ସଂସ୍କୃତ (/ˈsænskrɪt/, संस्कृत-, saṃskṛta-,[][] ସାଧାରଣତଃ संस्कृतम्, saṃskṛitam[]) ବିଶ୍ବର ଏକ ପୁରାତନ ତଥା ଭାରତରେ ପ୍ରଚଳିତ ଏକ ଶାସ୍ତ୍ରୀୟ ଭାଷା । ଏହା ଭାରୋପୀୟ ଭାଷା ପରିବାରର ଏକ ଆର୍ଯ୍ୟ ଭାଷା ।[][][] ଏହାର ପୂର୍ବବର୍ତ୍ତୀ ଭାଷାଗୁଡ଼ିକ ପ୍ରାକ୍ତନ ତାମ୍ର ଯୁଗରେ ଉତ୍ତର-ପଶ୍ଚିମରୁ ବିସ୍ତାର ଲାଭ କଲାପରେ ଏହା ଦକ୍ଷିଣ ଏସିଆରେ ବ୍ୟାପୀଥିଲା ।[][୧୦] ସଂସ୍କୃତ ହିନ୍ଦୁ ଧର୍ମର ପବିତ୍ର ଭାଷା ଓ ଶାସ୍ତ୍ରୀୟ ହିନ୍ଦୁ ଦର୍ଶନ ଶାସ୍ତ୍ରରେ, ବୌଦ୍ଧ ଏବଂ ଜୈନ ଧର୍ମର ଐତିହାସିକ ପାଠ୍ୟରେ ବ୍ୟବହାର ହୋଇଥିଲା । ଏହା ପ୍ରାଚୀନ ଏବଂ ମଧ୍ୟଯୁଗୀୟ ଦକ୍ଷିଣ ଏସିଆରେ ଏକ ସଂଯୋଗ ଭାଷା ଥିଲା ଏବଂ ପ୍ରାରମ୍ଭିକ ମଧ୍ୟଯୁଗୀୟ ଯୁଗରେ ଦକ୍ଷିଣ ପୂର୍ବ ଏସିଆ, ପୂର୍ବ ଏସିଆ ଏବଂ ମଧ୍ୟ ଏସିଆକୁ ହିନ୍ଦୁ ଏବଂ ବୌଦ୍ଧ ସଂସ୍କୃତି ବ୍ୟାପିବା ପରେ ଏହା ଧର୍ମ ଏବଂ ଉଚ୍ଚ ସଂସ୍କୃତିର ଭାଷା ଏବଂ ଏହି କ୍ଷେତ୍ରରେ ରାଜନୈତିକ ଉଚ୍ଚବର୍ଗଙ୍କ ଭାଷାରେ ପରିଣତ ହୋଇଥିଲା ।[୧୧][୧୨] ଫଳରେ ବିଶେଷ କରି ବିଭିନ୍ନ ଦକ୍ଷିଣ ଏସିଆ, ଦକ୍ଷିଣପୂର୍ବ ଏସିଆ ଏବଂ ପୂର୍ବ ଏସିଆର ଭାଷାଗୁଡ଼ିକର ଔପଚାରିକ ଏବଂ ପରିବର୍ତ୍ତିତ ଶବ୍ଦାବଳୀ ଉପରେ ସଂସ୍କୃତ ସ୍ଥାୟୀ ପ୍ରଭାବ ପକାଇଥିଲା ।[୧୩]

ସଂସ୍କୃତ
संस्कृतम् saṃskṛtam
ଅଞ୍ଚଳଦକ୍ଷିଣ ଏସିଆ (ପୁରାତନ ଓ ମଧ୍ୟଯୁଗ),
ଦକ୍ଷିଣପୂର୍ବ ଏସିଆର ଅଂଶ (ମଧ୍ୟଯୁଗ)
ମାତୃଭାଷୀ
ପ୍ରକାଶନରେ ଅସୁବିଧା: ଅଜଣା ଚିହ୍ନ "୨" ।
କୌଣସି ମୂଳ ଲିପି ନାହିଁ[]
ଦେବନାଗରୀରେ ସାଧାରଣତଃ ଲେଖାଯାଏ, ବିଭିନ୍ନ ବ୍ରାହ୍ମୀ-ଆଧାରିତ ଲିପି, ଏବଂ ଲାଟିନ ଲିପି
ଆଧିକାରିକ ସ୍ଥିତି
କେଉଁଠି ରାଜଭାଷା:
 ଭାରତ ଭାରତର ରାଜ୍ୟଗୁଡ଼ିକ ଉତ୍ତରାଖଣ୍ଡହିମାଚଳ ପ୍ରଦେଶ
ଭାରତର ୨୨ ଗୋଟି ଅନୁସୂଚିତ ଭାଷାଗୁଡ଼ିକ ଭିତରୁ ଏକ
ଭାଷା କୋଡ୍
ISO ୬୩୯-୧sa
ISO ୬୩୯-୨san
ISO ୬୩୯-୩san

ସଂସ୍କୃତ ସାଧାରଣତଃ ଅନେକ ପୁରୁଣା ଇଣ୍ଡୋ-ଆର୍ଯ୍ୟ ଭାଷା ପ୍ରକାରକୁ ସୂଚାଏ ।[୧୪][୧୫] ଏହାର ସବୁଠାରୁ ପୁରୁଣା ହେଉଛି ଋକବେଦରେ ମିଳୁଥିବା ବୈଦିକ ସଂସ୍କୃତ । ତାହା ଖ୍ରୀ.ପୂ. ୧୫୦୦ ମସିହାରୁ ଖ୍ରୀ.ପୂ. ୧୨୦୦ ମସିହା ମଧ୍ୟରେ ରଚନା କରାଯାଇଥିବା ୧,୦୨୮ଟି ଶ୍ଳୋକକୁ ନେଇ ଗଠିତ ଓ ଏସବୁକୁ ବର୍ତ୍ତମାନର ଉତ୍ତର ପାକିସ୍ତାନ ଓ ଆଫଗାନିସ୍ତାନରୁ ଉତ୍ତର ଭାରତର ଆଡ଼କୁ ପୂର୍ବମୁଖୀ ହୋଇ ପ୍ରବାସ କରୁଥିବା ଇଣ୍ଡୋ-ଆର୍ଯ୍ୟ ଜନଜାତିମାନେ ରଚନା କରିଥିଲେ ।