Introduction
A language is often seen as the key marker of identity and it is language through which we shape our worldview. Language is fluid and instrumental and shifts in its usage occur all the time. Yet, there is a sentimental attachment to one’s own language; the loss of a language is seen as a loss of self-identity. The Tibetan people have a saying, “Every lama has his own Dharma, every valley has its own language”. The saying conveys the recognition and acceptance of linguistic diversity. The Tibetans were also exposed to other languages, absorbed influences and appropriated loan words. When the Tibetans were exposed to the great knowledge of Buddhist India, rather than adopting Sanskrit as the language of intellect and learning, the knowledge had to be rendered into the native tongue. The Tibetan scholars set out to translate the vast corpus of Sanskrit Buddhist texts into Tibetan. Despite an immense reverence towards Sanskrit as the language of the Gods, it was the native language that was the language of knowledge and communication. Sanskrit never became the “cosmopolitan language” in Tibet. [Source]