Liturgical language

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The oldest surviving manuscript in the sacred Sanskrit language: Devi Māhātmya, on palm-leaf, in an early Bhujimol script, Bihar or Nepal, 11th century.

A sacred language, liturgical language or holy language is a language that is cultivated and used primarily for religious reasons by people who speak another, primary language in their daily lives.

In Buddhism, sacred or liturgical langues are used for liturgy texts, texts that are intended to be recited in a ritual fashion, either individually or within an assembly of practitioners.

Generally speaking,

• Sanskrit is the "liturgical language" for the Newar tradition of Nepal
• Pali is the "liturgical language" for Theravada Buddhism, which is the most common form in Southeast Asia
• Classical Chinese is the "liturgical language" for East Asian Buddhism
• Classical Tibetan is the "liturgical language" for Tibetan Buddhism

In Hinduism, Sanskrit and Tamil are the "liturgical languages".

Further reading

• Sacred language, Wikipedia