[୧୬][୧୭] ବୈଦିକ ସଂସ୍କୃତ ଭାରତୀୟ ଉପମହାଦେଶର ପୂର୍ବବର୍ତ୍ତୀ ପ୍ରାଚୀନ ଭାଷାମାନଙ୍କ ସହ ଆଦାନ ପ୍ରଦାନ କରିବା ବେଳେ ପ୍ରଥମ କରି ଭେଟିଥିବା ଗଛ ଏବଂ ପଶୁମାନଙ୍କ ନାମ ମଧ୍ୟ ଆହରଣ କରିଥିଲା । ଏହା ବ୍ୟତୀତ ପ୍ରାଚୀନ ଦ୍ରାବିଡ଼ ଭାଷାଗୋଷ୍ଠୀ ସଂସ୍କୃତର ଧ୍ୱନିବିଜ୍ଞାନ ଏବଂ ଗଠନକୁ ପ୍ରଭାବିତ କରିଥିଲେ ।[୧୮] "ସଂସ୍କୃତ" ମଧ୍ୟ ଅତି ସାଧାରଣ ଭାବେ ଶାସ୍ତ୍ରୀୟ ସଂସ୍କୃତକୁ ସୂଚାଏ । ଶାସ୍ତ୍ରୀୟ ସଂସ୍କୃତ ଏକ ୧ମ ମସିହାର ମଧ୍ୟଭାଗରେ ଉତ୍ପନ୍ନ ହୋଇଥିବା ଏବଂ ପ୍ରାଚୀନ ବ୍ୟାକରଣଗୁଡ଼ିକ ମଧ୍ୟରେ ସବୁଠାରୁ ବ୍ୟାପକ ଭାବେ[୧୯] ପାଣିନୀଙ୍କ ଅଷ୍ଟାଧ୍ୟାୟୀଦ୍ୱାରା ("ଆଠଟି ଅଧ୍ୟାୟ") ମାନକୀକରଣ ହୋଇଥିଲା ।[୨୦] କାଳିଦାସ ସଂସ୍କୃତ ଭାଷାର ସର୍ବଶ୍ରେଷ୍ଠ ନାଟ୍ୟକାର ଓ ସେ ଶାସ୍ତ୍ରୀୟ ସଂସ୍କୃତରେ ଲେଖୁଥିଲେ । ଆଧୁନିକ ଗଣିତର ମୂଳଦୁଆ ପ୍ରଥମେ ଶାସ୍ତ୍ରୀୟ ସଂସ୍କୃତରେ ବର୍ଣ୍ଣନା କରାଯାଇଥିଲା ।[୨୧][୨୨] ତେବେ ସଂସ୍କୃତରେ ରଚିତ ଦୁଇ ପ୍ରମୁଖ ମହାକାବ୍ୟ ମହାଭାରତ ଏବଂ ରାମୟଣ ବିଭିନ୍ନ ମୌଖିକ କାହାଣୀ ବର୍ଣ୍ଣନା ଶୈଳୀରେ ରଚିତ ଓ ଏହି ସଂସ୍କୃତକୁ ମହାକାବ୍ୟ ସଂସ୍କୃତ କୁହାଯାଉଥିଲା । ଏହା ଉତ୍ତର ଭାରତରେ ଖ୍ରୀ.ପୂ. ୪୦୦ରୁ ଖ୍ରୀ.ପୂ. ୩୦୦ ମଧ୍ୟରେ ବ୍ୟବହୃତ ହୋଇଥିଲା ଏବଂ ଶାସ୍ତ୍ରୀୟ ସଂସ୍କୃତର ପ୍ରାୟ ସମସାମୟିକ ଥିଲା ।[୨୩] ଏହା ପର ଶତାବ୍ଦୀ ମଧ୍ୟରେ ସଂସ୍କୃତ ପରମ୍ପରାବଦ୍ଧ ହୋଇ ପ୍ରଥମ ଭାଷା ଭାବରେ ଶିଖାଯିବା ବନ୍ଦ ହେଲା ଏବଂ ଶେଷରେ ଏକ ଜୀବନ୍ତ ଭାଷା ଭାବରେ ବିକଶିତ ହେବା ବନ୍ଦ ହେଲା ।[୨୪]

  1. "Comparative speaker's strength of scheduled languages − 1971, 1981, 1991 and 2001". Census of India, 2001. Office of the Registrar and Census Commissioner, India. Retrieved 31 December 2009.
  2. Banerji, Suresh (1971). A companion to Sanskrit literature: spanning a period of over three thousand years, containing brief accounts of authors, works, characters, technical terms, geographical names, myths, legends, and twelve appendices. p. 672. ISBN 9788120800632.[permanent dead link]
  3. Cardona, George; Luraghi, Silvia (2018). "Sanskrit". In Bernard Comrie (ed.). The World's Major Languages. Taylor & Francis. pp. 497–. ISBN 978-1-317-29049-0. Quote:Sanskrit (samskrita- 'adorned, purified') ... It is in the Ramayana that the term saṃskṛta- is encountered probably for the first time with reference to the language.
