The Sanskrit language is a classical language of India, a liturgical language of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism, and one of the 22 official languages of India. Sanskrit is also known as "The Mother of all Languages", although it, like Latin, Greek and Persian, actually descends from Proto-Indo-European (PIE). It has a position in India and Southeast Asia similar to that of Latin and Greek in Europe, and is a central part of Hindu tradition and Indian Philosophy.

Its pre-Classical form of Vedic Sanskrit, the liturgical language of the historical Vedic religion, is one of the earliest attested members of the Indo-European language family, with the language of the Rigveda being the oldest and most archaic stage preserved. Today, Sanskrit is mostly used as a ceremonial language in Hindu religious rituals in the forms of hymns and mantras.

The corpus of Sanskrit literature encompasses a rich tradition of poetry and literature, as well as scientific, technical, philosophical and religious texts. The scope of this article is the Classical Sanskrit language as laid out in the grammar of Panini, roughly around 500 BC. Most Sanskrit texts available today were transmitted orally for several centuries before they were committed to writing.