtā vāk, "refined speech") is a historical Indo-Aryan language, the primary liturgical language of Hinduism and a literary and scholarly language in Buddhism and Jainism. Developing from Vedic Sanskrit, today it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand. The corpus of Sanskrit literature encompasses a rich tradition of poetry and drama as well as scientific, technical, philosophical and dharma texts. Sanskrit continues to be widely used as a ceremonial language in Hindu religious rituals and Buddhist practice in the forms of hymns and mantras. Spoken Sanskrit has been revised in some villages with traditional institutions, and there are attempts at further popularisation. Find out more...