In which language did Bharatiyas talk to or transact with one another before English arrived? Did the Odia not speak to the Tamilian? Did the Kannadiga not speak to the Punjabi? ~ Trillion-rupee question by Sai Deepak J. Any answers?

Mostly they did not. That's the truth. People who traveled for trade and diplomacy must have multi-lingual. You go to any rural area even today people hardly speak more than one language. It is dishonesty of people like him who try to assume things and set a narrative. Most of the "bharat" was at each other's throat as well for hundreds of thousands of years. India after becoming a republic was reorganized on linguistic basis for a reason. Even today when you trade with Rome/Italy, do you speak Italian? NO!

✨ Imagine chatting with Queen Cleopatra! Did you know she spoke multiple languages and was the first in her family to speak Egyptian? Talk about multitasking! What would you ask her? 🤔 #Cleopatra #HistoryChat

@jsaideepak Definitely not in Hindi.

@jsaideepak The same question can be asked in a different way - How did the British came to India for trade when they did not know any of the Indian languages? How did they do trade without knowing the language. I vouch, my great grandparents may have never travelled outside their town.

Here’s the story that I heard from my dad. Our family tradition was to go to Nadia, West Bengal, a hub for learning Sanskrit, Vedas, Nyaya, and Mimansa. When the gurukul's guru passed away (late 1800s/early 1900s), the guru maa chose a former student from Andhra Pradesh to lead. My great-grandfather and two others, from modern-day Bihar and Bengal, were tasked with finding him. It took 30-45 days to locate and bring him back. Which language did they communicate in - mostly Sanskrit, sometime broken Bengali and Hindi. Language is a uniting force. I will happily learn a new language if I need to-to use it to divide people shows how poor a recipient we are of a great diverse civilisational culture.

@jsaideepak Yes. The language warriors should answer how did Adi Shankaracharya communicate with people from different regions when he spread Advaita Vedanta and established Maths in all directions as he walked length and breadth across Bharat?

@jsaideepak It is well known that it was Sanskrit. And the founders of India had a heated discussion and unfortunately ended up not going with Sanskrit.

@jsaideepak

@jsaideepak Sanskrit, the mother of all languages was used. May be India should declare Sanskrit as National Language and put an end to this language row. If introduced at school level, in next 10 years we will have the entire new generation well versed with Sanskrit. What say?

@jsaideepak He does not know in Bharat more than 20 Languages were spoken thousands of years before. English was not there, there were 20 local languages people of Bharat use to talk to. Different area diff language. He has no information at all.

If there is will, there is a way. No barrier, including not knowing some language, is a barrier if one has the will and the heart is at the right place. Let me share a real and funny story about language - In 1858, the Vice-Chancellor of the Calcutta University was Sir James William Colvile. In the same year, a person by the name Bankim Chandra Chatterjee appeared in his BA examination from the same university. And he "failed" in BENGALI. Later on the University awarded his the pass marks as grace and he become one of two first Indian graduates. In short, a bunch of English men had the audacity to fail a Bengali speaking genius who went on to become one of stalwarts of the language and wrote Vande Ma Taram!!