Sant Bhasha

Sant Bhasha (Gurmukhi: ਸੰਤ-ਭਾਸ਼ਾ; romanized: Sant Bhāṣā; lit. 'language of saints') is a liturgical and scriptural language composed of vocabulary common to northern Indian languages, which was extensively used by saints and poets to compose religious verses.^[13][14] It can be understood by readers with a background in either Punjabi, Hindi-Urdu and its dialects.^{[citation needed]}

Sant Bhasha
ਸੰਤ-ਭਾਸ਼ਾ
Region	Northern Indian subcontinent
Era	Medieval-period to present-day
Language family	Indo-European Indo-Iranian Indo-Aryan Sant Bhasha
Early forms	Proto-Indo-European Proto-Indo-Iranian Proto-Indo-Aryan Vedic Sanskrit Classical Sanskrit debated Prakrit[a][1] debated Apabhraṃśa Old Punjabi[2][3][4][5][6][7]
Writing system	Gurmukhi (including Anandpur Lipi)
Sources	Punjabi (various dialects) regional Prakrits Apabhramsa Sanskrit Hindi languages (Braj, Kauravi, Bangru, Awadhi, Old Hindi, Deccani) Persian Arabic Bhojpuri Sindhi Marathi Marwari Bengali[8][9][10][11][12]
Language codes
ISO 639-3	–

Features

Sant Bhasha is notable for its high usage of inherited tadbhava vocabulary in-comparison to Sanskritic tatsama borrowings.^[15]

In Sikhism

Painting of Guru Arjan being fanned with a book before him. The Sikh gurus employed the Sant Bhasha language for their poetic compositions in the Sikh scriptures

Sant Bhasha is most prominently used in the central Sikh scripture, the Guru Granth Sahib.^{[16][17][18][19]} The languages used include Punjabi and its dialects, Lahnda, regional Prakrits, Apabhramsa, Sanskrit, Hindustani languages (Brajbhasha, Bangru, Awadhi, Old Hindi, Deccani), Bhojpuri, Sindhi, Marathi, Marwari, Bengali, Persian, and Arabic. While vocabulary from all of these languages is used, Sant Bhasha is only written in the Gurmukhi script.^[20][21]

See also

• Sadhukkari
• Sadhu Bhasha
• Khalsa bole, coded language of Nihang Sikhs
• Sikh scriptures
• Guru Granth Sahib
• Dasam Granth
• Sarbloh Granth
• Sikh art and culture
• History of Sikhism

Notes

1. Paishachi, Saurasheni, or Gandhari Prakrits have been proposed as the ancestor Middle Indo-Aryan language to Punjabi.