I am thinking more and more these days that Sanskrit and Hindi need not be seen as two different languages,but as two different registers of a single language continuum.

Other Indian languages can also be seen similarly, with Sanskrit register being an inherent part of language. https://twitter.com/koenraad_elst/status/1298720693148741636

The power of Sanskrit: fecund word formation, technical precision, copious vocabulary etc. can all be borrowed within Hindi (or Telugu, Bengali, Marāthi, Malayalam etc), while the basic grammar for tense and case modalities can remain with Hindi. Is that really a problem?

Of course, Sanskrit can be treated as an independent language in it’s own right. And people can study that separately. But memorizing thousands of tense and case endings just to speak a sentence will be hard for novices. Why should we insist on making this hard journey for all?

I don’t particularly like Hindi as a beautiful language, when we have to choose between the various Prākrits of India. But why not let this be a vehicle for the Sanskrit register too? It will easily become the most popular vehicle and will support other vehicles (languages) too.

The real scam in India is that the powerful Sanskrit register, with its beauty and technical precision, was forcefully and brutally ripped off the spoken languages. I see this as a greater calamity than the dwindling of the numbers of pure Sanskrit speakers (which is also sad).

I think we should first try to revive and nourish the spoken languages of India into full health, including both the Prākrit/Dēśya registers as well as the Sanskrit register. This is a project that deserves independent support. Promoting Sanskrit as a language is great too!