Who are the ones STILL using India's presumably most ancient language, Sanskrit?

Question

I know many Indians learn and use Hindi, Tamil, Punjabi etc for daily communication. I've not heard of people still using Sanskrit for communication. All I know is that Buddhist scriptures and writing is based on Sanskrit. So, it seems quite logical to me that only Buddhist monks are the ones actively using Sanskrit and its writings for religious purposes. Are common people using Sanskrit? Why or why not?

Do Indians in India still learn and use Sanskrit? People from which part of India are still actively using Sanskrit?

Is it one of the languages on the brink of extinction? Why does it seem unpopular with Indians of India today?

Answer 1

We are! I heard that there are brahmans in South India who speak it regularly but I have not yet seen them. However, there are thousands of Hindus who study the Vedic scriptures. Most of such scriptures have been translated into Hindi which is the national Indian language, yet there remain many scholars (pandits) who study directly the sanskrit verses. They are also the basis of the translators.

Sanskrit, which is known as the mother language of all others, is also known by a growing number of foreigners.

I myself am not Inidan but I am residing in one of the main holy places in India-Mathura-Vrindavan (Nth India). This is the place of  the appearance and pastimes of Sri Krishna Bhagavan.

Here as in many other holy places, the study and public  recitals of Shrimad Bhagavatam is very important to everyone.

There are several Sanskrit schools here and many all around India.

The Gaudiya Vaisnavas, the followers of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu are especially propagating the Srimad Bhagavatam and other Vedic scriptures. I have met many of them who speak fluent Sanskrit and it is very beautiful to hear. I have only studied the basic grammar but in  my spiritual master's ashram we daily learn and remember new sanskrit verses from these scriptures.

They are written in Devanagari (the script of the devatas-gods).

Some of my American and Russian friends have become so good with sanskrit that they have translated books. They are mostly related to the Gaudiya Vaisnava Society including the International society for Krishna conciousness which is credited with having brought the Vedic culture to the western countries in 1966 and having first translated the sanskrit classics into all world languages. These tanslated scriptures such as Bhagavad Gita and Srimad Bhagavatam also keep the original Devanagari verses plus a transliteration in english letters and a word for word meaning plus translation and purport (commentary).

I'll give you one website which is for the propagation of bhakti yoga and the Vedic scriptures as they are translated. <www.purebhakti.com>

Answer 2

Presumably Sanskrit is extinct-- it is considered, as Latin for the Romance languages, to be the basis for many modern-day Indic languages.

Sanskrit has been something of a puzzle for me as a linguistics major. This "extinct literary language" has about 6,100 speakers who still claim it as a mother tongue.. Exactly where these speakers are located also appears to be a mystery.  You can check out Ethnologue, which is where I got these figures, if you're interested to find out what you can.

Answer 3

Sanskrit is kind of an ecclesiastical language, like Latin for the western world.  Like Latin, some languages owe it a linguistic heritage.  It was of some value for quite some time as a means of verbally handing down the Vedas from generation to generation.  However, it's not what we in the west would call a "vernacular" language, and like Latin, it is kind of dying outside the small circles in which it is used.

In modern India, a few written scripts are used for a number of languages; I believe the two main ones are Devanagari (what we in the west think of as traditional written Indian alphabet) and Malayam, although I am not sure about that second one, and perhaps someone who is native to India can correct me on that.  Of course, English is more or less the national language of India, as almost everyone there speaks it.

Anyway, hope this helps.

Answer 4

Archeology.

It is good for people interested in history, to be able to translate things. There are many things in Sanskrit yet to be unearthed , which have nothing to do with monks.

Answer 5

Yes , we (the Hindus) use Sanskrit ( but, not for day to day communication) . We  read the books written in  Sanskrit to perform the puja ( prayer) . I myself can read-write-speak  Sanskrit ...

Yes, we learn Sanskrit . In my state , Sanskrit is available as an optional language in high schools.  You can study Sanskrit as a language ( like Hindi,Eng or other regional languages) in the colleges and universities .