What Is Sanskrit?

Sanskrit is the classical tongue of ancient India, the primary sacred language of Hinduism and one of the world's oldest known languages.

Translated as “refined” or “sanctified,” Sanskrit is also an important philosophical and liturgical language for Jainism and Buddhism. For more than three millennia, it has shaped literature, religion, philosophy, language and scholarship across South Asia.

Sanskrit is traditionally divided into two forms: Vedic and Classical Sanskrit.

Vedic Sanskrit is the oldest known form of the language. It is preserved in the Vedas, the sacred texts of early Hinduism. The Rigveda, the oldest and most significant of these texts, dates to at least 1500 B.C. By that time, Vedic Sanskrit was likely already a widely spoken language with several regional dialects. The Vedas were composed over many centuries, roughly between 1500 and 500 B.C., and each Veda was accompanied by its own book of grammar called Pratishakhyas.

Around 500 B.C., a scholar named Pāṇini standardized the grammar of Vedic Sanskrit, condensing approximately 10 existing grammar schools into one. Pāṇini's book of Sanskrit grammar, called the Aṣṭādhyāyī, contained 3,959 rules of syntax, semantics and morphology. Subsequently, both literary and spoken Sanskrit followed Pāṇini's language system, now known as Classical Sanskrit.

Linguistically, Sanskrit belongs to the Indo-European language family, sharing common roots with Greek, Latin, Persian and English. These languages share some important similarities, such as words for familial relationships—for example, “mother” is mātṛ in Sanskrit, mater in Latin and mitéra in Greek.

Hundreds of modern languages spoken across South Asia, including India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan, trace their origins to Classical Sanskrit. Many Sanskrit words show up in the everyday vocabulary of diverse languages, from Bengali to Kannada to Bahasa Indonesia.

Across millions of manuscripts and thousands of inscriptions, Sanskrit has also had a staggering influence on literature and nearly every domain of knowledge in the ancient and medieval world. The range of subjects covered in Sanskrit is striking and includes works of art like lyrical poetry, stage plays, hymns, novels and epics; scientific treatises on fields like mathematics and astronomy; a wide range of philosophy, from epistemology to metaphysics; and various other topics, such as law, medicine, politics and theology.

Today, Sanskrit is one of India's 22 constitutionally recognized languages, though only about 25,000 people still speak it, according to a 2022 census.

It is still studied in schools and universities, used in religious ceremonies and classical music, and supported by revivalist movements that aim to restore its place in everyday life. India’s 2020 National Education Policy promotes the study of Indian languages and calls for Sanskrit language and literature to be integrated into all levels of education.