The sacred language of Hinduism and a scriptural language of Buddhism and Jainism: Vedic first, then the classical language of Indian theology.
Sanskrit is the sacred language of Hinduism: the Vedas were composed and preserved in it with phonetic precision for three thousand years. It is also a language of Mahayana Buddhism and of Jain scholarship, and the source of the technical vocabulary — dharma, karma, moksha — by which South Asian religions describe themselves.
Prayers & Creeds in Its Traditions
- Five Precepts (Pancasila) Buddhist — Five voluntary training rules — against killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, false speech, and intoxicants — undertaken by lay Buddhists.
- Gayatri Mantra Hindu — The most revered mantra of the Rig Veda, a meditation on the divine light that illumines the mind.
- Mahavakyas Hindu — The four "great sayings" of the Upanishads declaring the identity of the self (atman) and ultimate reality (Brahman).
- Metta Sutta Buddhist — The Buddha's discourse on loving-kindness, chanted as a blessing and a protection.
- Namokar Mantra Jain — Jainism's central mantra of homage to the five supreme beings, recited at the start of prayer and meditation.
- Refuge Prayer (Tisarana) Buddhist — The formula of going for refuge to the Buddha, the Dhamma, and the Sangha — the act that makes a person a Buddhist.
Glossary Terms from Sanskrit
- atman (आत्मन्) — Self.
- bhakti (भक्ति) — Devotion; participation; sharing.
- brahman (ब्रह्मन्) — The expansive; the great.
- dharma (धर्म) — That which is upheld; order; duty.
- karma (कर्म) — Action; deed.
- maya (माया) — Illusion; measure; magic.
- moksha (मोक्ष) — Release; liberation.
- samsara (संसार) — Wandering; the flowing-on.
Learning and Reference Resources
- Sanskrit texts and dictionaries (see the Libraries page) Free / open access
Related Across the Site
- atman Glossary Term — Self.
- dharma Glossary Term — That which is upheld; order; duty.
- karma Glossary Term — Action; deed.
- moksha Glossary Term — Release; liberation.
- samsara Glossary Term — Wandering; the flowing-on.
- Ardhamagadhi and the Prakrits Language — The language of the Jain canon and of early Indian scripture and drama, the spoken sister of Sanskrit.
- St Andrews Encyclopaedia of Theology Library — An open-access, multi-author theological reference with advanced articles on Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism.
- Hinduism World View — Hinduism gathers many traditions around one conviction: the soul is bound to rebirth by karma, and liberation comes when it realizes its oneness with the divine.
Provenance
Classification follows Ethnologue and standard Indo-Iranian linguistics; identifiers verified at build time.