India’s heritage in languages and literature is one of the richest in the world. Through the many centuries of India’s history, many languages have grown and have influenced one another. Some of the languages that were spoken in India in ancient times and had a rich literature have become extinct; others remain important. For example, Sanskrit, though no longer a spoken language, is still a language of many religious rituals and of literature. However, the old languages have left their mark on the languages which we speak today and which began to develop towards the close of the ancient period. These languages have bequeathed a very rich literature to us.
Languages
Besides many small groups, there are two man groups of languages – the Indo-European or Indo-Aryan and the Dravidian. Most of the languages spoken in the northern parts of India belong to the former group and those of the southern parts to the latter. However, these two groups have not developed in isolation from each other.
The Harappan script has not yet been deciphered. We also do not know what language the Harappans spoke. Sanskrit was the language of the Indo-Aryans who came to India and belongs to the Indo-European group of languages. Sanskrit was gradually standardized and given a highly scientific grammar by Panini, the great grammarian, in about fourth century B.C. Sanskrit was the language of religion, philosophy and learning and was used by the upper castes, the brahmanas and the kshatriyas. The common people spoke a number of dialects which are called Prakrits. Buddha, as you already know, preached in the language of the people. Buddhist literature was written in Pali, one of the Prakrits. Ashoka had his rock and pillar edicts inscribed in the popular languages.
Among the Dravidian languages Tamil is the most ancient. The others developed during the first millennium of the Christian era.
Though Sanskrit again became the predominant language of learning in the period of the Guptas, the Prakrits continued to develop. The various spoken languages that developed are called Apabhramshas. These formed the basis of the modern Indian languages which developed in the various regions of India during the medieval period.
During the period of the Turks and the Mughals, two new languages –Arabic and Persian – entered India. Of these Persian is more important. It was the court language for hundreds of years and continued to be used widely right up to the nineteenth century. A rich tradition of Persian literature grew in India during this period and led to the growth of a new language – Urdu- based on the dialects of Hindi and drawing much of its vocabulary from Persian.
It became the common language of towns all over northern India and the Deccan and developed a very rich literature in poetry and prose.
Throughout the course of the development of Indian languages, various foreign languages have played a significant part and helped Indian languages to enrich their vocabulary. This happened as a result of close contacts with the cultures of many peoples outside India.
Thus the languages that we speak today have a long history behind them. There are eighteen languages which have been mentioned in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution of India. In addition to these, hundreds of other languages are spoken by people in various parts of the country. This variety of languages has made India a multilingual country. The languages spoken today have grown over a period of centuries and have influenced and enriched one another.
