Sanskrit is the name of the language that was spoken by the seers of prehistoric India who have expressed their knowledge, wisdom and belief in that language. It is considered to be the language of the Gods revealed to and spoken by the sages. There are some very interesting facts about Sanskrit Language that you must know:

Interesting Facts about Sanskrit Language

#1: Oldest Language

Older than Hebrew and Latin, Sanskrit was the traditional or classical language of India.

#2: Indian Origin

It became the language of all educated people in India and in the countries that were influenced by India. It is the oldest, most technical, systematic language in the world

Sanskrit literally means “refined” or “sophisticated”

#3: Ancient & Religious

Sanskrit is the fascinating language of ancient and medieval Indian religion, literature, philosophy and science. It is one of the world’s oldest languages, and is a very important element in the study of Eastern religions such as Hinduism and Buddhism

#4: Strict Grammar Rules

Sanskrit language was regulated by the strict rules of grammar and was used in that polished form by the learned and extremely cultured people from very early times. It was in this language the grand religious and secular literature of Bharathavarsha (India) was recorded from the pre-historic times up to about 1100 A.D.

#5:  Major Periods

The History of Sanskrit Literature falls into two major periods— (1) The Vedic Period & (2) The Classical Period.

The Vedic Period which lasted from 4000 or 3000 B.C and the Classical Period which had its beginning around 600 B.C., went concurrently with the last stage of the Vedic Period and practically ended at about 1100 A.D. In a sense, it can be said that the Classical period as extended up to modern times ever since many works in almost all branches of learning have been written even after 1100 A.D up to this day though these are mostly in the form of explanation and criticism of the earlier works.

#6: Major Divisions

The Sanskrit language also, like the literature collected in it, falls into two major divisions-

(1) The Vedic Sanskrit &

(2) The Classical Sanskrit.

Within the Vedic language itself, various stages of development can be found. After undergoing several changes the vedic language finally merged itself into the classical Sanskrit. Though there is much dissimilarity between the Vedic and Classical Sanskrit, the phonetic conditions are almost the same. As regards the difference, many old words are lost and new words have come in. Certain words have changed their meaning and new derivations have been introduced. Differences can be noticed in grammatical forms too

#7: New Words Added

Another interesting fact about Sanskrit language was that the process of introducing new words into the language continued for a long period until it was stopped by the great grammarian Panini who wrote an entire grammar for the language laying down rules for the derivation of each and every word in Sanskrit and disallowed the introducing of new words by giving a full list of Roots and Nouns. Even after Panini, some changes occur which were regularised by Vararuchi and finally by Patanjali. Any infringement of the rules as laid down by Patanjali was regarded as a grammatical error and hence the Sanskrit Language has remained in same without any change from the date of Patanjali (about 250 B.C.) up to this day

#8: Hindu Roots

Learning Sanskrit means you have the capability to understand in depth classical Hindu religion and philosophy and to read first-hand the great epics of the Ramayana and the Mahabharata and the oldest literature in the world, the Vedas. It is an important member of the Indo-European family of languages to which nearly all European languages belong

#9: Never Used by Common People

Sanskrit has never been a language of common people.

#10: Still Popular in India

In India, Sanskrit continues to be written and spoken in one of the twenty three official languages.