Sanskrit संस्कृतम् saṃskṛtam
Spoken in:	India, Nepal
Total speakers:	49,736 fluent speakers (1991 Indian census)
Language family:	Indo-European  Indo-Iranian   Indo-Aryan    Sanskrit
Writing system:	Devanāgarī and several other Brāhmī-based scripts; Latin alphabet
Official status
Official language of:	India (one of the scheduled languages)
Regulated by:	no official regulation
Language codes
ISO 639-1:	sa
ISO 639-2:	san
ISO 639-3:	san
This page contains Indic text. Without rendering support you may see irregular vowel positioning and a lack of conjuncts. More...

The Sanskrit language (संस्कृता वाक् saṃskṛtā vāk, for short संस्कृतम् saṃskṛtam) is a classical language of India, a liturgical language of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism, and one of the 23 official languages of India. It has the same status in Nepal as well. 1991 (MCMXCI) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Map showing the population density of each district in India Map showing the population growth over the past ten years of each district in India Map showing the literacy rate of each district in India Map showing the sex ratio of each district in India Chart showing the percentage of... Current distribution of Human Language Families A language family is a group of related languages said to have descended from a common proto-language. ... The Indo-European languages comprise a family of several hundred related languages and dialects [1], including most of the major languages of Europe, as well as many spoken in the Indian subcontinent (South Asia), the Iranian plateau (Southwest Asia), and Central Asia. ... The Indo-Iranian language group constitutes the easternmost extant branch of the Indo-European family of languages. ... The Indo-Aryan languages form a subgroup of the Indo-Iranian languages, thus belonging to the Indo-European family of languages. ... Writing systems of the world today. ... () is an abugida script used to write, either along with other scripts, or exclusively, several Indian languages, including Sanskrit, Hindi, Marathi, Sindhi, Bihari, Bhili, Marwari, Konkani, Bhojpuri, Nepali, Nepal Bhasa from Nepal and sometimes Kashmiri and Romani. ... Variation of BrāhmÄ« with dates. ... The Latin alphabet, also called the Roman alphabet, is the most widely used alphabetic writing system in the world today. ... India has a diverse list of spoken languages among different groups of people. ... ISO 639-1 is the first part of the ISO 639 international-standard language-code family. ... ISO 639-2 is the second part of the ISO 639 standard, which lists codes for the representation of the names of languages. ... ISO 639-3 is in process of development as an international standard for language codes. ... Image File history File links Example. ... The Brahmic family is a family of abugidas (writing systems) used in South Asia, Southeast Asia, Tibet, Mongolia, Manchuria. ... Vāk or Vāc (stem , nominative ) is the Sanskrit word for speech, voice, talk, or language. Personified, Vāk is a goddess, most frequently she is identified with Bharati or Sarasvati, the goddess of speech. ... A sacred language is a language, frequently a dead language, that is cultivated for religious reasons by people who speak another language in their daily life. ... Hinduism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ... Buddhism is a dharmic, non-theistic religion and a philosophy. ... Jainism (pronounced in English as IPA ), traditionally known as Jain Dharma (जैन धर्म), is a dharmic religion and philosophy originating in Ancient India. ... India has a diverse list of spoken languages among different groups of people. ...

Its position in the cultures of South and Southeast Asia is akin to that of Latin and Greek in Europe and the Mediterranean (the Greco-Roman World) and it has evolved into many modern-day languages of the Indian subcontinent. It appears in pre-Classical form as Vedic Sanskrit, with the language of the Rigveda being the oldest and most archaic stage preserved. Dating back to as early as 1700 BC, Vedic Sanskrit is the earliest attested Indo-Aryan language, and one of the earliest attested members of the Indo-European language family. Culture (from the Latin cultura stemming from colere, meaning to cultivate), generally refers to patterns of human activity and the symbolic structures that give such activity significance. ... This article is about the geopolitical region in Asia. ... Location of Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is a subregion of Asia. ... Latin is an ancient Indo-European language originally spoken in Latium, the region immediately surrounding Rome. ... This article is 150 kilobytes or more in size. ... The Mediterranean Sea is an intercontinental sea positioned between Europe to the north, Africa to the south and Asia to the east, covering an approximate area of 2. ... A proto-language is a language which was the common ancestor of related languages that form a language family. ... Vedic Sanskrit is the language of the Vedas, which are the earliest sacred texts of India,. The Vedas were first passed down orally and therefore have no known date. ... The Rigveda (Sanskrit: , a tatpurusha compound of praise, verse and knowledge) is a collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns dedicated to the gods. ... The Indo-Aryan languages form a subgroup of the Indo-Iranian languages, thus belonging to the Indo-European family of languages. ... Proto-Indo-European Indo-European studies The Indo-European languages include some 443 (SIL estimate) languages and dialects spoken by about three billion people, including most of the major language families of Europe and western Asia, which belong to a single superfamily. ...

The corpus of Sanskrit literature encompasses a rich tradition of poetry and drama as well as scientific, technical, philosophical and religious texts. Today, Sanskrit continues to be widely used as a ceremonial language in Hindu religious rituals in the forms of hymns and mantras. Spoken Sanskrit is still in use in a few traditional institutions in India, and there are some attempts at revival. Literature in Sanskrit, one of Indias two oldest languages, and the basis of several modern languages in India. ... Kalidasa and Asvaghosa were the main pioneers of Sanskrit drama. ... Hindu philosophy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ... Hindu scriptures Hindu scripture is overwhelmingly written in Sanskrit. ... Stotras are Hindu prayers that praise aspects of God, such as Devi, Siva, or Vishnu. ... In Tibet, many Buddhists carve mantras into rocks as a form of devotion. ... Attempts at reviving the Sanskrit language have been undertaken in the Republic of India since its foundation in 1947 (when Sanskrit was declared one of 21 official languages). ...

The scope of this article is the Classical Sanskrit language as laid out in the grammar of Panini, around 500 BC. Indian postage stamp depicting (2004), with the implication that he used (IPA ) was an ancient Gandharan grammarian (approximately 5th century BC, but estimates range from the 7th to the 3rd centuries) who is most famous for formulating the 3,959 rules of Sanskrit morphology known as the . ... Centuries: 7th century BC - 6th century BC - 5th century BC Decades: 550s BC - 540s BC - 530s BC - 520s BC - 510s BC - 500s BC - 490s BC - 480s BC - 470s BC - 460s BC - 450s BC Events and Trends 509 BC - Foundation of the Roman Republic 508 BC - Office of pontifex maximus created...

History

Devimahatmya manuscript on palm-leaf, in an early Bhujimol script, Bihar or Nepal, 11th century.

The language name saṃskṛtam is derived from the past participle saṃskṛtaḥ 'self-made, self-done' of the verb saṃ(s)kar- 'to make self', where saṃ- 'with, together, self' and (s)kar- 'do, make'. In modern usage, the verbal adjective saṃskṛta- has come to mean "cultured". The language referred to as saṃskṛtā vāk "the language of cultured" has by definition always been a "high" language, used for religious and learned discourse and contrasted with the languages spoken by the people. It is also called deva-bhāṣā meaning "language of the gods". The oldest surviving Sanskrit grammar is Pāṇini's Aṣṭādhyāyī ("Eight-Chapter Grammar") dating to circa the 5th century BC. It is essentially a prescriptive grammar, i.e., an authority that defines (rather than describes) correct Sanskrit, although it contains descriptive parts, mostly to account for Vedic forms that had already passed out of use in Panini's time. Download high resolution version (920x312, 125 KB)Devimahatmya MS in Sanskrit on palm-leaf, Bihar or Nepal, 11th c. ... Download high resolution version (920x312, 125 KB)Devimahatmya MS in Sanskrit on palm-leaf, Bihar or Nepal, 11th c. ... The oldest surviving manuscript of the text, on palm-leaf, in an early Bhujimol script, Bihar or Nepal, 11th century. ... Bhujimol script, palm_leaf MS of the Devimahatmya, Bihar or Nepal, 11th century. ... Bihar (Hindi: बिहार, Urdu: بہار, IPA: ,  ) is a state of the Indian union situated in the eastern part of the country. ... As a means of recording the passage of time, the 11th century was that century which lasted from 1001 to 1100. ... Indian postage stamp depicting (2004), with the implication that he used (पाणिनि; IPA ) was an ancient Indian grammarian from Gandhara (traditionally 520–460 BC, but estimates range from the 7th to 4th centuries BC). ... The Ashtadhyayi (Ạṣtādhyāyī, meaning eight chapters) is the earliest known grammar of Sanskrit, and one of the first works on descriptive linguistics, generative linguistics, or linguistics altogether. ... (2nd millennium BC - 1st millennium BC - 1st millennium) The 5th century BC started on January 1, 500 BC and ended on December 31, 401 BC. // The Parthenon of Athens seen from the hill of the Pnyx to the west. ...

Sanskrit belongs to the Indo-Aryan sub-family of the Indo-European family of languages. Together with the Iranian languages it belongs to the Indo-Iranian branch and as such is part of the Satem group of Indo-European languages, which also includes the Balto-Slavic branch. The Indo-Aryan languages form a subgroup of the Indo-Iranian languages, thus belonging to the Indo-European family of languages. ... The Indo-European languages comprise a family of several hundred related languages and dialects [1], including most of the major languages of Europe, as well as many spoken in the Indian subcontinent (South Asia), the Iranian plateau (Southwest Asia), and Central Asia. ... The Iranian languages are a branch of the Indo-European language family with an estimated 150-200 million native speakers today. ... Indo-Iranian can refer to: The Indo-Iranian languages The prehistoric Indo-Iranian people, see Aryan This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... The Satem division of the Indo-European family includes the following branches: Indo-Iranian, Baltic and Slavic, Armenian, Albanian, perhaps also a number of barely documented extinct languages, such as Phrygian, Thracian, and Dacian (see: Indo-European languages). ... Proto-Indo-European Indo-European studies The Balto-Slavic languages are an Indo-European language family, consisting of the (possibly genetically related) Baltic languages and Slavic languages. ...

When the term arose in India, "Sanskrit" was not thought of as a specific language set apart from other languages, but rather as a particularly refined or perfected manner of speaking. Knowledge of Sanskrit was a marker of social class and educational attainment and the language was taught mainly to members of the higher castes, through close analysis of Sanskrit grammarians such as Pāṇini. Sanskrit as the learned language of Ancient India thus existed alongside the Prakrits (vernaculars), which evolved into the modern Indo-Aryan languages (Hindi, Assamese, Urdu, Bengali etc.). Most of the Dravidian languages of India, despite being a separate linguistic family in their own right, are highly influenced by Sanskrit, especially in terms of loanwords. Kannada, Telugu and Malayalam have the highest incidence of loans while Tamil has the lowest. This influence of Sanskrit on these languages is recognized by the notions of Tat Sama (equivalent) and Tat Bhava (rooted in). Sanskrit itself has also been exposed to Dravidian substratum influence since very ancient times. Social class refers to the hierarchical distinctions between individuals or groups in societies or cultures. ... Prakrit (also spelt Pracrit) (Sanskrit: , original, natural, artless, normal, ordinary, usual, i. ... Hindi (Devanagari: हिन्दी or हिंदी; IPA: ), an Indo-European language spoken mainly in northern and central India, is one of the official languages of the Union government of India. ... Assamese (অসমীয়া) or Asamiya is the language spoken by some of the natives of the state of Assam in northeast India. ... (اردو), historically spelled Ordu, is an Indo-Aryan language of the Indo-Iranian branch, belonging to Indo-European family of languages. ... Bengali or Bangla (বাংলা, IPA: ) is an Indo-Aryan language of the eastern Indian subcontinent, evolved from Prakrit, Pāli and Sanskrit. ... The Dravidian family of languages includes approximately 73 languages[1] that are mainly spoken in southern India and Sri Lanka, as well as certain areas in Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, and eastern and central India, as well as in parts of Afghanistan and Iran, and by overseas Dravidians in other countries... Kannada (ಕನ್ನಡ ) is one of the major Dravidian languages of southern India and one of the oldest languages in India. ... Telugu (తెలుగు) is a Dravidian language in origin, primarily spoken in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, where it is the official language. ... Malayalam (മലയാളം ) is the language spoken predominantly in the state of Kerala, in southern India. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... In linguistics, a substratum (lat. ...