  4. Wright, J. C. (1990), "Reviewed Works: Pāṇini: His Work and Its Traditions. Vol. I. Background and Introduction by George Cardona; Grammaire sanskrite pâninéenne by Pierre-Sylvain Filliozat", Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, Cambridge University Press, 53 (1): 152–154 Quote: The first reference to "Sanskrit" in the context of language is in the Ramayana, Book 5 (Sundarkanda), Canto 28, Verse 17: अहं ह्यतितनुश्चैव वनरश्च विशेषतः |वाचंचोदाहरिष्यामि मानुषीमिह संस्कृताम् || १७|| Hanuman says, "First, my body is very subtle, second I am a monkey. Especially as a monkey, I will use here the human-appropriate Sanskrit speech/language."
  5. Apte, Vaman Shivaram (1957). Revised and enlarged edition of Prin. V. S. Apte's The practical Sanskrit-English dictionary. Poona: Prasad Prakashan. pp. 1596–. Quote: from संस्कृत saṃskṛitə past passive participle: Made perfect, refined, polished, cultivated. -तः -tah A word formed regularly according to the rules of grammar, a regular derivative. -तम् -tam Refined or highly polished speech, the Sanskṛit language; संस्कृतं नाम दैवी वागन्वाख्याता महर्षिभिः ("named sanskritam the divine language elaborated by the sages" from Kāvyadarśa.1. 33. of Daṇḍin"
  6. ଆଧାର ଭୁଲ: ଅଚଳ <ref> ଚିହ୍ନ; Woodard12 ନାମରେ ଥିବା ଆଧାର ଭିତରେ କିଛି ଲେଖା ନାହିଁ ।
  7. Brigitte L. M. Bauer (2017). Nominal Apposition in Indo-European: Its Forms and Functions, and its Evolution in Latin-Romance. De Gruyter. pp. 90–92, for detailed comparison of the languages, see pages 90–126. ISBN 978-3-11-046175-6.
