Shauraseni language

A Dramatic Prakrit, Shauraseni was the chief language used in drama in northern medieval India. Most of the material in this language originates from the 3rd to 10th centuries, though it was probably a spoken vernacular around the 5th century BCE. Its descendants include the languages of the Hindi Belt, the Central Zone of modern Indic or Hindi languages, the standard registers of the Hindustani language based on the Khariboli dialect and the Punjabi language.

Jain acharyas belonging to the Digambara sect wrote in Shauraseni. The Ṣaṭkhaṅḍāgama and the Kāsāyapahuḍa are two major Jain epics in Shauraseni.

Shauraseni is said to be the most similar to Classical Sanskrit out of all the Prakrits.