1. Ancient Indian language of written texts including the Upanishads, Vedas, and Bhagavad Gita. The alphabet, composed of fifty letters, is considered to be sacred sounds and each sound corresponds to a petal of the
chakra mandalas.
2. The ancient language of India. Many Tantric texts were written in Sanskrit, although some were written in regional languages. Sanskrit is still the language of Hindu ritual, although it is no longer living as a conversational tongue.
AUTHOR: Mark A. Michaels and Patricia Johnson