SANSKRIT LANGUAGE

Sanskrit is one of the oldest known languages over thousands of years. It is also called "Dev Vani" (the language of gods) as it is said that Brahma introduced this language to the Sages of celestial bodies. It is believed that the Sanskrit language came from Indo-European language family of Indian subcontinent. It was only in the 18^th century, a similarity between Sanskrit, Latin and Greek was found which made the think tanks of the world to study and discover the relationship of all Indo-European languages. Enough evidence is yet to be gathered to accept Indian origin of Sanskrit language.

Vedic Sanskrit was the earliest form of Sanskrit language approximately around 1500-200 B.C.), when "knowledge" was handed down through the generations orally. In this period there was composition of hymns, poems, puranas of which some form sacred scripts of Hindus. The oldest known text in Sanskrit, the Rigveda, a collection of over a thousand Hindu hymns, the Sama-veda is the veda of chants, the Yajur-veda the veda of prayers; finally, the Atharva-veda contains the lore of the Atharvans.

Approximately between 500 B.C. - 1000 A.D, there came up Classical Sanskrit, based on the old Vedic speech, the period after which Panini composed his grammar of Sanskrit. Ramayana and Mahabharata were the two great epics of this period. Classical Sanskrit also includes works of philosophy, astronomy, science, medicine and law.