Buddhism encouraged the development of Regional Languages in ancient India

[Campus]

Contribution of Buddhism towards the development of the regional languages has been remarkable. The ancient language of India had been Sanskrit and the texts of the Brahmanical religion were in Sanskrit. Contrary to this, the Buddha preferred to preach his philosophies in the language of the common people. Buddhist texts came to be written in Pali and this helped the development of the Pali language and literature. Likewise Mahavira also preached his doctrines in Ardhamagadi, that is a form of Prakrit language. This helped in the development of the Ardhamagadi language in India. In this way both Buddha and Mahavir laid down the foundation for the growth of native languages. Further, due to the increasing popularity of Buddhism, Indians recognized the importance of the studies like Pali, Sanskrit, Prakrit, Tibetan and the Chinese for a complete understanding of Buddhism. These have influenced the writers in the modern Indian languages to a great extent.