Vedic Sanskrit

Main article: Vedic Sanskrit

Sanskrit, as defined by Pāṇini, had evolved out of the earlier "Vedic" form, and scholars often distinguish Vedic Sanskrit and Classical or "Paninian" Sanskrit as separate dialects. However, they are extremely similar in many ways and differ mostly in a few points of phonology, vocabulary, and grammar. Classical Sanskrit can therefore be considered a seamless evolution of the earlier Vedic language. Vedic Sanskrit is the language of the Vedas, a large collection of hymns, incantations, and religio-philosophical discussions which form the earliest religious texts in India and the basis for much of the Hindu religion. Modern linguists consider the metrical hymns of the Rigveda Samhita to be the earliest, composed by many authors over centuries of oral tradition. The end of the Vedic period is marked by the composition of the Upanishads, which form the concluding part of the Vedic corpus in the traditional compilations. The current hypothesis holds that the Vedic form of Sanskrit survived until the middle of the first millennium BC. It is around this time that Sanskrit began the transition from a first language to a second language of religion and learning, marking the beginning of the Classical period. Vedic Sanskrit is the language of the Vedas, which are the earliest sacred texts of India,. The Vedas were first passed down orally and therefore have no known date. ... Indian postage stamp depicting (2004), with the implication that he used (पाणिनि; IPA ) was an ancient Indian grammarian from Gandhara (traditionally 520–460 BC, but estimates range from the 7th to 4th centuries BC). ... Vedic Sanskrit is the language of the Vedas, which are the earliest sacred texts of India,. The Vedas were first passed down orally and therefore have no known date. ... Phonology (Greek phonÄ“ = voice/sound and logos = word/speech), is a subfield of linguistics which studies the sound system of a specific language (or languages). ... A vocabulary is a set of words known to a person or other entity, or that are part of a specific language. ... For the surname, see Grammer. ... Veda redirects here. ... This article discusses the adherents of Hinduism. ... The Rigveda (Sanskrit: , a tatpurusha compound of praise, verse and knowledge) is a collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns dedicated to the gods. ... The Upanishads (उपनिषद्, Upanişad) are part of the Hindu Shruti scriptures which primarily discuss meditation and philosophy and are seen as religious instructions by most schools of Hinduism. ...

Hinduism believes that the language of the Vedas is eternal and revealed in its wording and word order. Evidence for this belief is found in the Vedas itself, where in the Upanishads they are described as the very "breath of God" (niḥśvāsitam brahma). The Vedas are therefore considered "the language of reality", so to speak, and are unauthored, even by God, the rishis or seers ascribed to them being merely individuals gifted with a special insight into reality with the power of perceiving these eternal sounds. At the beginning of every cycle of creation, God himself "remembers" the order of the Vedic words and propagates them through the rishis. Orthodox Hindus, while accepting the linguistic development of Sanskrit as such, do not admit any historical stratification within the Vedic corpus itself. Veda redirects here. ... The Upanishads (उपनिषद्, Upanişad) are part of the Hindu Shruti scriptures which primarily discuss meditation and philosophy and are seen as religious instructions by most schools of Hinduism. ... In Hinduism, a Rishi ( ऋषि) is a sage and/or seer who heard (cf. ...

This belief is of significant consequence to Indian religious history, for the very sacredness and timelessness of the language encouraged exact memorization and transmission and discouraged textual learning via written propagation (see: Apaurusheyatva). Each word is believed to have innate and eternal meaning and, when properly pronounced, mystic expressive power. Erroneous learning of repetition of the Veda was considered a grave sin with immediate potentially negative consequences. Consequently, Vedic learning was encouraged and prized among Brahmins. Various ways of recitation, called pathas, were developed to achieve optimal memorization. In Hinduism, Apaurusheyatva (IAST: ), Sanskrit, being unauthored, is used to describe the Vedas, the main scripture in Hinduism. ... A Brahmin (anglicised from the Sanskrit word IAST ; Devanagari ), also known as Vipra, Dvija, Dvijottama (best of the Dvijas), (god on Earth) is the highest caste in Indian caste system within Hindu society. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Vedic chant. ...

Classical Sanskrit

A significant form of post-Vedic Sanskrit is found in the Sanskrit of the Hindu Epics—the Ramayana and Mahabharata. The deviations from Pāṇini in the epics are generally on account of interference from Prakrits, and not because they are 'pre-Paninean'. "In fact, almost all 'un-Paninean' forms of Epic Sanskrit are innovations" [Oberlies, "A Grammar of Epic Sanskrit", p.XXIX, emphasis in the original]. Traditional Sanskrit scholars call such deviations aarsha (आर्ष), or "of the rishis", the traditional title for the ancient authors. In some contexts there are also more "prakritisms" (borrowings from common speech) than in Classical Sanskrit proper. Finally, there is also a language dubbed "Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit" by scholars, which is actually a prakrit ornamented with Sanskritized elements (see also termination of spoken Sanskrit). According to Tiwari ([1955] 2004), there were four principal dialects of Sanskrit, viz., paścimottarī (Northwestern, also called Northern or Western), madhyadeśī (lit., middle country), pūrvi (Eastern) and dakṣiṇī (Southern, arose in the Classical period). The first three are even attested in the Vedic Brāhmaṇas, of which the first one was regarded as the purest (Kauṣītaki Brāhmaṇa, 7.6). The great Hindu Epics are also occasionally termed Mahakavya (Great Compositions); the terms refer to a canon of Hindu religious scripture. ... For the television series by Ramanand Sagar, see Ramayan (TV series). ... Manuscript illustration of the Battle of Kurukshetra The (Devanagari: ) is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India, the other being the . ... Indian postage stamp depicting (2004), with the implication that he used (पाणिनि; IPA ) was an ancient Indian grammarian from Gandhara (traditionally 520–460 BC, but estimates range from the 7th to 4th centuries BC). ... In Hinduism, a Rishi ( ऋषि) is a sage and/or seer who heard (cf. ... Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit (BHS) is a modern linguistic category applied to some of the Mahāyāna Buddhist Sutras, such as the Perfection of Wisdom. ... Prakrit (also spelt Pracrit) (Sanskrit: , original, natural, artless, normal, ordinary, usual, i. ... Many of the Sanskrit dramas suggest that it coexisted along with prakrits, spoken by those with better education. ... The s (Devanagari ) are part of the Hindu Shruti; They are composed in Vedic Sanskrit, and the period of their composition is sometimes referred to as the Brahmanic period or age (approximately between 900 BC and 500 BC). ...

European Scholarship

European scholarship in Sanskrit, begun by Heinrich Roth (1620–1668) and Johann Ernst Hanxleden (1681–1731), put forth the proposal of the Indo-European language family by Sir William Jones, and played an important role in the development of Western linguistics. Heinrich Roth (Augsburg, December 18, 1620 – June 20, 1668 at Agra) was a pioneering Sanskrit scholar. ... Johann Ernst Hanxleden (b. ... The Indo-European languages comprise a family of several hundred related languages and dialects [1], including most of the major languages of Europe, as well as many spoken in the Indian subcontinent (South Asia), the Iranian plateau (Southwest Asia), and Central Asia. ... Current distribution of Human Language Families A language family is a group of related languages said to have descended from a common proto-language. ... Sir William Jones Sir William Jones (September 28, 1746 – April 27, 1794) was an English philologist and student of ancient India, particularly known for his proposition of the existence of a relationship among Indo-European languages. ... Linguistics is the scientific study of language, which can be theoretical or applied. ...

Sir William Jones, speaking to the Asiatic Society in Calcutta, February 2, 1786, said: Sir William Jones Sir William Jones (September 28, 1746 – April 27, 1794) was an English philologist and student of ancient India, particularly known for his proposition of the existence of a relationship among Indo-European languages. ... The Asiatic Society was founded by Sir William Jones (1746-1794) on 15 January 1784 in Calcutta, the capital of British India, to enhance and further the cause of Oriental research. ... February 2 is the 33rd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ...

The Sanskrit language whatever be its antiquity, is of a wonderful structure; more perfect than the Greek, more copious than the Latin, and more exquisitely refined than either, yet bearing to both of them a stronger affinity, both in the roots of verbs and in the forms of grammar, than could possibly have been produced by accident; so strong, indeed, that no philologer could examine them all three, without believing them to have sprung from some common source, which, perhaps, no longer exists.

Indeed, linguistics (along with phonology, etc.) first arose among Indian grammarians who were attempting to catalog and codify Sanskrit's rules. Modern linguistics owes a great deal to these grammarians, and to this day, key terms for compound analysis such as bahuvrihi are taken from Sanskrit. Latin is an ancient Indo-European language originally spoken in Latium, the region immediately surrounding Rome. ... Philology is the study of ancient texts and languages. ... The Proto-Indo-European language (PIE) is the hypothetical common ancestor of the Indo-European languages. ... Linguistics is the scientific study of language, which can be theoretical or applied. ... Phonology (Greek phonē = voice/sound and logos = word/speech), is a subfield of linguistics which studies the sound system of a specific language (or languages). ... A bahuvrihi (बहुवृहि), or bahuvrihi compound, is a particular kind of compound word that refers to something that is not specified by any of its parts by themselves (i. ...

Phonology

Further information: Śikṣā

Classical Sanskrit distinguishes 48 sounds. Some of these, are, however, allophones. The number of phonemes is smaller, at about 35, see below. Look up phone in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... In phonetics, an allophone is one of several similar phones that belong to the same phoneme. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

The sounds are traditionally listed in the order vowels (Ach), diphthongs (Hal), anusvara and visarga, stops (Sparśa) and nasals (starting in the back of the mouth and moving forward), and finally the liquids and fricatives, written in IAST as follows (see the tables below for details): Note: This page contains IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. ... In phonetics, a diphthong (also gliding vowel) (Greek δίφθογγος, diphthongos, literally with two sounds, or with two tones) is a monosyllabic vowel combination involving a quick but smooth movement from one vowel to another, often interpreted by listeners as a single vowel sound or phoneme. ... Anusvaara (or anusvaaram) appears in the alphabet of Indian languages like Sanskrit which use the Devanagari script, and in the Dravidian languages. ... Visarga () is a Sanskrit word meaning sending forth, discharge. In Sanskrit phonology, (also called, equivalently by earlier grammarians) is the name of a sound, approximately IPA , written as IAST , Harvard-Kyoto H, Devanagari . ... A stop, plosive, or occlusive is a consonant sound produced by stopping the airflow in the vocal tract. ... A nasal consonant is produced when the velum—that fleshy part of the palate near the back—is lowered, allowing air to escape freely through the nose. ... Liquid consonants, or liquids, are speech sounds; more specifically, they are approximant consonants that are not classified as semivowels (glides) because they do not correspond phonetically to specific vowels (in the way that, for example, the initial [j] in English yes corresponds to [i]). The class of liquids can be... Note: This page contains phonetic information presented in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) using Unicode. ... IAST, or International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration is the academic standard for writing the Sanskrit language with the Latin alphabet and very similar to National Library at Calcutta romanization standard being used with many Indic scripts. ...

a ā i ī u ū ṛ ṝ ḷ ḹ ; e ai o au

ṃ ḥ

k kh g gh ṅ; c ch j jh ñ; ṭ ṭh ḍ ḍh ṇ; t th d dh n; p ph b bh m

y r l v; ś ṣ s h

An alternate traditional ordering is that of the Shiva Sutra of Pāṇini. The Shiva Sutras (also Maheshvara Sutras) are the 14 sutras that form the basis of the AṣṭādhyāyÄ«, the Sanskrit grammar by Pāṇini. ... Indian postage stamp depicting (2004), with the implication that he used (पाणिनि; IPA ) was an ancient Indian grammarian from Gandhara (traditionally 520–460 BC, but estimates range from the 7th to 4th centuries BC). ...

Vowels

The vowels of Classical Sanskrit with their word-initial Devanagari symbol, diacritical mark with the consonant प् (/p/), pronunciation (of the vowel alone and of /p/+vowel) in IPA, equivalent in IAST and ITRANS and (approximate) equivalents in English are listed below: Not to be confused with the NATO phonetic alphabet, which has also informally been called the “International Phonetic Alphabet”. For information on how to read IPA transcriptions of English words, see IPA chart for English. ... IAST, or International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration is the academic standard for writing the Sanskrit language with the Latin alphabet and very similar to National Library at Calcutta romanization standard being used with many Indic scripts. ...