  8. Anna Giacalone Ramat; Paolo Ramat (2015). The Indo-European Languages. Routledge. pp. 26–31. ISBN 978-1-134-92187-4.
  9. Dyson, Tim (2018), A Population History of India: From the First Modern People to the Present Day, Oxford University Press, pp. 14–15, ISBN 978-0-19-882905-8 Quote: "Although the collapse of the Indus valley civilization is no longer believed to have been due to an ‘Aryan invasion’ it is widely thought that, at roughly the same time, or perhaps a few centuries later, new Indo-Aryan-speaking people and influences began to enter the subcontinent from the north-west. Detailed evidence is lacking. Nevertheless, a predecessor of the language that would eventually be called Sanskrit was probably introduced into the north-west sometime between 3,900 and 3,000 years ago. This language was related to one then spoken in eastern Iran; and both of these languages belonged to the Indo-European language family."
  10. Pinkney, Andrea Marion (2014). "Revealing the Vedas in 'Hinduism': foundations and issues of interpretation of religions in South Asian Hindu traditions". In Bryan S. Turner; Oscar Salemink (eds.). Routledge Handbook of Religions in Asia. Routledge. pp. 38–. ISBN 978-1-317-63646-5. Quote: "According to Asko Parpola, the Proto-Indo-Aryan civilization was influenced by two external waves of migrations. The first group originated from the southern Urals (c. 2100 BCE) and mixed with the peoples of the Bactria-Margiana Archaeological Complex (BMAC); this group then proceeded to South Asia, arriving around 1900 BCE. The second wave arrived in northern South Asia around 1750 BCE and mixed with the formerly arrived group, producing the Mitanni Aryans (c. 1500 BCE), a precursor to the peoples of the Ṛgveda. Michael Witzel has assigned an approximate chronology to the strata of Vedic languages, arguing that the language of the Ṛgveda changed through the beginning of the Iron Age in South Asia, which started in the Northwest (Punjab) around 1000 BCE. On the basis of comparative philological evidence, Witzel has suggested a five-stage periodization of Vedic civilization, beginning with the Ṛgveda. On the basis of internal evidence, the Ṛgveda is dated as a late Bronze Age text composed by pastoral migrants with limited settlements, probably between 1350 and 1150 BCE in the Punjab region."
  11. Michael C. Howard (2012). Transnationalism in Ancient and Medieval Societies: The Role of Cross-Border Trade and Travel. McFarland. p. 21. ISBN 978-0-7864-9033-2., Quote: "Sanskrit was another important lingua franca in the ancient world that was widely used in South Asia and in the context of Hindu and Buddhist religions in neighboring areas as well. (...) The spread of South Asian cultural influence to Southeast Asia, Central Asia and East Asia meant that Sanskrit was also used in these areas, especially in a religious context and political elites."
  12. Pollock, Sheldon (2006), The Language of the Gods in the World of Men: Sanskrit, Culture, and Power in Premodern India, University of California Press, p. 14, ISBN 978-0-520-24500-6, Quote: "Once Sanskrit emerged from the sacerdotal environment ... it became the sole medium by which ruling elites expressed their power ... Sanskrit probably never functioned as an everyday medium of communication anywhere in the cosmopolis—not in South Asia itself, let alone Southeast Asia ... The work Sanskrit did do ... was directed above all toward articulating a form of ... politics ... as celebration of aesthetic power."
  13. Burrow (1973), pp. 62–64.
  14. Cardona, George; Luraghi, Silvia (2018). "Sanskrit". In Bernard Comrie (ed.). The World's Major Languages. Taylor & Francis. pp. 497–. ISBN 978-1-317-29049-0. Quote:Sanskrit (samskrita- 'adorned, purified') refers to several varieties of Old Indo-Aryan whose most archaic forms are found in Vedic texts: the Rigveda (Ṛgveda), Yajurveda, Sāmveda, Atharvaveda, with various branches.
  15. ଆଧାର ଭୁଲ: ଅଚଳ <ref> ଚିହ୍ନ; Woolner1986p3 ନାମରେ ଥିବା ଆଧାର ଭିତରେ କିଛି ଲେଖା ନାହିଁ ।
  16. Lowe, John J. (2015). Participles in Rigvedic Sanskrit: The Syntax and Semantics of Adjectival Verb Forms. Oxford University Press. pp. 1–2. ISBN 978-0-19-100505-3. Quote: It consists of 1,028 hymns (suktas), highly crafted poetic compositions originally intended for recital during rituals and for the invocation of and communication with the Indo-Aryan gods. Modern scholarly opinion largely agrees that these hymns were composed between around 1500 BCE and 1200 BCE, during the eastward migration of the Indo-Aryan tribes from the mountains of what is today northern Afghanistan across the Punjab into north India.
