The Indo-Aryan languages (or sometimes Indic languages) are a branch of the Indo-Iranian languages in the Indo-European language family that are spoken natively by the Indo-Aryan peoples.As of the early 21st century, they have more than 800 million speakers, primarily concentrated in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Maldives. Moreover, apart …

The Indo-Iranian languages (also Indo-Iranic languages or Aryan languages) constitute the largest and southeasternmost extant branch of the Indo-European language family (with over 400 languages), predominantly spoken in the geographical subregion of Southern Asia.They have more than 1.5 billion speakers, stretching from Europe (), Mesopotamia (Kurdish languages, …

The Prakrits (/ ˈ p r ɑː k r ɪ t /; Sanskrit: prākṛta; Shauraseni: ????????????????, pāuda; Jain Prakrit: pāua) are a group of vernacular Middle Indo-Aryan languages that were used in the Indian subcontinent from around the 3rd century BCE to the 8th century CE. The term Prakrit is usually applied to the middle period of Middle Indo-Aryan languages, excluding earlier inscriptions and ...

Tamil-Brahmi, also known as Tamizhi or Damili, was a variant of the Brahmi script in southern India. It was used to write inscriptions in the early form of Old Tamil. The Tamil-Brahmi script has been paleographically and stratigraphically dated between the third century BCE and the first century CE, and it constitutes the earliest known writing system evidenced in many parts of …

The Tocharian (sometimes Tokharian) languages (/ t ə ˈ k ɛər i ə n / or / t ə ˈ k ɑːr i ə n /), also known as Arśi-Kuči, Agnean-Kuchean or Kuchean-Agnean, are an extinct branch of the Indo-European language family spoken by inhabitants of the Tarim Basin, the Tocharians. The languages are known from manuscripts dating from the 5th to the 8th century AD, which were …

The Shunga Empire (IAST: Śuṅga) was an ancient Indian dynasty from Magadha that controlled areas of the central and eastern Indian subcontinent from around 185 to 73 BCE. The dynasty was established by Pushyamitra, after taking the throne of the Maurya Empire.Its capital was Pataliputra, but later emperors such as Bhagabhadra also held court at Besnagar (modern …

Kannada (/ ˈ k ɑː n ə d ə, ˈ k æ n-/; ಕನ್ನಡ, [ˈkɐnːɐɖa]), originally romanised Canarese, is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by the people of Karnataka in southwestern India. The language is also spoken by linguistic minorities in the neighbouring states of Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Kerala and Goa, as well as by Kannadigas abroad.

Pali has some commonalities with both the western Ashokan Edicts at Girnar in Saurashtra, ... Ardhamagadhi Prakrit was a Middle Indo-Aryan language and a Dramatic Prakrit thought to have been spoken in modern-day Bihar & Eastern Uttar Pradesh and used in some early Buddhist and Jain drama. It was originally thought to be a predecessor of the ...

Sanskrit (/ ˈ s æ n s k r ɪ t /; attributively संस्कृत-, saṃskṛta-; nominally संस्कृतम्, saṃskṛtam, IPA: [ˈsɐ̃skr̩tɐm]) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late Bronze Age.

The Brahmi script is mentioned in the ancient Indian texts of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism, as well as their Chinese translations. For example, the 10th chapter of the Lalitavistara Sūtra (c. 200-300 CE), titled the Lipisala samdarshana parivarta, lists 64 lipi (scripts), with the Brahmi script starting the list. The Lalitavistara Sūtra states that young Siddhartha, the future …