The long vowels are held about twice as long as their short counterparts. Also, there exists a third, extra-long length for most vowels, called pluti, which is used in various cases, but particularly in the vocative. The pluti is not accepted by all grammarians. IAST, or International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration is the academic standard for writing the Sanskrit language with the Latin alphabet and very similar to National Library at Calcutta romanization standard being used with many Indic scripts. ... The Indian languages TRANSliteration (ITRANS) is an ASCII transliteration scheme for Indic scripts, particularly, but not exclusively, for Devanāgarī (used for the Hindi, Marathi, Sanskrit, Nepali, Sindhi and other languages). ... In linguistics, specifically phonetics and phonology, schwa can mean: An unstressed and toneless neutral vowel sound in any language, often but not necessarily a mid-central vowel. ... Vowels Near-close Close-mid Mid Open-mid Near-open Open Where symbols appear in pairs, the one to the right represents a rounded vowel. ... Vowels See also: IPA, Consonants Near-close Close-mid Mid Open-mid Near-open Open Where symbols appear in pairs, the one to the right represents a rounded vowel. ... Vowels See also: IPA, Consonants Near-close Close-mid Mid Open-mid Near-open Open Where symbols appear in pairs, the one to the right represents a rounded vowel. ... Vowels Near-close Close-mid Mid Open-mid Near-open Open Where symbols appear in pairs, the one to the right represents a rounded vowel. ... Vowels Near-close Close-mid Mid Open-mid Near-open Open Where symbols appear in pairs, the one to the right represents a rounded vowel. ... Vowels Near-close Close-mid Mid Open-mid Near-open Open Where symbols appear in pairs, the one to the right represents a rounded vowel. ... In phonetics, a diphthong (also gliding vowel) (Greek δίφθογγος, diphthongos, literally with two sounds, or with two tones) is a monosyllabic vowel combination involving a quick but smooth movement from one vowel to another, often interpreted by listeners as a single vowel sound or phoneme. ... Vowels Near-close Close-mid Mid Open-mid Near-open Open Where symbols appear in pairs, the one to the right represents a rounded vowel. ... In phonetics, a diphthong (also gliding vowel) (Greek δίφθογγος, diphthongos, literally with two sounds, or with two tones) is a monosyllabic vowel combination involving a quick but smooth movement from one vowel to another, often interpreted by listeners as a single vowel sound or phoneme. ... The retroflex approximant is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. ... The retroflex approximant is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. ... The retroflex lateral approximant is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. ... The retroflex lateral approximant is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. ... In linguistics, vowel length is the perceived duration of a vowel sound. ... Pluti is the term for overlong vowels in Sanskrit. ... The vocative case is the case used for a noun identifying the person being addressed, found in Latin among other languages. ...

The vowels e and o continue as allophonic variants of Proto-Indo-Iranian /ai/, /au/, and they are phonologically (conceptually) /ai/ and /au/ still in Sanskrit, and are categorized as diphthongs by Sanskrit grammarians even though they are realized phonetically as simple long vowels. (See above). The term Indo-Iranian includes all speakers of Indo-Iranian languages, i. ...

Additional points:

• There are some additional signs traditionally listed in tables of the Devanagari script:
  • The diacritic ं called anusvāra, pronounced as /əŋ/ (IAST: ṃ). It is used both for nasalizing the vowel in the syllable and for the sound of a vowel-like /n/ or /m/; eg. पं /pəŋ/.
  • The diacritic ः called visarga, pronounced as /əh/ (IAST: ḥ); eg. पः /pəh/.
  • The diacritic ँ called candrabindu, not traditionally included in Devanagari charts for Sanskrit, is used interchangeably with the anusvāra to indicate nasalization of the vowel, primarily in Vedic notation; eg. पँ /pə̃/.
• If a lone consonant needs to be written without any following vowel, it is given a halanta/virāma diacritic below (प्).
• The vowel /aː/ in Sanskrit is realized as being more central and less back than the closest English approximation, which is ɑː. But the grammarians have classified it as a back vowel. (Tiwari, [1955] 2004).
• Note that the ancient Sanskrit grammarians have classified the vowel system as velars, retroflexes, palatals and plosives rather than as back, central and front vowels. Hence ए and ओ are classified respectively as palato-velar (a+i) and labio-velar (a+u) vowels respectively. But the grammarians have classified them as diphthongs and in prosody, each is given two mātrās. This does not necessarily mean that they are proper diphthongs, but neither excludes the possibility that they could have been proper diphthongs at a very ancient stage (see above). These vowels are pronounced as long /eː/ and /oː/ respectively by learned Sanskrit Brahmans and priests of today. Other than the "four" diphthongs, Sanskrit usually disallows any other diphthong—vowels in succession, where they occur, are converted to semivowels according to sandhi rules.
• In the Devanagari script used for Sanskrit, whenever a consonant in a word-ending position is without any virāma (ie, freely standing in the orthography: प as opposed to प्), the neutral vowel schwa (/ə/) is automatically associated with it—this is of course true for the consonant to be in any position in the word. Word-ending schwa is always short. But the IAST a appended to the end of masculine noun words rather confuses the foreigners to pronounce it as /ɑː/—this makes the masculine Sanskrit words sound like feminine! e.g., shiva must be pronounced as /ɕivə/ and not as /ɕivɑː/. Tiwari ([1955] 2004) argues that in Vedic Sanskrit, अ was simply short ɑ, and became centralized and raised in the era of the Prakrits.

IAST, or International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration is the academic standard for writing the Sanskrit language with the Latin alphabet and very similar to National Library at Calcutta romanization standard being used with many Indic scripts. ... IAST, or International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration is the academic standard for writing the Sanskrit language with the Latin alphabet and very similar to National Library at Calcutta romanization standard being used with many Indic scripts. ... In phonetics, a diphthong (also gliding vowel) (Greek δίφθογγος, diphthongos, literally with two sounds, or with two tones) is a monosyllabic vowel combination involving a quick but smooth movement from one vowel to another, often interpreted by listeners as a single vowel sound or phoneme. ... Semivowels (also called semiconsonants or glides) are vowels that function phonemically as consonants. ... Sandhi is a cover term for a wide variety of phonological processes that occur at morpheme or word boundaries. ... In linguistics, specifically phonetics and phonology, schwa can mean: An unstressed and toneless neutral vowel sound in any language, often but not necessarily a mid-central vowel. ...

Consonants

IAST and Devanagari notations are given, with approximate IPA values in square brackets. IAST, or International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration is the academic standard for writing the Sanskrit language with the Latin alphabet and very similar to National Library at Calcutta romanization standard being used with many Indic scripts. ... Rigveda manuscript in Devanagari (early 19th century) Devanāgarī (देवनागरी — in English pronounced ) (ISCII – IS13194:1991) [1] is an abugida alphabet used to write several Indian languages, including Sanskrit, Hindi, Marathi, Kashmiri, Sindhi, Bihari, Bhili, Konkani, Bhojpuri and Nepali from Nepal. ... Not to be confused with the NATO phonetic alphabet, which has also informally been called the “International Phonetic Alphabet”. For information on how to read IPA transcriptions of English words, see IPA chart for English. ...

The table below shows the traditional listing of the Sanskrit consonants with the (nearest) equivalents in English/Spanish. Each consonant shown below is deemed to be followed by the neutral vowel schwa (/ə/), and is named in the table as such. Labials are consonants articulated either with both lips (bilabial articulation) or with the lower lip and the upper teeth (labiodental articulation). ... In phonetics, labiodentals are consonants articulated with the lower lips and the upper teeth, or viceversa. ... Dentals are consonants such as t, d, n, and l articulated with either the lower or the upper teeth, or both, rather than with the gum ridge as in English. ... Sub-apical retroflex plosive In phonetics, retroflex consonants are consonant sounds used in some languages. ... Palatal consonants are consonants articulated with the body of the tongue raised against the hard palate (the middle part of the roof of the mouth). ... Velars are consonants articulated with the back part of the tongue (the dorsum) against the soft palate (the back part of the roof of the mouth, known also as the velum). ... Glottal consonants are consonants articulated with the glottis. ... A stop or plosive or occlusive is a consonant sound produced by stopping the airflow in the vocal tract. ... In phonetics, aspiration is the strong burst of air that accompanies the release of some obstruents. ... In phonetics, aspiration is the strong burst of air that accompanies the release of some obstruents. ... A nasal consonant is produced when the velum—that fleshy part of the palate near the back—is lowered, allowing air to escape freely through the nose. ... Semivowels (also called semiconsonants or glides) are vowels that function phonemically as consonants. ... Liquid consonants, or liquids, are approximant consonants that are not classified as semivowels (glides) because they do not correspond phonetically to specific vowels (in the way that, for example, the initial in English yes corresponds to ). The class of liquids can be divided into lateral liquids and rhotics. ... Fricatives (or spirants) are consonants produced by forcing air through a narrow channel made by placing two articulators close together. ... In linguistics, specifically phonetics and phonology, schwa can mean: An unstressed and toneless neutral vowel sound in any language, often but not necessarily a mid-central vowel. ...

A stop or plosive or occlusive is a consonant sound produced by stopping the airflow in the vocal tract. ... In phonetics, aspiration is the strong burst of air that accompanies the release of some stop consonants. ... Phoneticians define phonation as use of the laryngeal system to generate an audible source of acoustic energy, i. ... In phonetics, aspiration is the strong burst of air that accompanies the release of some obstruents. ... Phoneticians define phonation as use of the laryngeal system to generate an audible source of acoustic energy, i. ... In phonetics, aspiration is the strong burst of air that accompanies the release of some stop consonants. ... Phoneticians define phonation as use of the laryngeal system to generate an audible source of acoustic energy, i. ... In phonetics, aspiration is the strong burst of air that accompanies the release of some obstruents. ... Phoneticians define phonation as use of the laryngeal system to generate an audible source of acoustic energy, i. ... A nasal consonant is produced when the velum—that fleshy part of the palate near the back—is lowered, allowing air to escape freely through the nose. ... Velars are consonants articulated with the back part of the tongue (the dorsum) against the soft palate (the back part of the roof of the mouth, known also as the velum). ... Palatal consonants are consonants articulated with the middle or back part of the tongue raised against the hard palate (the middle part of the roof of the mouth). ... Retroflex consonants are articulated with the tip of the tongue curled up and back so the bottom of the tip touches the roof of the mouth. ... Dentals are consonants such as t, d, n, and l articulated with either the lower or the upper teeth, or both, rather than with the gum ridge as in English. ... Labials are consonants articulated either with both lips (bilabial articulation) or with the lower lip and the upper teeth (labiodental articulation). ... Palatal consonants are consonants articulated with the middle or back part of the tongue raised against the hard palate (the middle part of the roof of the mouth). ... Retroflex consonants are articulated with the tip of the tongue curled up and back so the bottom of the tip touches the roof of the mouth. ... Dentals are consonants such as t, d, n, and l articulated with either the lower or the upper teeth, or both, rather than with the gum ridge as in English. ... Labials are consonants articulated either with both lips (bilabial articulation) or with the lower lip and the upper teeth (labiodental articulation). ... The vocal cords, also known as vocal folds, are composed of twin infoldings of mucous membrane stretched horizontally across the human larynx. ... Approximants are speech sounds that could be regarded as intermediate between vowels and typical consonants. ... A sibilant is a type of fricative, made by speeding up air through a narrow channel and directing it over the sharp edge of the teeth. ... Note: This page contains phonetic information presented in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) using Unicode. ...

Phonology and Sandhi

The Sanskrit vowels are as discussed in the section above. The long syllabic l (ḹ) is not attested, and is only discussed by grammarians for systematic reasons. Its short counterpart ḷ occurs in a single root only, kḷp "to order, array". Long syllabic r (ṝ) is also quite marginal, occurring in the genitive plural of r-stems (e.g. mātṛ "mother" and pitṛ "father" have gen.pl. mātṝṇām and pitṝṇām). i, u, ṛ, ḷ are vocalic allophones of consonantal y, v, r, l. There are thus only 5 invariably vocalic phonemes, This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

a, ā, ī, ū, ṝ.

Visarga ḥ ः is an allophone of r and s, and anusvara ṃ, Devanagari ं of any nasal, both in pausa (ie, the nasalized vowel). The exact pronunciation of the three sibilants may vary, but they are distinct phonemes. An aspirated voiced sibilant /zʱ/ was inherited by Indo-Aryan from Proto-Indo-Iranian but lost shortly before the time of the Rigveda (note that aspirated sibilant are exceedingly rare in any language). The retroflex consonants are somewhat marginal phonemes, often being conditioned by their phonetic environment; they do not continue a PIE series and are often ascribed by some linguists to the substratal influence of Dravidian. The nasal ñ is a conditioned allophone of n (n and ṇ are distinct phonemes – one has to distinguish aṇu "minute, atomic" (nom. sg. neutr. of an adjective) from anu "after, along"; phonologically independent ṅ occurs only marginally, e.g. in prāṅ "directed forwards/towards" (nom. sg. masc. of an adjective) and can thus be omitted). There are thus 31 consonantal or semi-vocalic phonemes, consisting of four/five kinds of stops realized both with or without aspiration and both voiced and voiceless, three nasals, four semi-vowels or liquids, and four fricatives, written in IAST transliteration as follows: Visarga () is a Sanskrit word meaning sending forth, discharge. In Sanskrit phonology, (also called, equivalently by earlier grammarians) is the name of a sound, approximately IPA , written as IAST , Harvard-Kyoto H, Devanagari . ... In phonetics, an allophone is one of several similar phones that belong to the same phoneme. ... Anusvaara (or anusvaaram) appears in the alphabet of Indian languages like Sanskrit which use the Devanagari script, and in the Dravidian languages. ... See Pausha for the Hindu month Pausa (Latin for break) in linguistics refers to the end of an utterance. ... The Indo-Aryan languages form a subgroup of the Indo-Iranian languages, thus belonging to the Indo-European family of languages. ... Sub-apical retroflex plosive In phonetics, retroflex consonants are consonant sounds used in some languages. ... This article is about the baked good, for other uses see Pie (disambiguation). ... In linguistics, a substratum (lat. ... The Dravidian family of languages includes approximately 73 languages[1] that are mainly spoken in southern India and Sri Lanka, as well as certain areas in Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, and eastern and central India, as well as in parts of Afghanistan and Iran, and by overseas Dravidians in other countries... IAST, or International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration is the academic standard for writing the Sanskrit language with the Latin alphabet and very similar to National Library at Calcutta romanization standard being used with many Indic scripts. ...

k, kh, g, gh; c, ch, j, jh; ṭ, ṭh, ḍ, ḍh; t, th, d, dh; p, ph, b, bh; m, n, ṇ; y, r, l, v; ś, ṣ, s, h

or a total of 36 unique Sanskrit phonemes altogether.

