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What was the mode of communication among the people at the time of Ramayana and Mahabharata? Was it Sanskrit?

Did Krishna, Pandavas and Kauravas (who I think had origins near the state of Bihar, where Maithili, Magahi, Angika, Bhojpuri are popular) also spoke Sanskrit?

sbharti
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Some Student
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    Yes, they communicated in a pure form of Sanskrit. But as the time passed their language changed to much easier form and now its Hindi. – Pranav Garg Oct 30 '14 at 15:48
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    people at Mahabharata time speaks Prakrita language and the Governance language (Official) is Sanskrit. –  Sep 17 '15 at 07:49
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    @PranavGarg How could you say Hindi is easier? Just because majority of us don't know Sanskrit doesn't make it hard. It's because we communicate in hindi since birth that makes us think that it's easy. – Pinakin Jan 08 '16 at 15:16
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    Ramayana happened in 24th treta yuga while Mahabharata happened in 28th Dwapara that is approx difference of 4 Mahayuga Cycles, Even Map of earth changed, language is very different thing. http://hinduism.stackexchange.com/questions/7175/did-the-mahabharata-and-the-ramayana-happen-in-the-current-yuga-cycle-in-the-cur – Yogi Mar 01 '16 at 15:01
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    @Dr.VineetAggarwal Edits should be minimal and we shouldn't be removing content without checking with OP first. It is possible Krishna and Pandavas spoke a different language than the common people. – Say No To Censorship Feb 19 '18 at 23:00

3 Answers3

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Rishi Valmiki who wrote the Ramayan was a contemporary of Shri Rama. The fact that he wrote the entire epic in Sanskrit points to the fact that it was the spoken language in those days. Same logic applies to the Mahabharat as well which was composed by Rishi Ved-Vyas & narrates the life-stories of his grandsons the Kauravs and Pandavs.

Also, Pali and Prakrit, the derivatives of Sanskrit didn't come about till much later. The INTRODUCTON TO PRAKRIT by Woolner, Alfred C. (Alfred Cooper), 1878-1936 states that:

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So if Prakrit became the lingua franca close to the 3rd century BCE, we can safely assume that yes Sanskrit was the spoken language at the time of the epics the historical dates for which vary from 5th Millenium to 2nd Millenium BCE (5000 BC to 1500 BC) but not the 3rd century BCE (300 BC).

Dr. Vineet Aggarwal
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Sanskrit is not the language of the human beings but that of the Gods. For humans the language is Prakrit.

So, they should have been speaking in Prakrit only.

From this Agni Purana chapter:

Sanskrit is the language of the gods. The language of humans is Prakrita. Poetry can be either in Sanskrit or in Prakrita. There are three types of poetry. These are gadya (prose), padya (poetry) or mishra ( a mixture of the two), Genuine poetry is, however, only padya.

Rickross
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    In what category of writing do Sutras fall into? – Vishwanath N Feb 19 '18 at 13:53
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    You mean among Padya and Gadya? @VishwanathN – Rickross Feb 19 '18 at 14:28
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    yeah, is it among those 2 or a separate one by itself? – Vishwanath N Feb 19 '18 at 15:13
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    Not sure may be it's something separate.. @VishwanathN – Rickross Feb 19 '18 at 15:39
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    What's the original language in which Agni Purana was written? Sanskrit or Prakrit? Is it prose or poetry? Is it written by gods? If written by a human, it should've been in Prakrit! Sanskrit is still being used today by 'humans' - if Agni Purana is right, then all the Sanskrit scholars alive today are 'gods'. There are so many holes in this 'one language for gods and other for humans' theory. – Say No To Censorship Feb 19 '18 at 22:53
  • NO holes as such.. a literature can be both in Prakrit or in Sanskrit.. but that does not imply that Human's spoken language is Sanskrit.. for the Gods even the spoken language is Sanskrit.. but for Humans it is Prakrit.. This is what is meant...Did u read the linked page? Agni Purana is a scripture so it is in Sanskrit.. Also it was handed down from Gods only to finally to VedaVyasa who complied it.. This thing is mentioned again in some other Purana..@sv. – Rickross Feb 20 '18 at 05:58
  • The spoken language for me is Bengali for u it's probably Telegu, but we can verily right an article or a play or a research paper in English.. Similarly, although Prakrit is the spoken language for the humans, they verily can create prose or poetry or any other literature in Sanskrit. But for the Gods this spoken language itself is Sanskrit. So the people during those times must be speaking some version of Prakrit or the other. I think there're many versions of Prakrit. As regards whether Puranas are prose or poetry i am not that sure, for them to be poetry i think they should have Chandahs@s – Rickross Feb 20 '18 at 06:27
  • But i don't think that they have .. For example i know that the Yajus Mantras of the Vedas are prose.. but the Rik mantras are poetry.. they have Chandahs..@sv. – Rickross Feb 20 '18 at 06:27
  • I am not sure if it's literally meant Prākṛta, because as you know Prākṛta is an adjective too, not just the name of lang. Vaidika Saṁskṛta is the devabhāṣā, as is well known. According to me, Prākṛta here means Avaidika Saṁskṛta, which lacks the Vedic accents, etc. – Bingming Mar 10 '24 at 22:45
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There is a passage in Mahabharata Anusasana Parva Section XLI that states:

Then the lady endeavoured to answer him. Vipula, however restrained the words she intended to utter. The words, therefore, that actually escaped her lips (under the influence of Vipula) were, ‘What is the reason of thy coming hither?’ These words adorned with grammatical refinements, issued out of her mouth that was as beautiful as the moon.

Ganguli, the translator, remarks that ‘Ladies spoke in Prakrita and not in Sanskrit. The latter is refined, the former is unrefined. Hence Indra’s surprise at hearing Sanskrit words from the lady’s lips.'

Pradip Gangopadhyay
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    I thought Prakrit was a family of languages with Pali being one of it. Is this right? – Bharat Jan 03 '15 at 17:40
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    @Bharat: Yes, that's right. Though of course, my personal opinion is that in the early period, the distinction between Prakrit and Sanskrit was not that of different languages, but different registers of the same language -- like formal and colloquial speech. Of course over the course of time the various Prakrits evolved into the modern languages (Hindi, Gujarati, Bengali, etc). – ShreevatsaR May 03 '15 at 16:41