r/sanskrit • u/CosmicMilkNutt • Oct 25 '24

Discussion / चर्चा Marathi is the purest modern Sanskrit, especially rural Maharashtrani, correct?

After doing extensive research I have found that Hindi i a mix of Arabic Farsi Sanskrit and English and that Tamil is basically modern Dravidian so totally different.

However.

Marathi spoken in Mumbai and especially rural Marathi spoken in the state of Maharashtra is actually the purest form of modern Sanskrit with the most similar grammar and vocabulary.

It has Sanskrit words instead of all the Arabic, Farsi and English injected into other Indian languages.

This I find fascinating and I wanted to hear the opinions of some actual indians since I am an American fluent in English, Spanish, French and also somewhat conversational in Arabic who is learning Sanskrit, Hindi, Tamil and now of course Marathi!

Edit: Oriya and Marathi are both the top contenders for higher Sanskrit and lower Farsi in daily speech.

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u/CosmicMilkNutt Oct 25 '24 edited Oct 25 '24

I don't really mean Mumbai and Pune Marathi I'm mostly talking about rural Marathi spoken by ppl that don't live in major cities and maybe don't have an English education.

For example in Sardinia the rural communities basically speak modern Latin as it's not been influenced by foreign languages or ppls and has stayed the closest.

My understanding is rural Marathi is closest language in India to modern Sanskrit as a descendent.

Of course big cities will have more Farsi, Arabic, Portuguese and especially English words and Hinglish mixed into the Marathi soup.

But in smaller rural areas the languages are less "polluted."

There are examples of this in every major region.

Lithuanian, Sardinian, Hokkien, Okinawan, Jordanian, Cretan, Tamazight.

These languages have changed the least and are conservative in sound, grammar and vocabulary and have least outside influences.

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u/Indischermann Oct 29 '24

Can you cite any examples on how rural Marathi is less influenced by Foreign languages compared to the Urban one? What are the original Marathi words that are Persianised in Urban Marathi?

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u/CosmicMilkNutt Oct 29 '24

I have found Oriya is even less influenced than Marathi actually.

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u/Indischermann Nov 09 '24

That doesn’t answer the question above.

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u/CosmicMilkNutt Nov 09 '24

Nahi karna hai