The phonological rules to be applied when combining morphemes to a word, and when combining words to a sentence are collectively called sandhi "composition". Texts are written phonetically, with sandhi applied (except for the so-called padapāṭha). Phonology (Greek phonÄ“ = voice/sound and logos = word/speech), is a subfield of linguistics which studies the sound system of a specific language (or languages). ... Sandhi is a cover term for a wide variety of phonological processes that occur at morpheme or word boundaries. ...

Writing system

Kashmiri Shaivaite manuscript in the Sharada script (17th or 18th century)

Historically, Sanskrit is not associated with any particular script. The emphasis on orality, not textuality, in the Vedic Sanskrit tradition was maintained through the development of early classical Sanskrit literature. When Sanskrit was written, the choice of writing system was influenced by the regional scripts of the scribes. As such, virtually all of the major writing systems of South Asia have been used for the production of Sanskrit manuscripts. Since the late 19th century, Devanagari has been considered as the de facto writing system for Sanskrit,^[1] quite possibly because of the European practice of printing Sanskrit texts in the script. Birch-bark manuscript. ... Birch-bark manuscript. ... Kashmir (or Cashmere) may refer to: Kashmir region, the northwestern region of the Indian subcontinent India, Kashmir conflict, the territorial dispute between India, Pakistan, and the China over the Kashmir region. ... Saivite: of Saivism; belonging to Saivism, the Hindu denomination that worships God Siva as the Supreme God. ... Kashmiri Shaivaite manuscript (17th or 18th century) The Sharada script is an abugida writing system of the Brahmic family of scripts, developed from ca. ... Literature in Sanskrit, one of Indias two oldest languages, and the basis of several modern languages in India. ... Rigveda manuscript in Devanagari (early 19th century) Devanāgarī (देवनागरी — in English pronounced ) (ISCII – IS13194:1991) [1] is an abugida alphabet used to write several Indian languages, including Sanskrit, Hindi, Marathi, Kashmiri, Sindhi, Bihari, Bhili, Konkani, Bhojpuri and Nepali from Nepal. ...

Writing was introduced relatively late to India, around the 5th century BC, according to a hypothesis by Rhys Davids introduced from the Middle East by traders. Even after the introduction of writing, oral tradition and memorization of texts remained a prominent feature of Sanskrit literature. In northern India, there are Brahmi inscriptions dating from the 3rd century BCE onwards, the oldest appearing on the famous Prakrit pillar inscriptions of king Ashoka. Roughly contemporary with the Brahmi, the Kharosthi script was used. Later (ca. 4th to 8th centuries AD) the Gupta script, derived from Brahmi, became prevalent. From ca. the 8th century, the Sharada script evolved out of the Gupta script, and was mostly displaced in its turn by Devanagari from ca. the 12th century, with intermediary stages such as the Siddham script. In Eastern India, the Bengali script and, later, the Oriya script, were used. Thomas William Rhys Davids (May 12, 1843 - December 27, 1922) was an British scholar of the Pāli language and founder of the Pali Text Society. ... A map showing countries commonly considered to be part of the Middle East The Middle East is a region comprising the lands around the southern and eastern parts of the Mediterranean Sea, a territory that extends from the eastern Mediterranean Sea to the Persian Gulf. ... BrāhmÄ« refers to the pre-modern members of the Brahmic family of scripts, attested from the 3rd century BC. The best known and earliest dated inscriptions in Brahmi are the rock-cut edicts of Ashoka. ... The Edicts of Ashoka are a collection of 33 inscriptions on the Pillars of Ashoka, as well as boulders and cave walls, made by the Emperor Ashoka of the Mauryan dynasty during his reign from 272 to 231 BCE. These inscriptions are dispersed throughout the areas of modern-day Pakistan... Allegiance: Magadhan Empire Rank: Emperor Succeeded by: Dasaratha Maurya Reign: 273 BC-232 BC Place of birth: Pataliputra, India Battles/Wars Kalinga War Emperor Ashoka the Great (Devanagari: अशोक(:); IAST transliteration: , pronunciation: ) (304 BC–232 BC) (Imperial Title:Devanampiya Piyadassi ie He who is the beloved of the Gods who, in... The Kharoṣṭhī script, also known as the Gāndhārī script, is an ancient alphabetic script used by the Gandhara culture of historic northwest India to write the Gandhari and Sanskrit languages (the Gandhara kingdom was located along the present-day border... The Gupta script was used for writing Sanskrit and is associated with the Gupta Empire of India which was a period of material prosperity and great religious and scientific developments. ... Kashmiri Shaivaite manuscript (17th or 18th century) The Sharada script is an abugida writing system of the Brahmic family of scripts, developed from ca. ... Rigveda manuscript in Devanagari (early 19th century) DevanāgarÄ« (देवनागरी — in English pronounced ) (ISCII – IS13194:1991) [1] is an abugida alphabet used to write several Indian languages, including Sanskrit, Hindi, Marathi, Kashmiri, Sindhi, Bihari, Bhili, Konkani, Bhojpuri and Nepali from Nepal. ... Siddham (Sanskrit, accomplished or perfected) — referred to in Japanese as bonji (梵字) — is the name of a North Indian script used for writing Sanskrit. ... Bengali or Bangla (বাংলা, IPA: ) is an Indo-Aryan language of the eastern Indian subcontinent, evolved from Prakrit, Pāli and Sanskrit. ... Oriya is the official language of the Indian state of Orissa. ...

In the south where Dravidian languages predominate, scripts used for Sanskrit include Kannada in Kannada and Telugu speaking regions, Telugu in Telugu and Tamil speaking regions, Malayalam and Grantha in Tamil speaking regions. The Dravidian family of languages includes approximately 73 languages[1] that are mainly spoken in southern India and Sri Lanka, as well as certain areas in Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, and eastern and central India, as well as in parts of Afghanistan and Iran, and by overseas Dravidians in other countries... The Kannada script is an abugida of the Brahmic family, primarily to write the Kannada language, one of the Dravidian languages in India. ... Kannada (ಕನ್ನಡ ) is one of the major Dravidian languages of southern India and one of the oldest languages in India. ... Telugu (తెలుగు) is a Dravidian language in origin, primarily spoken in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, where it is the official language. ... Telugu script, an abugida from the Brahmic family of scripts, is used to write Telugu, a Dravidian Language found in the Southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh as well as several other neighboring states. ... Telugu (తెలుగు) is a Dravidian language in origin, primarily spoken in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, where it is the official language. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Malayalam ( ) is the language spoken predominantly in the state of Kerala, in southern India. ... Grantha (from Sanskrit ग्रन्थ grantha meaning book or manuscript) is an ancient script that was prevalent in South India. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ...

Sanskrit in modern Indian scripts. May Śiva bless those who take delight in the language of the gods. (Kalidasa)

Image File history File links Phrase_sanskrit. ... “Nilakantha” redirects here. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...

Romanization

Main article: Devanagari transliteration

Since the late 18th century, Sanskrit has been transliterated using the Latin alphabet. The system most commonly used today is the IAST (International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration), which has been the academic standard since 1912, and which is used in this article. ASCII-based transliteration schemes have evolved due to difficulties representing Sanskrit characters in computer systems. These include Harvard-Kyoto and ITRANS, a lossless transliteration scheme that is used widely on the Internet, especially in Usenet and in email, for considerations of speed of entry as well as rendering issues. With the wide availability of Unicode aware web browsers, IAST has become common also for online articles. It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Devanagari. ... Transliteration is the practice of transcribing a word or text written in one writing system into another writing system. ... The Latin alphabet, also called the Roman alphabet, is the most widely used alphabetic writing system in the world today. ... IAST, or International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration is the academic standard for writing the Sanskrit language with the Latin alphabet and very similar to National Library at Calcutta romanization standard being used with many Indic scripts. ... 1912 (MCMXII) was a leap year starting on Monday in the Gregorian calendar (or a leap year starting on Tuesday in the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... There are 95 printable ASCII characters, numbered 32 to 126. ... The Harvard-Kyoto Convention is a system for transliterating the Sanskrit language in ASCII. It is predominantly used informally in e-mail, and for electronic texts. ... The Indian languages TRANSliteration (ITRANS) is an ASCII transliteration scheme for Indic scripts, particularly, but not exclusively, for Devanāgarī (used for the Hindi, Marathi, Sanskrit, Nepali, Sindhi and other languages). ... Unicode is an industry standard designed to allow text and symbols from all of the writing systems of the world to be consistently represented and manipulated by computers. ...

For scholarly work, Devanagari in the 19th century was generally preferred for the transcription and reproduction of whole texts and lengthy excerpts also by European scholars; however, references to individual words and names in texts composed in European languages are usually represented using Roman transliteration, and from the mid 20th century, textual editions edited by Western scholars have also been mostly in romanized transliteration.

Grammar

Main article: Sanskrit grammar

Sanskrit grammatical tradition (, one of the six Vedanga disciplines) begins in late Vedic India, and culminates in the Aṣṭādhyāyī of Pāṇini (ca. ...

Grammatical tradition

Main article: Sanskrit grammarians

Sanskrit grammatical tradition (vyākaraṇa, one of the six Vedanga disciplines) begins in late Vedic India, and culminates in the Aṣṭādhyāyī of Pāṇini (ca. 5th century BC). Patañjali, who lived several centuries after Panini, is the reputed author of the Mahābhāṣya, the "Great Commentary" on the Aṣṭādhyāyī. Recent work on Sanskrit grammar has been done by Dr. B.P.T. Vagish Shastri. He has developed a mnemonic method VAGYOGA, which proposes learning grammar in a mathematical way.^{[citation needed]} Sanskrit grammatical tradition (, one of the six Vedanga disciplines) begins in late Vedic India, and culminates in the AṣṭādhyāyÄ« of Pāṇini (ca. ... The Vedanga (IAST , member of the Veda) are six auxiliary disciplines for the understanding and tradition of the Vedas. ... The Vedic civilization is the Indo-Aryan culture associated with the Vedas, the earliest known records of Indian history. ... The Ashtadhyayi (AṣṭādhyāyÄ«, meaning eight chapters) is the earliest known grammar of Sanskrit, and one of the first works on descriptive linguistics, generative linguistics, or linguistics altogether. ... Indian postage stamp depicting (2004), with the implication that he used (पाणिनि; IPA ) was an ancient Indian grammarian from Gandhara (traditionally 520–460 BC, but estimates range from the 7th to 4th centuries BC). ... (2nd millennium BC - 1st millennium BC - 1st millennium) The 5th century BC started on January 1, 500 BC and ended on December 31, 401 BC. // The Parthenon of Athens seen from the hill of the Pnyx to the west. ... Patañjali as an incarnation of Adi Sesha Patañjali (DevanāgarÄ« पतञ्जलि) is the compiler of the Yoga Sutra, a major work containing aphorisms on the practical and philosophical wisdom regarding practice of Raja Yoga. ... The Mahābhāṣya (great commentary), attributed to Patañjali, is a commentary on the celebrated Ashtadhyayi of Panini is one of the three most famous works in Sanskrit grammar. ...

Verbs

Main article: Sanskrit verbs

The Sanskrit verbal system is very complex, with verbs inflecting for different combinations of tense, aspect, mood, number, and person. ...

