Gujarati

Gujarati emerged from Old Gujarati (also called Old Western Rajasthani) around the 12th–14th centuries CE. The language developed in the fertile region between the Aravalli hills and the Arabian Sea, home to some of India's most ancient trading cities. The Gujarati script, derived from Devanagari, dropped the horizontal line that runs above letters, making it faster to write — a practical innovation for a merchant culture.

The language flourished under the Solanki dynasty and later the Gujarat Sultanate, which made Ahmedabad one of medieval India's greatest cities. Gujarati literature developed distinctive forms: the bhakti poetry of Narsinh Mehta (15th century), the akhyan narrative poems, and the prabandha biographical works. The Jain community, concentrated in Gujarat, produced vast literature in Gujarati.

Gujarati's global reach came through its merchant communities. For centuries, Gujarati traders sailed to East Africa, the Persian Gulf, and Southeast Asia. Words like banyan (from 'bania,' merchant), tank (from 'tankhu,' reservoir), and bungalow (influenced by 'bangla') entered English through Gujarati. The language became the lingua franca of Indian merchants across the British Empire.

Mahatma Gandhi, born in Gujarat, used Gujarati throughout his life. His autobiography 'Satya na Prayogo' (The Story of My Experiments with Truth) was written in Gujarati. The language of Gandhi's prayers, speeches, and writings shaped India's independence movement. Today, Gujarati is spoken by 62 million people in India and millions more in diaspora communities from New Jersey to Nairobi.