One of the very early Indo-European languages, an ancient and sacred language spoken in India and employed in Hindu, Jain and Buddhist writings
The Hindu Vedic oral tradition and subsequent writings (the earliest, the Rigveda, dating back to the 2nd century BC) were in Sanskrit, the mantra and hymns still being chanted in the original form, which is perhaps why Sanskrit is known internationally as the language of the Ashram.
Though no longer generally spoken, much like Latin or Greek it remains used by the educated, in the study of humanities and science, in ceremonies and traditional customs such as the Pattachitra textile narratives.