Classification of verbs

Sanskrit has ten classes of verbs divided into in two broad groups: athematic and thematic. The thematic verbs are so called because an a, called the theme vowel, is inserted between the stem and the ending. This serves to make the thematic verbs generally more regular. Exponents used in verb conjugation include prefixes, suffixes, infixes, and reduplication. Every root has (not necessarily all distinct) zero, guṇa, and vṛddhi grades. If V is the vowel of the zero grade, the guṇa-grade vowel is traditionally thought of as a + V, and the vṛddhi-grade vowel as ā + V. It has been suggested that Verbal agreement be merged into this article or section. ... For other uses of athematic see Thematic. ... Vowel stems, in Indo-European linguistics, are the stems of nouns or verbs that are thematic. ... Vowel stems, in Indo-European linguistics, are the stems of nouns or verbs that are thematic. ... An exponent is a phonological manifestation of a morphosyntactic property. ... In linguistics, conjugation is the creation of derived forms of a verb from its principal parts by inflection (regular alteration according to rules of grammar). ... In linguistics, a prefix is a type of affix that precedes the morphemes to which it can attach. ... Suffix has meanings in linguistics, nomenclature and computer science. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Reduplication, in linguistics, is a morphological process in which the root or stem of a word, or only part of it, is repeated. ... The Sanskrit word guna () has the basic meaning of string or a single thread or strand of a cord or twine. In more abstract uses, it may mean a subdivision, species, kind, and generally quality. // In Classical literature (e. ... Vrddhi is a Sanskrit word meaning growth (cognate to English weird, Old English wyrd). ...

Tense systems

The verbs tenses (a very inexact application of the word, since more distinctions than simply tense are expressed) are organized into four 'systems' (as well as gerunds and infinitives, and such creatures as intensives/frequentatives, desideratives, causatives, and benedictives derived from more basic forms) based on the different stem forms (derived from verbal roots) used in conjugation. There are four tense systems: Grammatical tense is a way languages express the time at which an event described by a sentence occurs. ... In linguistics, a gerund is a kind of verbal noun that exists in some languages. ... In grammar, the infinitive is the form of a verb that has no inflection to indicate person, number, mood or tense. ... intensive refers to an act that is done repetitively or with much force. ... In grammar, a frequentative form of a word is one which indicates repeated action. ... In linguistics, a desiderative form is one that has the meaning of wanting to X. Desiderative forms are often verbs, derived from a more basic verb through a process of morphological derivation. ... The benedictive mood is found in Sanskrit, although extremely rarely. ...

• Present (Present, Imperfect, Imperative, Optative)
• Perfect
• Aorist
• Future (Future, Conditional)

The present tense is the tense (form of a verb) that is often used to express: Action at the present time A state of being A habitual action An occurrence in the near future An action that occurred in the past and continues up to the present There are two... The imperfect tense, in the classical grammar of several Indo-European languages, denotes a past tense with an imperfective aspect. ... In linguistics, many grammars have the concept of grammatical mood, which describes the relationship of a verb with reality and intent. ... The optative mood is a grammatical mood that indicates a wish or hope. ... The perfect tenses are verb tenses showing actions completed at or before a specific time. ... The aorist aspect was one of the three original aspects that defined the Indo_European verbal paradigm. ... Look up Future in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... It has been suggested that Future perfect tense be merged into this article or section. ... Look up conditional in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

Present system

The present system includes the present and imperfect tenses, the optative and imperative moods, as well as some of the remnant forms of the old subjunctive. The tense stem of the present system is formed in various ways. The numbers are the native grammarians' numbers for these classes. The present tense is the tense (form of a verb) that is often used to express: Action at the present time A state of being A habitual action An occurrence in the near future An action that occurred in the past and continues up to the present There are two... The imperfect tense, in the classical grammar of several Indo-European languages, denotes a past tense with an imperfective aspect. ... The optative mood is a grammatical mood that indicates a wish or hope. ... In linguistics, many grammars have the concept of grammatical mood, which describes the relationship of a verb with reality and intent. ... In grammar, the subjunctive mood (sometimes referred to as the conjunctive mood) is a verb mood that exists in many languages. ...

For athematic verbs, the present tense stem may be formed through:

• 2) No modification at all, for example ad from ad 'eat'.
• 3) Reduplication prefixed to the root, for example juhu from hu 'sacrifice'.
• 7) Infixion of na or n before the final root consonant (with appropriate sandhi changes), for example rundh or ruṇadh from rudh 'obstruct'.
• 5) Suffixation of nu (guṇa form no), for example sunu from su 'press out'.
• 8) Suffixation of u (guṇa form o), for example tanu from tan 'stretch'. For modern linguistic purposes it is better treated as a subclass of the 5th. tanu derives from tnnu, which is zero-grade for *tannu, because in the Proto-Indo-European language [m] and [n] could be vowels, which in Sanskrit (and Greek) change to [a]. Most members of the 8th class arose this way; kar = "make", "do" was 5th class in Vedic (krnoti = "he makes"), but shifted to the 8th class in Classical Sanskrit (karoti = "he makes")
• 9) Suffixation of nā (zero-grade nī or n), for example krīṇa or krīṇī from krī 'buy'.

For thematic verbs, the present tense stem may be formed through: The Proto-Indo-European language (PIE) is the hypothetical common ancestor of the Indo-European languages. ... Vedic Sanskrit is the language of the Vedas, the earliest sacred texts of India. ...

• 1) Suffixation of the thematic vowel a with guṇa strengthening, for example, bháva from bhū 'be'.
• 6) Suffixation of the thematic vowel a with a shift of accent to this vowel, for example tudá from tud 'thrust'.
• 4) Suffixation of ya, for example dī́vya from div 'play'.

The tenth class described by native grammarians refers to a process which is derivational in nature, and thus not a true tense-stem formation. It is formed by suffixation of ya with guṇa strengthening and lengthening of the root's last vowel, for example bhāvaya from bhū 'be'.

Perfect system

The perfect system includes only the perfect tense. The stem is formed with reduplication as with the present system. The perfect tenses are verb tenses showing actions completed at or before a specific time. ...

The perfect system also produces separate "strong" and "weak" forms of the verb — the strong form is used with the singular active, and the weak form with the rest.

Aorist system

The aorist system includes aorist proper (with past indicative meaning, e.g. abhūḥ "you were") and some of the forms of the ancient injunctive (used almost exclusively with mā in prohibitions, e.g. mā bhūḥ "don't be"). The principal distinction of the two is presence/absence of an augment – a- prefixed to the stem. Aorist (from Greek αοριστος, indefinite) is a term used in certain Indo-European languages to refer to a particular grammatical tense and/or aspect. ...

The aorist system stem actually has three different formations: the simple aorist, the reduplicating aorist (semantically related to the causative verb), and the sibilant aorist. The simple aorist is taken directly from the root stem (e.g. bhū-: a-bhū-t "he was"). The reduplicating aorist involves reduplication as well as vowel reduction of the stem. The sibilant aorist is formed with the suffixation of s to the stem. Note: This page contains IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. ...

Future system

The future system is formed with the suffixation of sya or iṣya and guṇa.

Verbs: Conjugation

Each verb has a grammatical voice, whether active, passive or middle. There is also an impersonal voice, which can be described as the passive voice of intransitive verbs. Sanskrit verbs have an indicative, an optative and an imperative mood. Older forms of the language had a subjunctive, though this had fallen out of use by the time of Classical Sanskrit. In grammar, the voice of a verb describes the relationship between the action (or state) that the verb expresses and the participants identified by its arguments (subject, object, etc. ... In linguistics, many grammars have the concept of grammatical mood, which describes the relationship of a verb with reality and intent. ... The optative mood is a grammatical mood that indicates a wish or hope. ... In linguistics, many grammars have the concept of grammatical mood, which describes the relationship of a verb with reality and intent. ... In grammar, the subjunctive mood (sometimes referred to as the conjunctive mood) is a verb mood that exists in many languages. ...

Basic conjugational endings

Conjugational endings in Sanskrit convey person, number, and voice. Different forms of the endings are used depending on what tense stem and mood they are attached to. Verb stems or the endings themselves may be changed or obscured by sandhi. Grammatical person, in linguistics, is deictic reference to the participant role of a referent, such as the speaker, the addressee, and others. ... In linguistics, grammatical number is a morphological category characterized by the expression of quantity through inflection or agreement. ... In grammar, the voice of a verb describes the relationship between the action (or state) that the verb expresses and the participants identified by its arguments (subject, object, etc. ...

Primary endings are used with present indicative and future forms. Secondary endings are used with the imperfect, conditional, aorist, and optative. Perfect and imperative endings are used with the perfect and imperative respectively.

Present system conjugation

Conjugation of the present system deals with all forms of the verb utilizing the present tense stem (explained under Tense Stems above). This includes the present tense of all moods, as well as the imperfect indicative.

Athematic inflection

The present system differentiates strong and weak forms of the verb. The strong/weak opposition manifests itself differently depending on the class:

• The root and reduplicating classes (2 & 3) are not modified in the weak forms, and receive guṇa in the strong forms.
• The nasal class (7) is not modified in the weak form, extends the nasal to ná in the strong form.
• The nu-class (5) has nu in the weak form and nó in the strong form.
• The nā-class (9) has nī in the weak form and nā́ in the strong form. nī disappears before vocalic endings.

The present indicative takes primary endings, and the imperfect indicative takes secondary endings. Singular active forms have the accent on the stem and take strong forms, while the other forms have the accent on the endings and take weak forms.

The optative takes secondary endings. yā is added to the stem in the active, and ī in the passive.

The imperative takes imperative endings. Accent is variable and affects vowel quality. Forms which are end-accented trigger guṇa strengthening, and those with stem accent do not have the vowel affected.

Nominal inflection

Sanskrit is a highly inflected language with three grammatical genders (masculine, feminine, neuter) and three numbers (singular, plural, dual). It has eight cases: nominative, vocative, accusative, instrumental, dative, ablative, genitive, and locative. In grammar, inflection or inflexion is the modification or marking of a word (or more precisely lexeme) to reflect grammatical (that is, relational) information, such as gender, tense, number or person. ... In linguistics, grammatical gender is a morphological category associated with the expression of gender through inflection or agreement. ... Dual is the grammatical number used for two referents. ... In grammar, the case of a noun or pronoun is its grammatical function in a greater phrase or clause; such as the role of subject, of direct object, or of possessor. ... The nominative case is a grammatical case for a noun, which generally marks the subject of a verb, as opposed to its object or other verb arguments. ... The vocative case (also called the fifth case) is the case used for a noun identifying the person (animal, object, etc. ... The accusative case (abbreviated ACC) of a noun is the grammatical case used to mark the direct object of a transitive verb. ... In linguistics, the instrumental case (also called the eighth case) indicates that a noun is the instrument or means by which the subject achieves or accomplishes an action. ... The dative case is a grammatical case generally used to indicate the noun to whom something is given. ... In linguistics, ablative case (also called the sixth case) (abbreviated ABL) is a name given to cases in various languages whose common thread is that they mark motion away from something, though the details in each language may differ. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Possessive case. ... Locative is a case which indicates a location. ...

The number of actual declensions is debatable. Panini identifies six karakas corresponding to the nominative, accusative, dative, instrumental, locative, and ablative cases [1]. Panini defines them as follows (Ashtadhyayi, I.4.24-54): In linguistics, declension is the inflection of nouns, pronouns and adjectives to indicate such features as number (typically singular vs. ... Panini can refer to: Pāṇini, the 5th century BC Sanskrit grammarian Panini (sandwich), a type of Italian sandwich Panini (stickers), a brand of collectible stickers Giovanni Paolo Panini, an Italian artist This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists pages that might otherwise share the same title. ...

1. Apadana (lit. 'take off'): "(that which is) firm when departure (takes place)." This is the equivalent of the ablative case, which signifies a stationary object from which movement proceeds.
2. Sampradana ('bestowal'): "he whom one aims at with the object". This is equivalent to the dative case, which signifies a recipient in an act of giving or similar acts.
3. Karana ("instrument") "that which effects most." This is equivalent to the instrumental case.
4. Adhikarana ('location'): or "substratum." This is equivalent to the locative case.
5. Karman ('deed'/'object'): "what the agent seeks most to attain". This is equivalent to the accusative case.
6. Karta ('agent'): "he/that which is independent in action". This is equivalent to the nominative case. (On the basis of Scharfe, 1977: 94)

Possessive (Sambandha) and vocative are absent in Panini's grammar.

In this article they are divided into five declensions. The declension to which a noun belongs to is determined largely by form.

The basic declension suffix scheme for nouns and adjectives

The basic scheme is given in the table below—valid for almost all nouns and adjectives. However, according to the gender and the ending consonant/vowel of the uninflected word-stem, there are predetermined rules of compulsory sandhi which would then give the final inflected word. The parentheses give the case-terminations for the neuter gender, the rest are for masculine and feminine gender. Both devanagari script and IAST transliterations are given.

a-stems

A-stems (/ə/ or /ɑː/) comprise the largest class of nouns. As a rule, nouns belonging to this class, with the uninflected stem ending in short-a (/ə/), are either masculine or neuter. Nouns ending in long-A (/ɑː/) are almost always feminine. A-stem adjectives take the masculine and neuter in short-a (/ə/), and feminine in long-A (/ɑː/) in their stems. This class is so big because it also comprises the Proto-Indo-European o-stems.

i- and u-stems

Long Vowel-stems

ṛ-stems

ṛ-stems are predominantly agental derivatives like dātṛ 'giver', though also include kinship terms like pitṛ́ 'father', mātṛ́ 'mother', and svásṛ 'sister'. In linguistics, a grammatical agent is an entity that carries out an action. ...

