Here are some of the major languages that directly descended from Sanskrit:
* Modern Indo-Aryan languages:
* Hindi: The most widely spoken Indo-Aryan language, with over 600 million speakers.
* Urdu: A language closely related to Hindi, with significant Arabic and Persian influences.
* Bengali: The second most spoken Indo-Aryan language, with over 250 million speakers.
* Marathi: Spoken primarily in Maharashtra, India, with over 83 million speakers.
* Gujarati: Spoken mainly in Gujarat, India, with over 60 million speakers.
* Punjabi: Spoken primarily in Punjab, India, and Pakistan, with over 100 million speakers.
* Oriya: Spoken mainly in Odisha, India, with over 35 million speakers.
* Assamese: Spoken mainly in Assam, India, with over 15 million speakers.
* Kashmiri: Spoken mainly in Kashmir, India, with over 5 million speakers.
* Sinhala: Spoken in Sri Lanka, with over 16 million speakers.
* Romani: A language spoken by the Romani people, who are believed to have originated in the Indian subcontinent.
* Dhivehi: The official language of the Maldives.
* Ancient and Middle Indo-Aryan languages:
* Prakrits: A group of languages that were spoken in ancient India, before the rise of Sanskrit. These languages evolved from Sanskrit and are considered its direct descendants.
* Pali: The language of the Buddhist scriptures, which evolved from a Prakrit.
* Apabhramsha: A group of languages that emerged from Prakrit and influenced the development of modern Indo-Aryan languages.
Note: The relationship between Sanskrit and these languages is complex and involves a long process of evolution and influence. While Sanskrit is the source language, these languages have undergone significant changes and incorporated elements from other languages over time.
It is important to remember that this is not an exhaustive list, and there are many other languages that can be traced back to Sanskrit. The influence of Sanskrit can also be seen in languages like Tamil, Telugu, and Kannada, which belong to the Dravidian language family, although they are not direct descendants of Sanskrit.