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Sanskrit language

 
Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: Sanskrit language
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Old Indo-Aryan language, the classical literary language of Hinduism. The most ancient form is Vedic, attested in its earliest form in parts of the Rig Veda, dating from the late 2nd millennium BC. Late Vedic Sanskrit was described and codified in a grammar by Panini, dating from about the 5th century BC. Literary activity in so-called Classical Sanskrit, in many respects similar to the language described by Panini, flourished c. 500 BC – c. AD 1000. Today Sanskrit (now usually written in the Devanagari script) serves as a learned language and lingua franca for Brahman scholars. It is an archaic Indo-European language with an elaborate system of nominal and verbal inflection.

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