Sanskrit is India's classic cultural and liturgical language for Hindus, many Buddhists and Sikhs. It is one of the 22 official languages of India.
In India and Southeast Asia, Sanskrit has the same role that Latin had in Western Europe up to the 20th century. In either case, one can speak of "dead language" in that no one naturally speaks the language in question as their native language - instead, it is language that a group of the population learns later in life. However, it must be emphasized that Sanskrit - as opposed to Latin - is in living use to this day and there are certain Brahmins who claim to have Sanskrit as their native language. It is also estimated that approximately two million people speak it as a second language, and literature is still written in Sanskrit.