See also Devi inflection, Vrkis inflection. In Vedic Sanskrit, the Devi inflection is one of the two types of inflection of ī-stems. ... In Vedic Sanskrit, the Vrkis inflection is one of the two types of inflection of ī-stems. ...

Personal Pronouns and Determiners

Main article: Sanskrit pronouns and determiners

The first and second person pronouns are declined for the most part alike, having by analogy assimilated themselves with one another. The first and second person pronouns are declined for the most part alike, having by analogy assimilated themselves with one another. ... Analogy is both the cognitive process of transferring information from a particular subject (the analogue or source) to another particular subject (the target), and a linguistic expression corresponding to such a process. ...

Note: Where two forms are given, the second is enclitic and an alternative form. Ablatives in singular and plural may be extended by the syllable -tas; thus mat or mattas, asmat or asmattas. In linguistics, a clitic is a morpheme that functions syntactically like a word, but does not appear as an independent phonological word; instead it is always attached to a following or preceding word. ...

The demonstrative ta, declined below, also functions as the third person pronoun.

Compounds

Main article: Sanskrit compounds

One other notable feature of the nominal system is the very common use of nominal compounds, which may be huge (10+ words) as in some modern languages such as German. Nominal compounds occur with various structures, however morphologically speaking they are essentially the same. Each noun (or adjective) is in its (weak) stem form, with only the final element receiving case inflection. Some examples of nominal compounds include: One notable feature of the nominal system of Sanskrit is the very common use of nominal compounds, which may be huge (10+ words) as in some modern languages such as German. ...

Dvandva (co-ordinative)

These consist of two or more noun stems, connected in sense with 'and'. There are mainly two kinds of dvandva constructions in Sanskrit. The first is called itaretara dvandva, an enumerative compound word, the meaning of which refers to all its constituent members. The resultant compound word is in the dual or plural number and takes the gender of the final member in the compound construction. e.g. rāma-lakşmaņau – Rama and Lakshmana, or rāma-lakşmaņa-bharata-śatrughnāh – Rama, Lakshmana, Bharata and Satrughna. The second kind is called samāhāra dvandva, a collective compound word, the meaning of which refers to the collection of its constituent members. The resultant compound word is in the singular number and is always neuter in gender. e.g. pāņipādam – limbs, literally hands and feet, from pāņi = hand and pāda = foot. According to some grammarians, there is a third kind of dvandva, called ekaśeşa dvandva or residual compound, which takes the dual (or plural) form of only its final constituent member, e.g. pitarau for mātā + pitā, mother + father, i.e. parents. According to other grammarians, however, the ekaśeşa is not properly a compound at all.

Bahuvrīhi (possessive)

Bahuvrīhi, or "much-rice", denotes a rich person—one who has much rice. Bahuvrīhi compounds refer (by example) to a compound noun with no head -- a compound noun that refers to a thing which is itself not part of the compound. For example, "low-life" and "block-head" are bahuvrihi compounds, since a low-life is not a kind of life, and a block-head is not a kind of head. (And a much-rice is not a kind of rice.) Compare with more common, headed, compound nouns like "fly-ball" (a kind of ball) or "alley cat" (a kind of cat). Bahurvrīhis can often be translated by "possessing..." or "-ed"; for example, "possessing much rice", or "much riced".

Tatpuruṣa (determinative)

There are many tatpuruṣas (one for each of the nominal cases, and a few others besides); in a tatpuruṣa, the first component is in a case relationship with another. For example, a doghouse is a dative compound, a house for a dog. It would be called a "caturtitatpuruṣa" (caturti refers to the fourth case—that is, the dative). Incidentally, "tatpuruṣa" is a tatpuruṣa ("this man"—meaning someone's agent), while "caturtitatpuruṣa" is a karmadhārya, being both dative, and a tatpuruṣa. An easy way to understand it is to look at English examples of tatpuruṣas: "battlefield", where there is a genitive relationship between "field" and "battle", "a field of battle"; other examples include instrumental relationships ("thunderstruck") and locative relationships ("towndwelling").

Karmadhāraya (descriptive)

The relation of the first member to the last is appositional, attributive or adverbial, e. g. uluka-yatu (owl+demon) is a demon in the shape of an owl.

Amreḍita (iterative)

Repetition of a word expresses repetitiveness, e. g. dive-dive 'day by day', 'daily'.

Dvigu

A dvandva or copulative or coordinative compound refers to two or more objects that could be connected in sense by the conjunction and. Dvandvas are common in some languages such as Sanskrit, where the term originates, and Japanese, but less common in English (The term is not often found in... Noun or noun substantive is a lexical category which is defined in terms of how its members combine with other grammatical kinds of expressions. ... A bahuvrihi is a compound that refers to something that is not specified by any of its parts by themselves, especially a compound that refers to a possessor of an object specified. ... A Tatpurusha is a type of compound in Sanskrit grammar. ... A Karmadharaya is a type of compound in Sanskrit grammar, a subtype of the tatpurusha type (nominative-tatpurushas). The relation of the first member to the last is appositional, attributive or adverbial; this entails that if the members are dissolved, they will stand in the same case (meaning that there... An Amredita is a type of compound in Sanskrit grammar. ... A Dvigu is a type of compound in Sanskrit grammar. ...

Syntax

Because of Sanskrit's complex declension system the word order is free (with tendency toward SOV). Word order, in linguistic typology, refers to the order in which words appear in sentences across different languages. ... In linguistic typology, Subject Object Verb (SOV) is the type of languages in which the subject, object, and verb of a sentence appear (usually) in that order. ...

Numerals

The numbers from one to ten are:

1. éka
2. dvá
3. trí
4. chatúr
5. pañca
6. ṣáṣ
7. saptá, sápta
8. aṣṭá, áṣṭa
9. náva
10. dáśa

The numbers one through four are declined. Éka is declined like a pronominal adjective, though the dual form does not occur. Dvá appears only in the dual. Trí and catúr are declined irregularly:

Influence

Modern-day India

Influence on vernaculars

Sanskrit's greatest influence, presumably, is that which it exerted on languages that grew from its vocabulary and grammatical base. Especially among élite circles in India, Sanskrit is prized as a storehouse of scripture and the language of prayers in Hinduism. Like Latin's influence on European languages and Classical Chinese's influence on East Asian languages, Sanskrit has influenced most Indian languages. While vernacular prayer is common, Sanskrit mantras are recited by millions of Hindus and most temple functions are conducted entirely in Sanskrit, often Vedic in form. Of modern day Indian languages, while Hindi and Urdu tend to be more heavily weighted with Arabic and Persian influence, Bengali and Marathi still retain a largely Sanskrit vocabulary base. The national anthem, Jana Gana Mana, is written in a literary form of Bengali (known as shuddha bhasha), so Sanskritized as to be recognizable, but still archaic to the modern ear. The national song of India Vande Mataram was originally a poem composed by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay and taken from his book called 'Anandamath', is in a similarly highly Sanskritized Bengali. Malayalam, Telugu and Kannada also combine a great deal of Sanskrit vocabulary. Hinduism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ... Latin is an ancient Indo-European language originally spoken in Latium, the region immediately surrounding Rome. ... In Tibet, many Buddhists carve mantras into rocks as a form of devotion. ... Arabic ( or just ) is the largest living member of the Semitic language family in terms of speakers. ... Persian (Local names: فارسی Fârsi or پارسی Pârsi)* is an Indo-European language spoken in Iran, Afghanistan and Tajikistan as well as by minorities in Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, India, Pakistan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Southern Russia, neighboring countries, and elsewhere. ... Marathi is one of the widely spoken languages of India, and has a long literary history. ... Jana Gana Mana (Thou Art the Ruler of the Minds of All People) is the national anthem of India. ... Vande Mataram (Hindi: वन्दे मातरम् Vande Mātaram, Bengali: বন্দে মাতরম Bônde Matorom) is the national song of India, distinct from the national anthem of India Jana Gana Mana. The song was composed by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee in a mixture of Bengali and Sanskrit. ... Anandamatha (Bangla: আনন্দমঠ) is a famous Bengali novel, written by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay and published in 1882. ... Malayalam ( ) is the language spoken predominantly in the state of Kerala, in southern India. ... Telugu (తెలుగు) is a Dravidian language in origin, primarily spoken in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, where it is the official language. ... Kannada (ಕನ್ನಡ ) is one of the major Dravidian languages of southern India and one of the oldest languages in India. ...

Revival attempts

Main article: Sanskrit revival

The 1991 Indian census reported 49,736 fluent speakers of Sanskrit. Since the 1990s, efforts to revive spoken Sanskrit have been increasing. Many organizations like the Samskrta Bharati are conducting Speak Sanskrit workshops to popularize the language. The CBSE (Central Board of Secondary Education) in India has made Sanskrit a third language (though it is an option for the school to adopt it or not, the other choice being the state's own official language) in the schools it governs. In such schools, learning Sanskrit is an option for grades 5 to 8 (Classes V to VIII). This is true of most schools, including but not limited to Christian missionary schools, affiliated to the ICSE board too, especially in those states where the official language is Hindi. Attempts at reviving the Sanskrit language have been undertaken in the Republic of India since its foundation in 1947 (when Sanskrit was declared one of 21 official languages). ... ... For the band, see 1990s (band). ... The Central Board of Secondary Education is a board of school education in India. ... The Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE) examination is an examination conducted by the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations for class 10, i. ... Hindi (Devanagari: हिन्दी or हिंदी; IPA: ), an Indo-European language spoken mainly in northern and central India, is one of the official languages of the Union government of India. ...

Sanskrit is spoken natively by the population in Mattur village in central Karnataka. Inhabitants of all castes learn Sanskrit starting in childhood and converse in the language. [2] Mattur ( also spelled mathur, matthur) is a small village near the city of shimoga, in karnataka, india. ... Karnātakā   (Kannada: ಕನಾ೯ಟಕ) (IPA: ) is one of the four southern states of India. ...

Symbolic Usage

In the Republic of India, Sanskrit phrases are widely used as mottoes for various educational and social organizations. The motto of the Republic is also in Sanskrit. A motto (from Italian) is a phrase or a short list of words meant formally to describe the general motivation or intention of an entity, social group, or organization. ...

Republic of India 

Satyameva Jayate

Nepal 

Janani Janmabhūmischa Svargādapi garīyasi "Mother and motherland are greater than heaven"

Goa 

Sarve Bhadrāni Paśyantu Mā Kaścid Dukkha Bhābhavet

Life Insurance Corporation of India 

Yogakshemam Vahāmyaham

Indian Navy 

Shanno Varuna

Indian Air Force 

Nābha Sparsham Dīptam

Indian Coast Guard 

Vayam Rakshāmaha

All India Radio 

Bahujana-hitāya bahujana-sukhāya

Many of the post – Independence educational institutions of national importance in India and Sri Lanka have Sanskrit mottoes. For a fuller list of such educational institutions, see List of educational institutions which have Sanskrit phrases as their mottoes. Satyameva Jayate (सत्यमेव जयते) is Indias national motto which is Sanskrit for truth alone triumphs. It is inscribed at the base of the national emblem, which is an adaptation of the Buddhist Lion Capital of Asoka at Sarnath, near Banaras in the north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. ... Goa   (Konkani: गोंय goṃya; Marathi: गोवा govā; Portuguese: Goa) is Indias smallest state in terms of area and the fourth smallest in terms of population (after Sikkim, Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh). ... The Life Insurance Corporation of India (LICI) is the largest life insurance company in India; it is fully owned by the Government of India. ... The Indian Navy is the naval branch of the armed forces of India. ... The Indian Air Force (भारतीय वायु सेना : Bharatiya Vayu Sena) is the air-arm of the Armed Forces of India and has the prime responsibility of conducting air-based warfare and securing Indian airspace. ... Indian Coast Guards coat of Arms. ... For the electronica band, see All India Radio (band). ... Following is a list of educational institutions that use Sanskrit phrases as their official mottoes. ...

Interactions with Eastern Asiatic languages

Sanskrit and related languages have also influenced their Sino-Tibetan-speaking neighbors to the north through the spread of Buddhist texts in translation.^[2] Buddhism was spread to China by Mahayanist missionaries mostly through translations of Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit and Classical Sanskrit texts, and many terms were transliterated directly and added to the Chinese vocabulary. (Although Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit is not Sanskrit, properly speaking, its vocabulary is substantially the same, both because of genetic relationship, and because of conscious imitation on the part of composers. Buddhist texts composed in Sanskrit proper were primarily found in philosophical schools like the Madhyamaka.) Buddhism is a dharmic, non-theistic religion and a philosophy. ... Relief image of the bodhisattva Kuan Yin from Mt. ... Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit (BHS) is a modern linguistic category applied to some of the Mahāyāna Buddhist Sutras, such as the Perfection of Wisdom. ... Madhyamaka (Also known as Åšunyavada) is a Buddhist Mahayāna tradition popularized by Nāgārjuna and AÅ›vaghoá¹£a. ...

