Role of Sanskrit
Sanskrit is the mother of many Indian languages. The Vedas, Upanishads, Puranas and Dharmasutras are all written in Sanskrit.
Sanskrit is the most ancient language of India. It is one of the twenty-two languages listed in the Indian Constitution. The literature in Sanskrit is vast, beginning with the most ancient thought embodied in the Rig Veda, the oldest literary heritage of mankind, and the Zend Avesta.
The great grammarian Panini, analysed Sanskrit and its word formation in his unrivalled descriptive grammar Ashtadhyayi.
The Buddhist Sanskrit literature includes the rich literature of the Mahayana school and the Hinayana school also. The most important work of the Hinayana school is the Mahavastu which is a storehouse of stories. The Lalitavistara is the most sacred Mahayana text which supplied literary material for the Buddhacarita of Asvaghosa.
Great literacy works, which marked the golden era of Indian literature include Abhijanam Shakuntalam and Meghdoot by Kalidasa, Mricchakatika by Shudraka, Swapna Vasavadattam by Bhasa, and Ratnavali by Sri Harsha. Some other famous works are Chanakya’s Arthashastra and Vatsyayana’s Kamasutra.