Historically:
* Prakrit languages: These are the direct descendants of Sanskrit, evolving from it over centuries. They were spoken in ancient India and are considered its closest relatives. Some examples include Pali (the language of Buddhist scriptures), Apabhramsha, and Magadhi.
* Indo-Aryan languages: These form the largest branch of the Indo-European language family and include Hindi, Urdu, Bengali, Marathi, Punjabi, Gujarati, etc. While these languages are not directly descended from Sanskrit, they have borrowed heavily from it in terms of vocabulary, grammar, and literature.
Linguistically:
* Indo-Iranian languages: This branch of Indo-European includes Sanskrit and most of the languages mentioned above. They share a common ancestor and show similarities in their grammatical structures and vocabulary.
* Other Indo-European languages: While not as closely related as the Indo-Iranian languages, Sanskrit shares certain characteristics with other Indo-European languages like Greek, Latin, and German.
Ultimately, there is no definitive answer to what language is "nearest" to Sanskrit. It depends on the criteria used to define closeness: historical relation, linguistic features, or cultural influence.
However, if we consider the historical connection and shared linguistic features, the Prakrit languages, particularly Pali, would be the closest to Sanskrit.