Sant Bhasha (Gurmukhi: ਸੰਤ-ਭਾਸ਼ਾ; romanized: Sant Bhāṣā; lit. 'language of saints') is a liturgical and scriptural language composed of vocabulary common to northern Indian languages, which was extensively used by saints and poets to compose religious verses.[13][14] It can be understood by readers with a background in either Punjabi, Hindi-Urdu and its dialects.[citation needed]
| Sant Bhasha | |
|---|---|
| ਸੰਤ-ਭਾਸ਼ਾ | |
 Painting of Guru Arjan being fanned with a book before him. The Sikh gurus employed the Sant Bhasha language for their poetic compositions in the Sikh scriptures | |
| Region | Northern Indian subcontinent |
| Era | Medieval-period to present-day |
Indo-European
| |
Early forms | |
| Gurmukhi (including Anandpur Lipi) | |
| Sources | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | – |
Features
Sant Bhasha is notable for its high usage of inherited tadbhava vocabulary in-comparison to Sanskritic tatsama borrowings.[15]
In Sikhism
Sant Bhasha is most prominently used in the central Sikh scripture, the Guru Granth Sahib.[16][17][18][19] The languages used include Punjabi and its dialects, Lahnda, regional Prakrits, Apabhramsa, Sanskrit, Hindustani languages (Brajbhasha, Bangru, Awadhi, Old Hindi, Deccani), Bhojpuri, Sindhi, Marathi, Marwari, Bengali, Persian, and Arabic. While vocabulary from all of these languages is used, Sant Bhasha is only written in the Gurmukhi script.[20][21]
See also
- Sadhukadi
- Khalsa bole, coded language of Nihang Sikhs
- Sikh scriptures
- Guru Granth Sahib
- Dasam Granth
- Sarbloh Granth
- Sikh art and culture
- History of Sikhism