Did Common People Speak Sanskrit in Ram’s Time?

Lord Ram and Lord Krishna are heard to speak Sanskrit on TV shows and movies and even in devotional stories. Their books are written in Sanskrit too; hence, it is reasonable to assume that Sanskrit must have been their language of communication as well. However, there is one important point here to consider. While the language of a holy book may not be the language spoken by people in their day-to-day lives, it does not have to be like that always. Here is where it gets really interesting. There is no recorded proof of the language spoken by Ram and Krishna.

There is a close association between Sanskrit, Ram, and Krishna since the texts written about them have been written in Sanskrit. The Ramayana, Mahabharata, and Bhagavad Gita emerged as great Sanskrit literature pieces and obviously influenced the way in which these characters' speech was visualized by future generations. However, literary language does not necessarily mean the same as spoken language. There have been different languages developed in ancient India. Therefore, the Sanskrit in these literary pieces gives an understanding of the language that was used for their literary translation but does not prove the use of Sanskrit by Ram and Krishna in each and every talk.

It is a mistake to think that all the people in ancient India spoke a common language. The languages spoken included various dialects of Indo-Aryan as well as languages belonging to other language families. Prakrit refers to a variety of Middle Indo-Aryan languages and dialects, and not to just one language known as ‘Prakrit’. This is significant since even the linguistic environment at a king’s court, at a religious congregation, and in a village would be quite different from each other.

Lord Ram is considered the native of Ayodhya and Kosala, but there is no written record from that time that tells us exactly which language Lord Ram used. It is thus too bold to say “Ram surely used Sanskrit” or “Ram surely used Prakrit.” Linguistically, the northern part of India had their own forms of speech, and it is helpful to know about Prakrit of later times for our understanding. But if we try to link any particular form of Prakrit to the speech of Ram, it would be going beyond the facts.

The relation between Krishna and the places Mathura, Vrindavan, and Dwarka is well known. In connection with the north Indian languages, the significance of the Prakrit Shauraseni should be mentioned, since it was one of the major Middle Indo-Aryan languages which became associated with the region as a whole. However, it doesn't mean that Krishna was speaking it himself. Dates and evolution of these languages don't fit the chronological scheme of Krishna very well. Hence, it is much better to consider that regional speech dialects provide linguistic background rather than definitive evidence.

The likelihood of such royal characters being well-educated cannot preclude the possibility that they might know about Sanskrit or any other high-language forms. It is important that Sanskrit played a key role in religious learning and literary tradition. However, knowledge of Sanskrit is one thing and its use in every discussion is something else. A man could shift his language to formal or local dialect depending on the recipient. This feature can be observed in ancient Indian literary works, where various characters can be expressed via various linguistic levels. As for Ram and Krishna, however, there is not enough information to rebuild their talks exactly.

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