  17. Witzel, Michael (2006). "Early Loan Words in Western Central Asia: Indicators of Substrate Populations, Migrations, and Trade Relations". In Victor H. Mair (ed.). Contact And Exchange in the Ancient World. University of Hawaii Press. pp. 158–190, 160. ISBN 978-0-8248-2884-4. Quote: The Vedas were composed (roughly between 1500-1200 and 500 BCE) in parts of present-day Afghanistan, northern Pakistan, and northern India. The oldest text at our disposal is the Rgveda (RV); it is composed in archaic Indo-Aryan (Vedic Sanskrit).
  18. Shulman, David (2016). Tamil. Harvard University Press. pp. 17–19. ISBN 978-0-674-97465-4. (p. 17) Similarly, we find a large number of other items relating to flora and fauna, grains, pulses, and spices—that is, words that we might expect to have made their way into Sanskrit from the linguistic environment of prehistoric or early-historic India. ... (p 18) Dravidian certainly influenced Sanskrit phonology and syntax from early on ... (p 19) Vedic Sanskrit was in contact, from very ancient times, with speakers of Dravidian languages, and that the two language families profoundly influenced one another
  19. Evans, Nicholas (2009). Dying Words: Endangered Languages and What They Have to Tell Us. John Wiley & Sons. pp. 27–. ISBN 978-0-631-23305-3. Quote: All these achievements are dwarfed, though, by the Sanskrit linguistic tradition culminating in the famous grammar by Panini, known as the Astadhyayi. The elegance and comprehensiveness of its architecture have yet to be surpassed by any grammar of any language, and its ingenious methods of stratifying out use and mention, language and metalanguage, and theorem and metatheorem predate key discoveries in western philosophy by millennia.
  20. Evans, Nicholas (2009). Dying Words: Endangered Languages and What They Have to Tell Us. John Wiley & Sons. pp. 27–. ISBN 978-0-631-23305-3.
  21. Evans, Nicholas (2009). Dying Words: Endangered Languages and What They Have to Tell Us. John Wiley & Sons. pp. 27–. ISBN 978-0-631-23305-3. Quote: The Sanskrit grammatical tradition is also the ultimate source of the notion of zero,’ which, once adopted in the Arabic system of numerals, allowed us to transcend the cumbersome notations of Roman arithmetic.
  22. Glenn Van Brummelen (2014), "Arithmetic", in Thomas F. Glick; Steven Livesey; Faith Wallis (eds.), Medieval Science, Technology, and Medicine: An Encyclopedia, Routledge, pp. 46–48, ISBN 978-1-135-45932-1 Quote: "The story of the growth of arithmetic from the ancient inheritance to the wealth passed on to the Renaissance is dramatic and passes through several cultures. The most groundbreaking achievement was the evolution of a positional number system, in which the position of a digit within a number determines its value according to powers (usually) of ten (e.g., in 3,285, the "2" refers to hundreds). Its extension to include decimal fractions and the procedures that were made possible by its adoption transformed the abilities of all who calculated, with an effect comparable to the modern invention of the electronic computer. Roughly speaking, this began in India, was transmitted to Islam, and then to the Latin West."
  23. Lowe, John J. (2017). Transitive Nouns and Adjectives: Evidence from Early Indo-Aryan. Oxford University Press. p. 58. ISBN 978-0-19-879357-1. Quote: "The term ‘Epic Sanskrit’ refers to the language of the two great Sanskrit epics, the Mahabharata and the Ramayana. ... It is likely, therefore, that the epic-like elements found in Vedic sources and the two epics that we have are not directly related, but that both drew on the same source, an oral tradition of storytelling that existed before, throughout, and after the Vedic period.
  24. Lowe, John J. (2017). Transitive Nouns and Adjectives: Evidence from Early Indo-Aryan. Oxford University Press. p. 53. ISBN 978-0-19-879357-1. Quote: "The desire to preserve understanding and knowledge of Sanskrit in the face of ongoing linguistic change drove the development of an indigenous grammatical tradition, which culminated in the composition of the Astadhyayi, attributed to the grammarian Panini, no later than the early fourth century BCE. In subsequent centuries, Sanskrit ceased to be learnt as a native language, and eventually ceased to develop as living languages do, becoming increasingly fixed according to the prescriptions of the grammatical tradition."