The Thai language contains many loan words from Sanskrit. For example, in Thai, the Rāvana – the emperor of Sri Lanka is called 'Thoskonth' which is a derivation of his Sanskrit name 'Dashakanth' ("of ten necks"). The influence extends as far as the Philippines, e.g., Tagalog 'gurò' from 'Guru', or 'teacher', with the Hindu seafarers who traded there. Many Sanskrit loanswords are also found in traditional Malay and Modern Indonesian^[3], Old Javanese language (close to 50%^[4]) and Vietnamese. The Thai language (Thai: , transcription: phasa thai; IPA: ), is the national and official language of Thailand and the mother tongue of the Thai people, Thailands dominant ethnic group. ... A loanword (or a borrowing) is a word taken in by one language from another. ... Ravana, Indian Demon King of Lanka In Hindu mythology, Ravana (Devanagari script: रावन, sometimes transliterated Raavana) is the principal antagonist of the Hindu epic, the Ramayana. ... This article discusses the adherents of Hinduism. ... The Malay language, also known locally as bahasa Melayu, is an Austronesian language spoken by the Malay people who reside in the Malay Peninsula, southern Thailand, the Philippines, Singapore, central eastern Sumatra, the Riau islands, and parts of the coast of Borneo. ... Indonesian (Bahasa Indonesia) is the official language of Indonesia. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

Sanskrit's usage in modern times

All of India's scientific discoveries and developments are named in Sanskrit, as a counterpart of the western practice of naming scientific developments in Latin or Greek. The Indian guided missile program that was commenced in 1983 by DRDO has named the five missiles (ballistic and others) that it has developed as Prithvi, Agni, Akash, Nag and Trishul. India's first modern fighter aircraft is named Tejas. The Indian Space Research Organization ISRO has named all of its propulsion rockets after mythological characters found in Sanskrit literature. Exocet missile in flight A missile (see also pronunciation differences) is a projectile propelled as a weapon at a target. ... The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) is Indias premier research organisation for defence related matters. ... Prithvi (pṛthivī) is the Hindu earth-god. ... Chinese Wood (木) | Fire (火) Earth (土) | Metal (金) | Water (水) Japanese Earth (地) | Water (水) | Fire (火) | Air / Wind (風) | Void / Sky / Heaven (空) Hinduism and Buddhism Vayu / Pavan — Air / Wind Agni / Tejas — Fire Akasha — Aether Prithvi / Bhumi — Earth Ap / Jala — Water Agni is a Hindu and Vedic deity. ... Aakash is the name of Aakash Gupta a student of Indiana University Bloomington. ... Nãg is the Spirit, god, and/or god-like animal representative of power, inteligens, strength, speed, war, and death in the Reptianity religon, In the discription they give Nag is an amphibious theropod with powerful arms, armed hid, a cobra hud, wings, four tenicals, a dorsal fin, a shark... Trishul or trishul refers to: A trishul is a type of traditional trident in some parts of India, seen as part of traditional religion, but which can also be used as a lethal weapon. ... Look up aircraft in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Tejas has several meanings: Tejas was the name given by Spanish explorers to the Hasinai group of Caddo-speaking Native Americans. ... The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is Indias national space agency. ...

This practice is usually followed in scientific institutions in India also.

Recital of Sanskrit shlokas as background chorus in films, television advertisements and as slogans for corporate organizations has become a trend. Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... Film is a term that encompasses individual motion pictures, the field of film as an art form, and the motion picture industry. ...

Recently, Sanskrit has also made an appearance in Western pop music in recent years, in two recordings by Madonna. One, "Shanti/Ashtangi," from the 1998 album "Ray of Light," is the traditional Ashtanga yoga chant referenced above set to music. The second, "Cyber-raga," released in 2000 as a B-side to Madonna's single "Music," is a Sanskrit-language ode of devotion to a higher power and a wish for peace on earth. The climactic battle theme of The Matrix Revolutions features a choir singing Sanskrit prayer in the closing titles of the movie. Madonna Louise Ciccone Ritchie (born August 16, 1958), better known as simply Madonna, is a six-time Grammy[1] and one-time Golden Globe award winning American pop singer, songwriter, record and film producer, dancer, actress, author and fashion icon. ... The Matrix Revolutions is the third film in the Matrix trilogy. ...

See also: Sanskrit in the West

At the end of the introduction to the World as Will and Representation, Arthur Schopenhauer claimed that the rediscovery of the ancient Indian tradition would be one of the great events in the history of the West. ...

Computational linguistics

There have been suggestions to use Sanskrit as a metalanguage for knowledge representation in e.g. machine translation, and other areas of natural language processing because of its highly regular structure.^[5] This is due to Classical Sanskrit being a regularized, prescriptivist form abstracted from the much more irregular and richer Vedic Sanskrit. This levelling of the grammar of Classical Sanskrit occurred during the Brahmana phase, after the language had fallen out of popular use, arguably qualifying Classical Sanskrit as an early engineered language. In logic and linguistics, a metalanguage is a language used to make statements about other languages (object languages). ... Machine translation, sometimes referred to by the acronym MT, is a sub-field of computational linguistics that investigates the use of computer software to translate text or speech from one natural language to another. ... Natural language processing (NLP) is a subfield of artificial intelligence and linguistics. ... Vedic Sanskrit is the language of the Vedas, which are the earliest sacred texts of India,. The Vedas were first passed down orally and therefore have no known date. ... Engineered languages (sometimes abbreviated to engelangs), are constructed languages devised to test or prove some hypothesis about how languages work or might work. ...

See also

• Manipravalam
• Avestan
• Sinhala
• Akshara
• Devanagari
• Sanskrit literature
• Indian numerals
• Sanskrit numerals
• Vrddhi
• Grantha Script
• Indo-European languages
• [3] The Panini-Backus Form in Syntax of Formal Languages
• Languages of India
• List of national languages of India
• List of Indian languages by total speakers

While the Pattu school flourished among certain sections of the society, the literature of the elite was composed in the curious mixture of Sanskrit and Malayalam which is referred to as Manipravalam, mani meaning ruby (Malayalam) and pravalam meaning coral (Sanskrit). ... Yasna 28. ... Sinhala (also referred to as Sinhalese; earlier referred to as Singhalese) is the mother tongue of the Sinhalese, the largest ethnic group of Sri Lanka. ... Akshara is the Sanskrit term for what can be roughly translated as alphabet. ... Rigveda manuscript in Devanagari (early 19th century) Devanāgarī (देवनागरी — in English pronounced ) (ISCII – IS13194:1991) [1] is an abugida alphabet used to write several Indian languages, including Sanskrit, Hindi, Marathi, Kashmiri, Sindhi, Bihari, Bhili, Konkani, Bhojpuri and Nepali from Nepal. ... Literature in Sanskrit, one of Indias two oldest languages, and the basis of several modern languages in India. ... India has produced many numeral systems. ... The Sanskrit alphabetic numerals were created in about A.D. 510 by Āryabhaa. ... Vrddhi is a Sanskrit word meaning growth (cognate to English weird, Old English wyrd). ... Grantha (from Sanskrit ग्रन्थ grantha meaning book or manuscript) is an ancient script that was prevalent in South India. ... The Indo-European languages comprise a family of several hundred related languages and dialects [1], including most of the major languages of Europe, as well as many spoken in the Indian subcontinent (South Asia), the Iranian plateau (Southwest Asia), and Central Asia. ... Map of South Asia in native languages. ... India has a diverse list of spoken languages among different groups of people. ... Indian languages spoken by more than ten million people are given below. ...

References

Notes

1. ^ Sanskrit Grammar, William Dwight Whitney, 1889
2. ^ "Siddham; an essay on the history of Sanskrit studies in China and Japan", Robert van Gulik, Nagpur, International Academy of Indian Culture, 1956.
3. ^ See also this page or this for a list
4. ^ According to P.J. Zoetmulder in the introduction of his Old Javanese - English dictionary (1982); "Of the more than 25,500 entries in this dictionary, over 12,600, that is almost half of the total number, go back, directly or indirectly, to a Sanskrit original." (page IX)
5. ^ first suggested by Rick Briggs of the NASA Ames Research Center (Spring 1985). "Knowledge Representation in Sanskrit and Artificial Intelligence". AI Magazine 6 (1). Retrieved on 2006-09-26. 

Robert van Gulik (August 9, 1910 - September 24, 1967) was a highly educated orientalist, diplomat and writer, best known for the Judge Dee mysteries. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... September 26 is the 269th day of the year (270th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

Bibliography

Introductions

• The Sanskrit Language – T. Burrow – ISBN 81-208-1767-2
• Sanskrit Pronunciation – Bruce Cameron – ISBN 1-55700-021-2
• Teach Yourself Sanskrit – Prof. M. Coulson – ISBN 0-340-85990-3
• Devavāṇīpraveśikā: An Introduction to the Sanskrit Language – Robert P. Goldman – ISBN 0-944613-40-3
• A Higher Sanskrit Grammar – M. R. Kale – ISBN 81-208-0178-4
• A Sanskrit Grammar for Students – A. A. Macdonell – ISBN 81-246-0094-5
• The Sanskrit Language: An Introductory Grammar and Reader – Walter Harding Maurer – ISBN 0-7007-1382-4
• Conversational Sanskrit – Dr. Vagish Shastri – ISBN 81-85570-12-4
• भाषा विज्ञान (Bhasha Vigyan) — Bholanath Tiwari — [1955] 2004 — ISBN 81-225-0007-2
• A Practical Grammar Of The Sanskrit Language Arranged With Reference To The Classical Languages Of Europe For The Use Of English Students - Monier Monier-Williams (1846) [4]

Grammars

• W. D. Whitney, Sanskrit Grammar: Including both the Classical Language and the Older Dialects
• W. D. Whitney, The Roots, Verb-Forms and Primary Derivatives of the Sanskrit Language: (A Supplement to His Sanskrit Grammar)
• Wackernagel, Debrunner, Altindische Grammatik, Göttingen.
  • vol. I. phonology [5] Jacob Wackernagel (1896)
  • vol. II.1. introduction to morphology, nominal composition, Wackernagel (1905) [6]
  • vol. II.2. nominal suffixes, J. Wackernagel and Albert Debrunner (1954)
  • vol. III. nominal inflection, numerals, pronouns, Wackernagel and Debrunner (1930)
• B. Delbrück, Altindische Tempuslehre (1876) [7]

Dictionaries

• Otto Böhtlingk, Rudolph Roth, Petersburger Wörterbuch, 7 vols., 1855-75
• Otto Böhtlingk, Sanskrit Wörterbuch in kürzerer Fassung 1883–86 (1998 reprint, Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi)
• Monier Monier-Williams, Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1898, 1899)
• Manfred Mayrhofer, Kurzgefasstes etymologisches Wörterbuch des Altindischen, 1956-76
• Manfred Mayrhofer, Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Altindoarischen, 3 vols., 2742 pages, 2001, ISBN 3-8253-1477-4

Photo of Monier Monier-Williams by Lewis Carroll Sir Monier Monier-Williams (1819–1899) studied, documented and taught Asian languages in England, and compiled one of the most widely-used Sanskrit-English dictionaries. ... The Altindische Grammatik is the monumental Sanskrit grammar by Jacob Wackernagel (1853-1938), after his death continued by Albert Debrunner, published in Göttingen between 1896 and 1957. ... Jacob Wackernagel (also Jakob, 1853–1938) was an Indo-Europeanist and scholar of Sanskrit. ... Otto von Böhtlingk (May 30, 1815 - April 1, 1904) was a German Indologist and Sanskrit scholar, born in Saint Petersburg, Russia. ... Photo of Monier Monier-Williams by Lewis Carroll Sir Monier Monier-Williams (1819–1899) studied, documented and taught Asian languages in England, and compiled one of the most widely-used Sanskrit-English dictionaries. ... Manfred Mayrhofer (born 26 September 1926 in Linz, Austria) is an Indo-Europeanist specialized on Indo-Iranian languages. ...

