Shauraseni Prakrit

Shauraseni Prakrit (Sanskrit: शौरसेनी प्राकृत, romanized: Śaurasenī Prākṛta) was a Middle Indo-Aryan language and a Dramatic Prakrit. Shauraseni was the chief language used in drama in medieval northern India. Most of the material in this language originates from the 3rd to 10th centuries, and represented a regional language variety with minor modifications to the same linguistic substratum as other Dramatic Prakrit varieties.

Shauraseni Prakrit
Śaurasenī Prākṛta
𑀰𑁅𑀭𑀲𑁂𑀦𑀻 (Brahmi)
Region	Indian subcontinent
Era	c. 3rd to 10th centuries AD
Language family	Indo-European Indo-Iranian Indo-Aryan Shauraseni Prakrit
Language codes
ISO 639-3	`psu`
Glottolog	`saur1252`

Among the Prakrits, Shauraseni is said to be the one most closely related to Classical Sanskrit in that it "is derived from the Old Indian Indo-Aryan dialect of the Madhyadeśa on which Classical Sanskrit was mainly based."^: 3–4 Its descendants include Punjabi, Saraiki, Hindko, Pahari, Sindhi, Gujarati, Rajasthani, and Western Hindi.

See also