Sanskrit and Hindi are languages which are spoken in India. Sanskrit dates back to the second millennium BCE. It is the classical language of Indian. It is used as the philosophical language in Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, and Jainism. It is also widely used as a literary language in India. Sanskrit is the language from which oth-er Indian languages originate.

Hindi on its part is the official language of India. It is used in music, films, and in political settings. Because of its application in these areas, Hindi language has sig-nificant impact on politics and social life in India.

Even though these two Indian languages share some similarities, they are different from each other. Here are some major differences between Sanskrit and Hindi.

Application
Sanskrit is mainly used in religious Hindu texts and by priests to conduct religious proceedings in temples. Aside from priests, Sanskrit is also used by royal families and the rich people. This elite class use the pure form of Sanskrit. Hindi on the oth-er hand is the language that is spoken by the ordinary people in the Union of India.

History
Sanskrit was composed in India to serve as a language of worship. It was meant to be used in composing music to entertain gods and goddesses and also to write texts in praise of the creator of the universe. The rest of the world began taking interest in Sanskrit language only after historian Max Muller discovered scientific and mathe-matical formulas and also research and analysis which had been published in books written in Sanskrit. This was in mid 18th century.

The oldest literature that is available in Sanskrit is believed to have been written around 2000 BC. Use of Sanskrit was encouraged by rulers in Indian dynasties like Sen, Kusha, and Maurya. The rulers acted as patrons to poets who composed poet-ry in Sanskrit language.

Hindi language was adopted as the administrive language of India in 1600 AD. By that time, it had not yet been recognised as a distinct language and was being treated as part of the Urdu language. Urdu language is a language which is widely spoken in Pakistan. It was finally recognised officially as a separate language following a pro-Hindi movement which sprung up in the first half of the 19th century.

Hindi language is mostly used by people living in areas such as Delhi, Uttar Khand, Uttah Pradesh and several other areas in Nothern India.

Grammar and structure
Sanskrit has a more complicated grammar and structure compared to Hindi. The structure of Sanskrit is akin to that of Greek and Latin. Sanskrit’s structure is also slightly comparable to that of German language. Hindi language on the other hand has less complex grammar and structure and comprises of simple words.

In addition, correct pronunciation is stressed on in Sanskrit language while this is not the case in Hindi language.

Use and effect on various fields
Sanskrit language has been widely used in areas like literature and science and it has tremendously impacted these areas. Three of some of the greatest epics in the world were composed in Sanskrit. These include Ramayana, Mahabharata, Abhigyan Shakuntalam. Some of the great research works which were published in the ancient times were written in Sanskrit.

Hindu language on its part dominates music. Most of the highly hailed classical mu-sic in India are composed in Hindi.

Number of speakers
Sanskrit is spoken by an average number 50,000 people in India while Hindi is es-timated to be spoken by about 250 million people in India and 9 million in Pakistan.