Sanskrit

Sanskrit (/snskrt/; saskta

[smskrrtm]
t
, originally saskt

vk, "refined
speech") is the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, a philosophical language
in Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism, and a literary language that was in use as a lingua franca in
the Indian cultural zone. It is a standardised dialect of Old Indo-Aryan language, originating as Vedic
Sanskrit and tracing its linguistic ancestry back to Proto-Indo-Iranian and Proto-Indo-European.
Today it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India[4] and is an official language of the
state ofUttarakhand.[5] Sanskrit holds a prominent position in Indo-European studies.[6]
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 revived in some villages with traditional
institutions, and there are attempts at further popularisation.