External links

Sanskrit language edition of Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Wikibooks has more about this subject:

Sanskrit

• Sanskrit Siddham (Bonji) Numbers
• Sanskrit Documents Documents in ITX format of Upanishads, Stotras etc. and a metasite with links to translations, dictionaries, tutorials, tools and other Sanskrit resources.
• Samskrita Bharati
• American Sanskrit Institute
• Sanskrit Scriptures in streaming realplayer
• Sanskrit language at Ethnologue
• Sanskrit - The Language of Ancient India
• Transliterator from romanized to Unicode Sanskrit
• Sanskrit transliterator with font conversion to latin and other Indian Languages
• Sanskrit Alphabet in Devanagari, Gujarati, Thai scripts with an extensive list of Devanagari and Gujarati conjuncts
• Glossary of Sanskrit Terms
• Digital Sanskrit Buddhist Canon
• Clay Sanskrit Library publishes Sanskrit literature with facing-page text and translation. Also offers searchable corpus and numerous downloadable materials.
• GRETIL: Göttingen Register of Electronic Texts in Indian Languages a cumulative register of the numerous download sites for electronic texts in Indian languages.
• Sanskrit as a career option -- an article in The Statesman

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Dictionaries

• Monier-Williams Dictionary – Searchable
• Monier-Williams Dictionary – Printable
• Sanskrit Translation
• Online Hypertext Dictionary
• Sanskrit-French Dictionary by Gérard Huet

Primers

• Discover Sanskrit A concise study of the Sanskrit language
• Sanskrit Self Study An introduction to Sanskrit Language in 54 self study lessons by Chitrapur Math
• Harivenu Dâsa – An Introductory Course based on S'rîla Jîva Gosvâmî's Grammar a vaishnava version of Pânini's grammar: (pdf-file)
• A Sanskrit Tutor
• Sanskrit Audio Lessons from NCERT
• Samskrit Video Lessions
• Ancient Sanskrit Online from the University of Texas at Austin

Grammars

• An Analytical Cross Referenced Sanskrit Grammar By Lennart Warnemyr. Phonology, morphology and syntax, written in a semiformal style with full paradigms.

The Indo-Iranian language group constitutes the easternmost extant branch of the Indo-European family of languages. ... The Indo-Aryan languages form a subgroup of the Indo-Iranian languages, thus belonging to the Indo-European family of languages. ... The Sanskrit language ( , for short ) is an old Indo-Aryan language from the Indian Subcontinent, the classical literary language of the Hindus of India[1], a liturgical language of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism, and one of the 23 official languages of India. ... Vedic Sanskrit is the language of the Vedas, which are the earliest sacred texts of India,. The Vedas were first passed down orally and therefore have no known date. ... The Sanskrit language ( , for short ) is an old Indo-Aryan language from the Indian Subcontinent, the classical literary language of the Hindus of India[1], a liturgical language of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism, and one of the 23 official languages of India. ... Prakrit (also spelt Pracrit) (Sanskrit: , original, natural, artless, normal, ordinary, usual, i. ... For the town and district in Rajasthan, see Pali, Rajasthan For the Ganapati temple of pali and place in Maharastra, see Ballaleshwar Pali Pāli (Devanagari पालि) is a Middle Indo-Aryan dialect or prakrit. ... The Magadhi language (also known as मगही Magahi) is a language spoken by 11,362,000 people in India. ... Kingdom of Mitanni Mitanni (cuneiform KUR URUMi-it-ta-ni, also Mittani Mi-ta-an-ni, in Assyrian sources Hanigalbat, Khanigalbat cuneiform Ḫa-ni-gal-bat ) was a Hurrian kingdom in northern Mesopotamia from ca. ... Bengali or Bangla (বাংলা, IPA: ) is an Indo-Aryan language of the eastern Indian subcontinent, evolved from Prakrit, Pāli and Sanskrit. ... The dialects of the Bengali language are part of the Eastern Indo-Aryan language group of the Indo-European language family. ... Chittagonian is an Indo-European language spoken by the people of Chittagong in Bangladesh and the much of the southeast of the country. ... Sylheti (native name সিলটী Silôţi; Bengali name সিলেটী SileÅ£i) is the language of Sylhet proper, the north-eastern region of Bangladesh and southern districts of Assam around Silchar. ... HindustānÄ« (/ /; हिन्दुस्तानी, ہندوستانی), also known as HindÄ«-UrdÅ«, is a term used by linguists to describe several closely related idioms in the northern, central and northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent and the vernacular blend between its two standardized registers in the form of the official languages of HindÄ« and Urd... Hindi (Devanagari: हिन्दी or हिंदी; IPA: ), an Indo-European language spoken mainly in northern and central India, is one of the official languages of the Union government of India. ... (اردو), historically spelled Ordu, is an Indo-Aryan language of the Indo-Iranian branch, belonging to Indo-European family of languages. ... Angika is a language of the Ang or Anga region of India, a 58,000 km² area of Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal states. ... Assamese ( ) (IPA: ) is a language spoken in the state of Assam in northeast India. ... Bhojpuri is a popular regional language spoken in northeastern India in the western part of state of Bihar, the northwestern part of Jharkhand, and the Purvanchal region of Uttar Pradesh, as well as an adjoining area of southern plains of Nepal. ... The Bishnupriya Manipuri language (BPM) (ইমার ঠার/বিষ্ণুপ্রিয়া মণিপুরী) is an Indo-Aryan language. ... Dhivehi is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by about 300,000 people in the Republic of Maldives where it is the official language of the country and in the island of Minicoy (Maliku) in neighbouring India where it is known as Mahl. ... Dogri (डोगरी or ڈوگرى) is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by about two million people in India and Pakistan, chiefly in the Jammu region of Jammu and Kashmir, but also in northern Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, other parts of Kashmir, and elsewhere. ... is an Indo-Aryan language, part of the greater Indo-European language family. ... Konkani language test of Wikipedia at Wikimedia Incubator To read this article in the Konkani Language, click this line हें लेख कोंकणींत वाचुंक हांगा क्लिक कोरा. Hem lekh Konknnint vachunk hanga click kora. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Maithili (मैथिली MaithilÄ«) is of the family of Indo-Aryan languages, which are part of the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. ... Marathi (मराठी ) is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people of western India (Maharashtrians). ... Nepali (Khaskura) is an Indo-Aryan language spoken in Nepal, Bhutan, and some parts of India and Myanmar (Burma). ... This article is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ... Punjabi (also Panjabi; in GurmukhÄ«, in ShāhmukhÄ«, in transliteration) is the language of the Punjabi people and the Punjab regions of India and Pakistan. ... Romani (or Romany) is the language of the Roma and Sinti, peoples often referred to in English as Gypsies. The Indo-Aryan Romani language should not be confused with either Romanian (spoken by Romanians), or Romansh (spoken in parts of southeastern Switzerland), both of which are Romance languages. ... SindhÄ« (सिन्धी, سنڌي) is the language of the Sindh region of South Asia, which is now a province of Pakistan. ... Sinhala (also referred to as Sinhalese; earlier referred to as Singhalese) is the mother tongue of the Sinhalese, the largest ethnic group of Sri Lanka. ... Avestan is an Eastern Old Iranian language that was used to compose the sacred hymns and canon of the Zoroastrian Avesta. ... Proto-Indo-European Indo-European studies The Bactrian language is an extinct language which was spoken in the Central Asian region of Bactria, also called Tocharistan, in northern Afghanistan. ... The Pamir languages of the Pamir Mountains of Central Asia are Shughni, Sarikoli, Yazgulyam, Munji, Sanglechi-Ishkashimi, Wakhi, and Yidgha. ... Shughni is one of the Pamir languages of the Southeastern Iranian language group. ... The Sarikoli language (also Sarikul, Sariqul, Sariköli) is a member of the Pamir subgroup of the Southeastern Iranian languages spoken by Tajik people in China. ... The Wakhi Tajiki language is an Iranian language in the subbranch of Southeastern Iranian languages (see Pamir languages). ... Pashto (‎, IPA: also known as Pakhto, Pushto, Pukhto ‎, Pashtoe, Pashtu, Pushtu, Pushtoo, Pathan, or Afghan language) is an Iranian language of the Indo-Iranian language family spoken by Pashtuns living in southeastern Afghanistan and western Pakistan. ... The Scythian languages are the Northeastern Iranian dialects spoken by the Scythian (Sarmatian, Saka) tribes of the nomadic pastoralists in Scythia (Central Asia, Pontic-Caspian steppe) between the 8th century BC and the 5th century AD. Very little is known about them; they likely formed a dialect continuum, the western... This article is in need of improvement. ... The Sogdian language is a Middle Iranian language spoken in Sogdiana (Zarafshan River Valley) in the modern day republics of Uzbekistan and Tajikistan (chief cities: Samarkand, Panjikent, Ferghana). ... The Yaghnobi language [1] is a living Northeastern Iranian language (the only other living member being the Ossetic), and is spoken in high valley of the Yaghnob River in the Zarafshan area of Tajikistan by Yaghnobi people. ... The relevance of particular information in (or previously in) this article or section is disputed. ... Sketch of the first column of the Behistun Inscription Old Persian is the oldest attested Persid language. ... Pahlavi is a term that refers: (1) to a script used in Iran derived from the Aramaic script, and (2) more broadly, to Middle Persian, the Middle Iranian language written in this script. ... Persian (Local names: فارسی Fârsi or پارسی Pârsi)* is an Indo-European language spoken in Iran, Afghanistan and Tajikistan as well as by minorities in Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, India, Pakistan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Southern Russia, neighboring countries, and elsewhere. ... Persian (Local names: فارسی Fârsi or پارسی Pârsi)* is an Indo-European language spoken in Iran, Afghanistan and Tajikistan as well as by minorities in Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, India, Pakistan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Southern Russia, neighboring countries, and elsewhere. ... Dari (Persian: ‎ ) is the official name for the Persian language in Afghanistan, popularly and locally known as Farsi. ... Tajik or Tadjik (тоҷикӣ, تاجیکی, tojikí) is a descendant of the Persian language spoken in Central Asia. ... Bukhori, also known as Bukharic or Bukharan, is an Indo-Iranian language. ... Balochi (also Baluchi, Baloci or Baluci) is a Northwestern Iranian language. ... The main Zoroastrian fire temple in Yazd, Iran. ... Gileki or Giliki (Gilaki in Persian) is a northwestern Iranian language and is spoken in Irans Gilan province. ... The Kurdish language is a language spoken in the region called Kurdistan, including Kurdish populations in parts of Iran, Iraq, Syria and Turkey. ... Luri is a dialect of Persian language. ... Mazandarani or Tabari is an ancient Iranian language of the northwestern branch. ... Talysh (also Talishi, Taleshi or Talyshi) are an Iranian people who speak one of the Northwestern Iranian languages. ... The Tat language is an Indo-Iranian language spoken by the Tat ethnic group. ... Zazaki (Zazakî, Zazaish) or Dimli is a language closely related to the Persian and , spoken by the Zaza in eastern Anatolia Zazaland Zazaistan, (Turkey), an ethnic minority related to the Iranians. ... The Dardic languages form a subfamily of the Indo-Iranian languages. ... Dameli is a language spoken by less than 5,000 people in the remote valley of Damil-Nisar, in the Chitral District of the Northwest Frontier Province of Pakistan. ... Domaaki - also known as Dumaki or Doma - is a language spoken in parts of northern Pakistan. ... Gawar-Bati is known in Chitral as Aranduyiwar, because it is spoken in Village Arandu, which is the last village in the bottom of Chitral and is across the Kunar River from Berkot in Afghanistan. ... The Kalasha language is classified as a Dardic language in the Chitral Group. ... Kashmiri (कॉशुर, کٲشُر) is a northern Indo-Aryan language spoken primarily in the valley of Kashmir, a region situated mostly in the Indian Jammu and Kashmir state. ... Khowar is classified as a Dardic Language. ... Pashayi - also known as Pashai - is a language (or a group of languages) spoken in parts of southwestern Afghanistan. ... Palula, also known as Phalura and as Ashretiwar, is spoken by 7,000 to 15,000 people in Ashret and Biori Valleys, in the Chitral District of the Northwest Frontier Province of Pakistan. ... Tshina is a Dardic Language and is spoken by majority of people in Northern Areas of Pakistan. ... Shumashti - also known as Shumasht - is a language spoken in parts of western Afghanistan. ... Nuristani languages form a language sub-family of the Indo-Iranian languages localized between the Iranian languages and the Indo-Aryan languages Ashkun language Kamviri language Kati language (Bashgali) Prasuni language (Wasi-Weri) Tregami language Waigali language (Kalasha-Ala) Categories: Language stubs | Indo-Iranian languages ... Askunu is a language of Afghanistan spoken by the Askunu people in the region of Pech Valley around Wama, northwest of Asadabad in Kunar province. ... Kamkata-viri contains the two main dialects Kata-vari and Kamviri. ... Tregami or Trigami is an Indo-Aryan language spoken in the villages of Gambir and Katar in the Nurestan Province of Afghanistan. ... Vasi-vari is a language spoken by the Vasi in a few villages in the Prasun Valley in Afghanistan. ... Waigali or Waigeli is a language spoken in a few villages in the central part of the Kunar Province of Afghanistan. ...